Mid garnet. Lovely nose of damson, spice, leather, and a touch of coffee. Thirteen years since previous bottle, primary fruit has calmed and settled now, and is starting to show some secondary development, the lush and padded fruit now silky and refined. Classic Rioja profile. Mid palate complexity and a decent finish. Lovely. ****
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unfortunately the cork crumbled upon opening and the wine just had very little structure..tasted ok..but it was definitely not quite right..i think to much oxygen got to the wine and it aged out
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Drinking much better than the Vina Real Gran Reserva at this point. Delicious crushed blackberry notes and it doesn't have the overpowering oak of the 1996 VR GR.
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Delicious. Menthol on the nose, but it wasn't unpleasant or overwhelming. Very smooth, resolved tannins. My last bottle unfortunately, because this wine still had lots of life left. Took to my wine group dinner. By coincidence, it followed a 2005 Murrietta Ygay Rioja Gran Reserva. Lots of similarities noted, but the Murrietta was still too young and overpowering.
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5/31/2022 - cweiss wrote:
In Norton. I'd say fully mature and quite nice, though outdone by a 2001 Rioja Alta.
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8/8/2020 - SimonG wrote: 91 Points
Mid garnet. Lovely nose of damson, spice, leather, and a touch of coffee. Thirteen years since previous bottle, primary fruit has calmed and settled now, and is starting to show some secondary development, the lush and padded fruit now silky and refined. Classic Rioja profile. Mid palate complexity and a decent finish. Lovely. ****
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10/28/2018 - Ticker tape guy wrote: 87 Points
unfortunately the cork crumbled upon opening and the wine just had very little structure..tasted ok..but it was definitely not quite right..i think to much oxygen got to the wine and it aged out
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8/22/2017 - millej Likes this wine:
Drinking much better than the Vina Real Gran Reserva at this point. Delicious crushed blackberry notes and it doesn't have the overpowering oak of the 1996 VR GR.
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4/12/2016 - mouton45 wrote: 92 Points
Delicious. Menthol on the nose, but it wasn't unpleasant or overwhelming. Very smooth, resolved tannins. My last bottle unfortunately, because this wine still had lots of life left. Took to my wine group dinner. By coincidence, it followed a 2005 Murrietta Ygay Rioja Gran Reserva. Lots of similarities noted, but the Murrietta was still too young and overpowering.
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