Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Fresh fruit combined well with emerging earth notes. Seemed younger. Good stuffing in the middle, moderate weight on finish. Certainly enjoyable.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Mostly matured black fruit in a modern style, oaky but mostly integrated. Slightly drying finish. Tasty, but somewhat non-distinctly Rioja.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Slightly topical and peachy with bright acidity on finish. Easy and fun to enjoy young.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Light and bright. Didn't seem like Grenache, but I was unable to identify its varietal. Simple but nicely balanced.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Fresh and dried red cherry, nicely/ slowly maturing along with leather. Very good balance and tension throughout. Very good length and finesse. At its peak, with the ability to hold and age nicely further.

First bottle corked, sadly given good underlying fruit at this age.

Subdued aromas, somewhat tired. Better flavors with dried red cherry and slowly cooked mushroom. Good depth with a sweet, charming finish. This 2nd bottle didn't seem to have the same level of fruit as the 1st (corked) bottle, but at least it was not corked.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Earth and red cherry in equal proportion. Elegant and charming with good+ length.

Served to the group double blind in Spanish tasting. Slightly floral with dried red and black cherry. Slightly sweet spice with a slightly sweet finish. Nicely elegant. This is Tondonia that is non Gran Reserva from the late 60s / early 70s.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Ripe black cherry comes across as slightly jammy with burly tannins. Still a bit oaky for now. Most likely upside from here.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. A very well made ultra modern styled wine with very good+ concentration, but borderline jammy with a finish I find a bit too sweet. Not my preferred style of wine.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Reductive on both nose and palate. Big fruit but coarse tannins, giving me little confidence this will ever really harmonize.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Rich black and red cherry comes across as fun and easy to enjoy, but modern in a non-descript fashion that does not thrill me.,

Served this double blind in Spanish tasting. Big fruit but getting slightly muddy, plus a little bretty. Disappointing given the critics' reviews at release.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Ripe and rich black fruit, but alas a bit too much tannin still in the forefront today. Good stuff, but not such good balance today.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Ripe but able to maintain balance, even if the oak character still protrudes. Good + in its still, less exciting for me.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Backward black fruit with classic Rioja earth and spice. This needs several hours of air to fully show its potential, and it clearly did not get that opportunity today.

Tasted double blind in Spanish tasting. Black and red fruit with a slightly candied character along with allspice and dark chocolate. Expanding finish. Shocked to hear this was 2002 until it was revealed as Vega-Sicilia Unico.

Fun and in-your-face with sweet and hot fruit. Nothing subtle here at all. Good BBQ wine.

An interesting wine that was most likely tasted at the wrong time in the afternoon tasting (too late). Figs, marcona almonds candied orange peel in an intriguing oxidative style. Comes across as so bone-dry that it almost hurt so late in the day. Very long finish with good depth.

Black strap molasses with equally syrupy textures. Some caramel apple hints. Ultra sweet. Interesting, but too much.

Elegantly sweet and well balanced. Good+ length and persistence. Not quite the complexity I would prefer.

Here is something rarely encountered these days. Slightly sour nose that didn't thrill. Actually tasty and almost enjoyable flavors with fully mature, slightly under-ripe red cherry and good earth.

Last minute decision to open/ drink, so not given much air. Black, dense and meaty throughout. Ripe start with some tobacco hints. Rather firm middle is much less giving, but ending with a long and nearly elegant finish. 91 points for pleasure now, but clearly much higher potential from there.

Lots of ripe red cherry and berry with Asian five spice. Faint earth emerging on finish. Good weight and length.

Popped-and-poured, I found this wine to be too extracted, too jammy and nearly monstrous. A few hours of air might have helped, and while I appreciate why others enjoyed this wine today, this wine represents why I buy/ drink so little Châteauneuf-du-Pape these days.

Old vine concentration comes across as slightly/ faintly rustic, and certainly big, powerful and long. Elegant and low octane Grenache well done.