May 4, 2023 - Two Old Riojas (Rekondo, San Sebastian, Spain): Opened and poured without decanting. Light garnet, completely mature looking. High toned aromas with a touch of VA and herbs. Light, lean, earthy, and mineral, but it still has fruit and subtle sweetness in the background. Crisp acidity with some citrus, and light residual tannin. It gets more stalky as it opens, suggesting quite a bit of fragility. This perfectly stored bottle was not thrilling but still had plenty to say. It is mind boggling to think about how this classic expression of Bordeaux-styled Rioja has changed into something more modern, woody, and sweet more recently.
After being recorked overnight, this surprised me with its resilience, showing a little more texture and more obvious balsam wood, but its lean core persisted and it took on more of a sour cherry taste. It certainly ain’t dead yet and did well with more air.
March 5, 2020 - Clear medium light red with pink edges. Beautiful nose, earthy red fruit, sun dried tomato, beef broth, thyme and berry fruit. Dry warm red fruit flavours and a soft dry finish.
Seemed quite young, in great shape and will continue to improve.
February 16, 2020 - Warren's. Lighter ruddy red typical of old Riojas with a great nose of dill, olives, tea and orange peel. Sweet entry and complex on the midpalate with a great finish.
February 9, 2020 - Very nice, lively spicey rioja. Spearmint and pipe tobacco, still has plenty of life
March 31, 2019 - Good structure, but passed its prime.
February 25, 2017 - This was a revelation. I'm trying to recall if I have tasted a Spanish wine with this much age on it. Color was ruby with just a tinge or orange or lightness at the edges. Nose of leather, dried red fruit, herbs. Palate was medium-bodied with fresh plums and some mineraliness on the finish. Paired with some Peking duck and Chinese food.
January 23, 2017 - pop n pour
nose:sweet cherry,mushroom,sign of vanilla,radiant of red petals,plum,metallic.start to show riper fruits with more air.gain more depth n complexity with more air.revealing smoke meat,sweet toast n chicken essence
palate:excellent integration.showing lots of elegance with finesse.nice structure showing no sign of fruits falling apart with more air.commendable complexity.gaining more depth with more air that somehow make the wine more younger.though its slightly more tertiary,but it has tremendous bright red fruits support to gve some balance,pretty long elegamt savoury finishing with more air
notes:blend of sweet n sour cherry,plum,hint of red liqourice,chicken essence,leather,sweet toast,vanilla,thin layer of mineral
conclusion:i luv the color of the wine.its bright red transparent like thin skin varietal
March 7, 2016 - An off bottle with muted flavors and no defining characteristic.
January 28, 2016 - Over the storm weekend with a fabulous short ribs dinner, I took a bottle out of the cellar (along with a back-up Amarone just in case). I was truly amazed at several things that I thought I should share. I didn’t decant-I just poured it through an aerator. The wine was amazing in many respects. The first thing that was shocking was the color-deep ruby red with almost no bricking at the edges. Also there was an abundance of red fruit coming through without that tawnyness that one might expect with a 46 year old bottle. The tannins had totally softened and there was some faint (but not unpleasant) traces of oak, vanilla and orange rind in the mouth again with cherries & red fruit coming through beautifully. While it was clearly still in its drinking window I suspect it would have 4 or 5 more years of total enjoyment (although if I had more, I would drink it up sooner than later). What a treat!!! The Amarone will have to wait.
August 28, 2015 - On the nose red cherry, mustiness, old wood, light funk and clove. Red cherry, slight metallic notes, and a faint smokiness on the backpalate. These are just under-rated wines if one gets a good bottle. Nose outperforms the palate and would warrant a higher score on its own. No decant. Palate fades after 2 hours of air time. 90-91