Community Tasting Notes 6

• IlonaN wrote: 91 points

  November 6, 2013 - This is why I love Tempranillo. Lithe and juicy on the palate, with lovely spice, leather and ripe red fruit on the nose, just enough spice and vanilla notes to make the finish lasting and memorable. Tannins silky smooth, ready now, drink up.

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• Zweder wrote: 87 points

  March 11, 2013 - Weekly tasting group #065; Spain (@ BS): Blood red, not so very dark. Creamy red fruits in the bouquet. Some vanilla and rose wood as well. On the palate red fruits, quite much acidity, vanilla and soft tannin which is a bit drying in the finish. Nice wine. Ready now and a future of several years.

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• Leimgruber Likes this wine:

  January 8, 2012 - Colour shows a little age. Palate is lively with good acidity and nice grippy tannins. Lovely red fruit and spices. Not overly dense or extracted and therefore very versatile and drinkable. Very nice indeed.

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• Papies wrote: 90 points

  July 19, 2010 - Opened a number of bottles of this over the course of the night givent he number of people at the dinner and most of it was pop and pour.
  
  Medium to full bodied with a bit of tannins still hoping around. Good fruit, mostly red fruits and a a bit of oak. Typical rioja in many respects.Drinks okish at the moment.

  Comment

• ricard Likes this wine: 89 points

  February 22, 2009 - 90% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano ABV 13.5% I want to talk about this wine because it's a textbook example of a the kind of wine which is slightly unfashionable, and yet has a number of intrinsic virtues that we should all be celebrating, if we want the world of wine to remain diverse and exciting, rather than predictable and dull. There are now a large number of very successful wines in Rioja that have possess "international" characteristics: for example, power, concentration, intensity, fruit and extraction. Many of these wines command huge prices and spectacularly high ratings. The traditional wines (the Crianzas, Reservas and Gran Reservas) don't get the same level of attention. But a number of wineries are resisting this wave of innovation and are nonetheless producing wines of considerable elegance, typicity and distinctiveness, and at accessible prices. The Dominio de Conté Reserva is an excellent example of a wine that is Rioja through-and-through: red cherry at the core, gentle signs of ageing at the rim (brick/orange), lovely sweet spicy nose, saddle leather and cigar box, and then a very firm, acidic mouthfeel that has perfect balance - none of that cloying sweetness or agressive tannicity that is the hallmark of excessive extraction or too much exposure to new oak. The finish is quite brief, but very lively, almost dancing on the tongue. A wine that could be good on its own, with meat, or even with fish. Now that's versatility - a good thing. Difficult to rate over 90 because it's not obviously a tour de force or an impressive wine, and it's slightly unhelpful that it's in the 16-18 euro region, but I'll give it that famously problematic rating, 89 points.

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Pro Reviews 3

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2004
• Type Red
• Producer Bodegas Bretón
• Varietal Tempranillo Blend
• Designation Reserva
• Vineyard Dominio de Conté
• Country Spain
• Region La Rioja
• SubRegion n/a
• Appellation Rioja

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 10 (23%)
• Consumed 34 (77%)

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