Community Tasting Note

• forceberry wrote: 96 points

  March 25, 2017 - A blend of Viura (90%) and Malvasia Riojana (10%), made only in spectacular vintages suitable for making Gran Reserva and released not earlier than after 20 years from the vintage. Aged for 10 years in predominantly old American oak barriques and for another 10 years in bottles. 12% alcohol, 6,5 g/l acidity. Total production 6,451 bottles.
  
  Deep, concentrated golden yellow color - yet with a subtle yet distinctive, youthful green hue. The nose feels very developed, waxy and characterful with intense aromas of roasted nuts, browned butter, wizened and bruised apples, some hay, a little bit of smoky character, a hint of something reminding me vaguely of Gueuze beer, a touch of crème brûlée and a subtle nuance of vanilla as a reminder of the long barrel aging regime. The wine is bone-dry, very powerful and concentrated on the palate with very high, almost racy acidity. Yet, despite the acidity, the wine comes across as surprisingly gentle and mellow, all thanks to the long age that smoothed things down quite a bit. There are very intense and focused flavors of green apples, lemony citrus fruits, stony minerality, some complex and developed waxy character, a little bit of nutty oxidation, a hint of roasted exotic spices and a touch of honeyed richness. The flavors are very layered, moving in and out of focus and granting the wine almost endless complexity. The finish is very long, developed and really complex with persistent, long-lingering flavors of meyer lemon, creaminess and more cooked crème brûlée character, stony minerality, some tart green apples, a little bit of smoke, a hint of dried mushrooms and a subtle nuance of savory vanilla spice.
  
  This is a simply one-of-its-kind, unique white with incredible, developed and very mature air of endless complexity, yet the wine is so remarkably fresh, structured and focused that it feels almost too young - and that's a lot for a wine that is over 20 years old! Really, this wine might be well approachable already, but it is still so incredibly youthful that there is no point in opening these beauties yet - after all, they will easily keep for decades more, gaining even further complexity year by year. A stunning white wine that is in a class of its own. At the price of 65,65€ this wine was priced according to its quality.

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2 Comments

• julao commented:

  9/5/20, 9:00 PM - I really enjoyed your tasting note!! Long being a LDH fan but Grandes Reservas are very scarce and hard to find.... particularly near the price you did. I’ve payed twice that last time I found it. Would you care to share where you bought it?

• forceberry commented:

  9/6/20, 1:14 AM - Hi and thanks for the cimment. I bought it from a Spanish internet retailer in early 2016 when this wine was still widely available and the prices hadn't skyrocketed. They had a bunch of bottles that sold out relatively quickly (although not at the speed they would sell nowadays).

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