1964 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva

Community Tasting Notes (15) Avg Score: 93.3 points

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  3/27/2024 - andrewstevenson.com wrote: 95 Points

  (The second half of yesterday's bottle.)
  Feels much deeper and plummier on the nose, along with some fresh blackberries and apple.
  Rich and full on the palate.
  This has definitely blossomed after 24 hours in the eto. Those rather odd notes of things like lipstick have faded and given way to much more of a beast of a Rioja. No way would I guess at this being 60 years old. Very together, with good fruit, yet also a lovely elegance. Maybe there are a few secondary (or do I mean tertiary?) notes that fleetingly appear.

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  3/26/2024 - andrewstevenson.com wrote: 94 Points

  A real battle with the cork, which was at the same time very crumbly, put also very well sealed in the neck.
  Quite fine sediment.
  Immediately the wine gets to the outside world, there's some promising black fruit. Then there's some secondary elevated notes and a touch of muddiness.
  Good colour.
  Excellent palate. Alive and definitely kicking. Very elegant and soft with just a suggestion of tannins remaining. Some sweet cherry fruit comes randomly along. Equally randomly a touch of lipstick.
  Feels a bit simple, as tasty as it is. I'm at that stage wondering whether it needs some vigorous aeration to wake it up, of whether any great aeration would send it to its grave. I suspect the former. Not drinking the whole bottle tonight, so fingers crossed for tomorrow.
  But it is very impressive.

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  11/29/2021 - G_H wrote: 95 Points

  This needed a bit of time to open up but then presented itself with a beautifully sweet and dense nose with lots of herbs and ripe fresh and cured fruit. Very long finish.

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  11/29/2021 - Cailles wrote: 94 Points

  11x Mature Rioja (1928-1999): Three CVNEs from the 1960s tasted side by side. I’ve had amazing experiences with 60s wines from this winery before including a perfect 100 pts experience with a magical bottle of the 1964 Vina Real Gran Reserva a year ago. Hence, expectations for this series were quite high and that’s why the disappointment was immense with two out of three bottles showing faulty or dead. The 1962 Vina Real Gran Reserva (NR) was completely dead, well past its prime (probably a faulty cork as provenance was impeccable). The 1966 Imperial Gran Reserva (NR) was unfortunately corked. Fortunately, the 1966 Vina Real Gran Reserva (rated 94 pts) was singing and one of the wines of the night thanks to a lot of substance, sexiness, precision and tension. Like my 100 pts experience with the Vina Real from the same vintage, this needed time and got better by the minute. Despite to flawed bottles, I still think these old CVNEs are worth any search.
  
  TN: At first, this seemed a bit simple with just a bit of fresh ripe fruit and some not well defined tertiary notes showing on the nose and palate but with every minute and every swirl the wine got stronger and stronger, gaining weight and aromatic complexity and improving precision. Expressive nose with fresh dark forest berries, some sweet honey notes, herbs, leather and minerality. Same aroma profile with a tad more earthy and minerality notes as well as tobacco and more leather on the palate but still with this beautiful fresh fruit core that creates this wonderful balance and freshness. Good precision. Fine structure with melted tannins, high and well-integrated acidity, nicely creamy texture with builds more over time and a good, long finish. I’m quite certain that this would have reached the 95+ pts category if I would have had more time to follow it.

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  10/27/2021 - sirpat00 wrote: 94 Points

  Old Rioja tasting: Old Rioja tasting, privately organized. Even though 3 out of 11 bottles were flawed, the tasting was once more testament to the outstanding ageability of Rioja. While clearly not a representative sample, the Tondonias were all intact while 2 out of 3 CVNEs were flawed. That said, where the one that was still intact (1964) easily beat the Tondonia. The WOTN was neither, however, but a Paternina from 1928 (95).
  
  Tasting note:
  Pretty aged and already quite advanced, but showing nice fresh berry fruit, hints of medicinal notes and an array of fine aging aromas. Palate was maybe a bit thin as the main point of criticism, otherwise largely dominated by aging notes. This was detailed and finessed and in my view at least a couple of notches better than the Tondonia from the same vintage.

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