Variety: 80% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo, 5% Gamacha
Region: Labastida, Basque Country (northeastern Spain)
Country: Spain
Year: 2008
Price: $14 (retail)
Winery review: Blending Rioja's four traditional varietals, Tempranilllo, Graciano, Mazuelo and Gamacha, our Reserva starts with a rigorous grape selection followed by gentle pressing and patient aging. It is ruby red in color and shows wonderful layers of cassis, cherry and vanilla flavors with just a hint of spice in the mid-palate through the finish which is long and elegant. This well-aged wine is perfect with steak, roasted pork, lamb and even heart seafood steaks such as swordfish. It will also age beautifully for years in the bottle.
My review: I think this is the first Rioja I've ever had and I liked it a lot! I had strong themes of oak, dark fruits such as cherry and even some blackberry, and vanilla on the nose. It opens up very nicely with its bouquet when swirled in the glass. The taste was very dry, lightly tannic, lightly acidic with a medium body, in my opinion. I also could taste the age on this wine; it's usually expected that red wines pack a punch when they're young because the tannic and acidic components haven't had time to settle and soften. Because it's a 2008 vintage, this wine has had some time to settle down and I could really sense a complexity to this wine because of the aging. I would definitely pair this wine with steak and other heavy meat dishes.
I had this wine without food.
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