2003 Benjamin Romeo Rioja La Cueva del Contador

Community Tasting Notes (28) Avg Score: 90.1 points

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  5/15/2021 - CWilliam wrote: 93 Points

  Un-named Atlanta wine tasting Group: Wine #2 (here forward everything was blind - theme of "older wines")
  Black in the glass with large change from rim to center. Great nose -savory, black cherry, earth, licorice. On palate, blackberry, fig, licorice and savory notes. Full body, high tannins and very long finish. Thought this was an early 2000s Quintarelli - way off. My friend who brought this thought it was dead upon opening - it came to life 3 hours later. 93-94 range.
  
  Shocked this was Tempranillo - has aged very well despite the very warm vintage.

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  11/28/2017 - pablopilot Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Gonna give this a provisional rating... popped and poured an hour out of the cellar, still cold... a bit like asking Pavarotti to sing an aria right out of bed, in the winter, after sleeping 12 year... well, maybe not Pavarotti... someone less powerful and refined, more soulful... Billie Holiday? You get the point.
  
  At first, uh oh, a bit of an overdone, dark, cloying sweetness, nose and palate. Thought maybe I'd try something else. Then, ah, it began to rapidly resolve in the glass, like a pixelated image coming together. Tart, as well as sweet. Rainier cherries mixed with cranberries and ripe pomegranate. Something slightly medicinal, too. Birch bark, just a hint?
  
  Overall, a pretty lovable 12-year old Rioja. I think. Will have to try a more thoughtful presentation. Lots of ultrafine sediment, sludgy, muddy, clinging to the side of the glass. Licked it, just to see -- hmmm, if it were frozen, Rioja ice cream, maybe?

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  10/4/2016 - Donjcorleone Likes this wine: 93 Points

  1st btl of an OWC 6er since having tasted it on release. This wine offers up an intoxicating, candied, red fruited nose along with a medicinal band aid smell in addition to an integrated strong oak presence that leads way to a tart, layered, sweet red and black fruited palate with some oaky spice notes that linger pleasantly on the finish. If this is modern Rioja, than count me a fan ��

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  12/12/2014 - tarheel17 wrote: 87 Points

  agree with previous notes: this is way overpriced. While structured, the fruit is either too sour or bordering on prune juice. I can't decide which, though the choices should fall on opposite sides of the taste spectrum...
  The tannin and the well-integrated oak are highlights, but overshadowed by the bipolar acidity. Just OK, and definitely worse on day 2.

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  8/31/2014 - PSPatrick wrote: 89 Points

  The wine was medium ruby in colour and offered muted red fruit aromas, iron, spices, vanilla, firestone and earthy notes on the nose. On the palate the wine showed red fruit, cherry, red currant, raspberry effervescent powder, coffee, spices and earthy notes, paired with high, prominent acidity, well-integrated medium-plus tannin and very good length. The medium-bodied wine was balanced except for the prominent acidity and screamed for food. The QPR still worried me; would not buy again.

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