2003 Bodegas Alejandro Fernández Ribera del Duero Tinto Pesquera Reserva

Community Tasting Notes (22) Avg Score: 89.8 points

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  2/29/2024 - Putnam Weekley Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Decanted clear at 7:30. Striking, savage bouquet. Muddled and sharply woody. Almost obscene macerations of laurel/pine, mustard oil, and unfathomable impacted heaps of tamarind/cinnamon/cacao.
  First pecking drink at 7:40. sappy hemp, laden with drupe saccharide. The drink sets up a renewed aromatic experience: thick and racy cataract of ripe berry mass. The renewed aroma sets up a renewed drink: trouble, perhaps.
  By 8:00 I'm pairing it with peppered and seared strip steak of beef. This is the opening for surges of raspberry. Here it claims stickiness of fruit, and amusing arches of brittle mint in strands, and vividly salted plumes of roasted persimmon road dust.
  8:15—the governing character—curiously sticky and bright—is fixed now. It's like sweet lemon peels packed in chambers smoldering with raspberry and green burrs. Glutamate, too.
  By 8:20 my implanted script insists on interrogations of tannin and acidity, and so forth. All of that is replete, reserved, and lively. If the sour mountain wildflowers weren't so expressive I might pay more attention to all of tha t.

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  11/22/2022 - sjw_11 wrote: 92 Points

  Broadly the same impression as the last bottle. Lovely mature, sweet, slightly liquer like fruit. Still in balance. This bottle was maybe a touch fresher, warranting a point or two more- at this age and unknown provenance (although bought from a retailer not auction, this was only purchased last year) bottle variation is to be expected.

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  11/17/2022 - rossi.wine wrote: 91 Points

  Sweet fruit, generous and ripe. Low-ish acidity, but overall well balanced with unobtrusive tannins. Medium complexity and length. 90-92

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  3/24/2022 - sjw_11 Likes this wine: 90 Points

  No formal notes, as this was drunk a little late in the evening. Second bottle from a three pack I picked up for about €29 which is just fantastic value. This is a perfectly mature Ribera that offers a lot of character, with a melange of fruit and more tertiary characters. Totally ready to go and I wouldn't aim to keep to much longer, but really enjoyable to drink.

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  8/27/2021 - Tige Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Fidèles à eux-mêmes, les Pesquera ne déçoivent jamais.
  Ce Reserva 2003 était encore en forme et pourra tenir le coup encore probablement très longtemps mais personnellement, j'aime ces vins pas trop vieux, avec encore pas mal de fruits et de tanins (peut-être est-ce ainsi que je les ai gouté plus souvent qu'autrement en fait).
  Cette bouteille m'a semblé être sortie au bon moment, dans le sens que je n'entrevois pas de grande amélioration selon mes goûts.
  C'est rond, soyeux et d'une grande buvabilité. Acidité moy, longueur moy, tanins intégrés, un peu de fruits confis.
  RQP toujours et encore solide (le 2016 est à 44,50$ en ce moment à la SAQ).

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