1996 La Rioja Alta Rioja Viña Ardanza Reserva

Community Tasting Notes (12) Avg Score: 91.1 points

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  3/23/2024 - Poulp13 Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Eye: A shiny brick-red.
  
  Nose: Expressive right on opening with prunes, black cherry jam, dill and slight leather notes. Surprisingly lively for such an old bottle!
  
  Palate: Lovely fresh acidity, very fine and integrated - but present - tannins. Light-to-medium body.
  A touch of cherries and plums that quickly fade away, followed by dill, fresh herbs and leather on the mid-palate. Everything is integrated and seamless.
  Delicate but persistent finish of sour-cherry jam and dill.
  
  Althought its best days are gone, it's still alive with a tiny bit of fruit, lots of fresh herbs and good balance.
  
  If you have some of this lovely wine left in your cellar, it's time to drink it up!

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  5/22/2023 - talbot61 Likes this wine:

  All wine, no poker, Vol. 2 (Needham, Mass.): Thanks to Phillip: Everybody tasting this remarked on the strong dill flavor. This is a 27-year old wine that still seems young, though it already provides a lot of pleasure -- structure and acidity and an intensity of flavor without fruitiness. It has a very healthy body mass index.

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  5/12/2017 - shleepy Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Brick-ish color, not terribly dark. Honey wax, church incense, black pepper, overripe sour fruit in the smell. Long legs in the glass. Weirdly smooth mouthfeel. A sweet-and-sour sensation. Still fairly freshly fruity, though. A fruit candy finish. Interesting, complex, unexpected.

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  12/17/2015 - fc1910 Likes this wine: 91 Points

  A tapas and wine evening in a fine spanish restaurant: popped, decanted and poured in our glasses, this bottle has intense flavours from the oak, coffee, chocolate, some spices, still vibrating acidity, therefore crunchy, still young, red currant, a complex midweight body, subtle, fine and long aftertaste, still for the long run, **(**?), 90- 92+?

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  6/27/2014 - Los 12 Glotones Likes this wine: 93 Points

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  Els12golafres Wine Tasting Group: http://vinosclasicos.blogspot.com.es/2013/07/vina-ardanza-1996-reserva.html
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  De color rubí rojizo de capa media, limpio, brillante, muy estable, sin asomo de precipitados. Reflejos cobrizos y ambarinos, borde anaranjado.
  
  Muy intenso, complejo. Tiene todo lo que se le puede pedir a un buen Ardanza "joven": tabaco de pipa, ebanistería, fruta roja en confitura, escarchados, pieles de naranja y un fondo de cacao en polvo, café aromático, ligeramente tostado. Abierto, expresivo, perfilado, sin haber comenzado a dar ni siquiera los primeros síntomas de reducción. Estamos ante un vino que promete tener un largo recorrido en botella.
  
  Vigoroso, fresco, sabroso, lleno de fruta roja madura y unos taninos grasos, redondos. Todo él es equilibrio y empuje. Mantiene una intensa acidez y un nervio poco habitual. Un muy buen Ardanza que aún tiene que ir a más, a mucho más. Estos vinos del 96 no paran de deparar alegrías y siguen habituándose poco a poco a la botella. Nada tienen que envidiar a las célebres cosechas de 94 y 95. Hay que darle tiempo para que vaya creciendo con los años. En la línea de los mejores clásicos de la bodega. Un hallazgo!!!
  
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  75% tempranillo, 25% garnacha - 13.3% vol.
  La garnacha procede de viñedos ubicados en Tudelilla y el resto de uvas son originarias de la finca Viña Ardanza de Montecillo y de pequeños productores de las localidades de Haro, Briñas, Briones, Villalba y Labastida. Realiza la primera fermentación en depósitos de acero inoxidable. Es trasegado a barricas de roble americano de 225 litros en abril de 1997. Criado durante 40 meses, con un total de 2 trasiegas manuales cada año. Embotellado en julio de 2000. Un mínimo de 24 meses de guarda en botellero antes de ser comercializado.
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