The Roots Fund Charity Wine Dinner (Atelier - Chicago IL): Absolutely amazing freshness and vibrancy that brings together two of wine's great complimentary elements - ripe fruit and acidity. Enough earth and spice to make it more interesting, but I expected even slightly more complexity from this level of maturity.
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No notes taken. Excellent condition with into neck fill (must have been a late release). This was still very much alive and kicking with a broad spectrum of tertiary aromas, hints of vanilla and nice fruit core with mostly dried fruit but with a tiny bit of fresher berries too. Good tension with melted tannins and a well integrated acidity, a creamy structure. Good length and balance. For a higher score it would have to have more complexity, an even better precision and some more fresh fruit. Overall a great wine and a testament of the ageing potential of these Riojas.
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A monumental wine, still alive, with this typical old Rioja taste, some vanilla and a lot of tertiary notes as cedarwood, dried dates and figs, but elegant and not in a concentrated way, very long and clean finish, some of the guys identificated this wine at once, for me it was the first time with such an old Rioja. well done
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More to record several details at this point, since it's been so long (purchased in late 2001, drank in early 2002): "Gran" does not appear on front label, but it is indeed a Gran Rerserva according to the official DO label on back. At first it looked too good to be real, so we figured it had been a hoax... but we found information elsewhere on the web suggesting it may have "spent 35 years in wood, and 5 years in bottle," and if that's the case it was bottled around 1970 and released around 1975 !! That explains the relatively modern bottle, good bottle condition and fill level, as well as the relative lack of sediment (I imagine most of it would have settled out long before it saw the bottle). From my recollection, the wine was not at all faded, nor did the decades in wood leave it out of balance... very nice, in fact. Unable to rate it 3 years later though. Drank with tapas brought in from a local place.
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1/25/2024 - Burgundy Al wrote: 94 Points
The Roots Fund Charity Wine Dinner (Atelier - Chicago IL): Absolutely amazing freshness and vibrancy that brings together two of wine's great complimentary elements - ripe fruit and acidity. Enough earth and spice to make it more interesting, but I expected even slightly more complexity from this level of maturity.
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1/25/2024 - Nanda wrote: 97 Points
The Roots Fund - Chicago Fundraising Dinner (Atelier - Chicago, IL): Its hard to reconcile how much fruit, energy and brightness remain in this wine at age 90. And it's absolutely delicious with so much complexity and so much going on texturally. A stunning treat.
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10/15/2021 - Cailles wrote: 93 Points
No notes taken. Excellent condition with into neck fill (must have been a late release). This was still very much alive and kicking with a broad spectrum of tertiary aromas, hints of vanilla and nice fruit core with mostly dried fruit but with a tiny bit of fresher berries too. Good tension with melted tannins and a well integrated acidity, a creamy structure. Good length and balance. For a higher score it would have to have more complexity, an even better precision and some more fresh fruit. Overall a great wine and a testament of the ageing potential of these Riojas.
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4/12/2015 - aquacongas Likes this wine: 94 Points
A monumental wine, still alive, with this typical old Rioja taste, some vanilla and a lot of tertiary notes as cedarwood, dried dates and figs, but elegant and not in a concentrated way, very long and clean finish, some of the guys identificated this wine at once, for me it was the first time with such an old Rioja. well done
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8/14/2013 - Jeff Leve wrote: 65 Points
Most of the pleasure and life seemed missing from this 80 year old wine. Tart, dry and not much fun past the aged aromatics.
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1/1/2002 - Winefrog wrote:
More to record several details at this point, since it's been so long (purchased in late 2001, drank in early 2002): "Gran" does not appear on front label, but it is indeed a Gran Rerserva according to the official DO label on back. At first it looked too good to be real, so we figured it had been a hoax... but we found information elsewhere on the web suggesting it may have "spent 35 years in wood, and 5 years in bottle," and if that's the case it was bottled around 1970 and released around 1975 !! That explains the relatively modern bottle, good bottle condition and fill level, as well as the relative lack of sediment (I imagine most of it would have settled out long before it saw the bottle). From my recollection, the wine was not at all faded, nor did the decades in wood leave it out of balance... very nice, in fact. Unable to rate it 3 years later though. Drank with tapas brought in from a local place.
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