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The Finest Riojas

"Great Rioja, as traditional as it gets, in good quantity and moderate (often plain great) prices."
Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate
Established in 1890, La Rioja Alta is a benchmark producer of traditional Rioja, silky and elegant wines of fantastic complexity that can age exceptionally well.
Unusual in the region, La Rioja Alta own their vines, with around 360 hectares of vineyards mostly in the northern Alta subregion of Rioja.
Rioja is all about ageing and La Rioja Alta is all about quality, with their top wines 890 & 904 in only in top vintages (three to four per decade). They age their wines in the finest American oak barrels, made by their in-house cooper. The ageing process imparts gorgeous mellow notes of vanilla, chocolate, and coconut to wild berry, and bramble fruit, cedar, along with rose, truffle, tobacco, saddle leather, woodsmoke, and an array of spices, and this alluring complexity keeps you coming back for more. What marks out La Rioja Alta is the impressive fruit and startling freshness of the wines even at their maturity.
The Gran Reserva 904 is aged for 4-5 years in oak with its hallmark elegance and linearity, while the Gran Reserva 890 is their top cuvee, aged for 6-8 years in oak and is more explosive, broad and tannic, according to winemaker José Saenz. Arana is made in years when 890 and 904 are not made and is more modern in style, while Ardanza is a longstanding favourite and is the only cuvee to contain Garnacha (20-25%) alongside the traditional Tempranillo.
These are some of the finest values wine from any region, showing stunning aromas and depth and released when they are ready to drink but can be cellared much longer.
New Releases
Available Summer 2023:
Vintage | Wine | Size | Cs | Bt | Price | Per | Actions | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NM | WA | AG | JS | JD | ||||||||
2015 | Rioja Gran Reserva 904 'Seleccion Especial', Rioja Alta | 6x75cl | 5 | - | £310 | CS(6) | [Add to shopping basket] | - | - | - | - | - |
2015 | Rioja Gran Reserva 904 'Seleccion Especial', Rioja Alta | 1x150cl | 18 | - | £115 | BT (1) | [Add to shopping basket] | - | - | - | 97 | - |
A perfumed nose of plums, mulberries, mushrooms, caramel, sweet tobacco and sweet spices. Full-bodied with velvety, fine tannins and lively acidity. Balanced and supple with a creamy texture. Delicate and precise with a long, polished finish. 90% tempranillo and 10% graciano. Drink or hold.
Vivid ruby. Expansive red and blue fruit preserve, tobacco, potpourri, spice and botanical herb aromas, with vanilla and smoky mineral notes emerging as the wine opens up. Sappy, penetrating and gently chewy on the palate, offering vibrant, mineral- and spice-accented black raspberry, bitter cherry and rose pastille flavors that deepen and turn sweeter on the back half. Shows sharp focus and floral lift on the impressively long, youthfully tannic finish, which leaves behind notes of candied blue fruits and spicecake.
They used the words subtlety, elegance, finesse, delicacy and silk to define the 2015 Gran Reserva 904 Selección Especial, a blend of 90% Tempranillo from their vineyards in Villalba, Briñas and Rodezno with 10% Graciano from the Montecillo vineyard in Fuenmayor that was picked 23 days later than the Tempranillo. The grapes were sorted optically for the first time, and they fermented in stainless steel where the wine went through malolactic too. The wine was put in barrel in January 2016—used American oak barrels built by their own coopers—where it matured for four years, during which time it was racked every six months. 2015 was a healthy vintage with balanced ripeness that delivered wines with good aging potential. They thought the wine needed a little more time in bottle to polish those tannins and have decided to hold it and release the wine around March 2023; it will be marked Selección Especial, the first 904 to do so, as they have very high hopes for this year and believe it's one of the finest vintages. They think it will develop the sophistication in the palate with a little more time and that is should achieve the silkiness that is the signature of 904. This is very 2015; I saw quite strong tannins in all the 2015 wines I tasted from Rioja Alta.
A perfumed nose of plums, mulberries, mushrooms, caramel, sweet tobacco and sweet spices. Full-bodied with velvety, fine tannins and lively acidity. Balanced and supple with a creamy texture. Delicate and precise with a long, polished finish. 90% tempranillo and 10% graciano. Drink or hold.
97 | James Suckling
Vintage | Wine | Size | Cs | Bt | Price | Per | Actions | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NM | WA | AG | JS | JD | ||||||||
2010 | Rioja Gran Reserva 890, Rioja Alta | 6x75cl | 4 | - | £810 | CS(6) | [Add to shopping basket] | - | - | - | 97 | - |
A fragrant nose of blackberries, plums, earth, dried flowers, leather, cloves, sweet tobacco and cigar box. Full-bodied with seamless tannins and fresh acidity. Balanced and layered with great tension. Elegant, with a velvety texture and a long finish. Such length and beauty now with so much age. Drink or hold.
They were eager to show me their 2010 Gran Reserva 890, their flagship wine from one of the most heralded vintages of recent times, the next vintage of this wine since 2005. It's 95% Tempranillo, 3% Graciano and 2% Mazuelo that fermented destemmed and crushed with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel vats for 18 days, the Tempranillo and Mazuelo together and the Graciano separately. After letting the wine settle for the winter, they selected the lots that would age for six years in used American oak barrels with 10 manual rackings. The wine epitomizes the classical style of Rioja Alta with long aging in barrel, developed and tertiary wines with a silky palate and a complex and decadent nose of forest floor, truffles, cigar ash and cedar wood. They need a very special selection of vineyards at higher altitude that take longer to ripen, and they don't do it fully every year. If they don't, the grapes go to Ardanza, but in 2010, the days were warm and the nights very cold and the grapes ripened thoroughly and could stand the long time in barrel without being oaky. They have stopped the last rackings to keep a little more freshness, and the wine feels phenomenal. This has to be one of the finest vintages for this wine. It's drinkable now but should also age for a very long time; it's intense, complex and elegant. A selection of 236 barrels were blended and bottled unfiltered in March 2017 into 61,643 bottles, 4,189 magnums and some larger formats. There will be a 2011 of this wine and then 2015 and possibly 2016 (but no 2012, 2013 or 2014). This is a very intense 890. Classicism in a bottle.
The wine epitomizes the classical style of Rioja Alta with long aging in barrel, developed and tertiary wines with a silky palate and a complex and decadent nose of forest floor, truffles, cigar ash and cedar wood. ... They have stopped the last rackings to keep a little more freshness, and the wine feels phenomenal. This has to be one of the finest vintages for this wine. It's drinkable now but should also age for a very long time; it's intense, complex and elegant... This is a very intense 890. Classicism in a bottle.
97 | Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate
In Stock
Vintage | Wine | Size | Cs | Bt | Price | Per | Actions | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NM | WA | AG | JS | JD | ||||||||
2016 | Vina Ardanza Reserva, Rioja Alta | 6x75cl | 20 | - | £119 | CS(6) | [Add to shopping basket] | - | - | - | 95 | - |
The 2016 Viña Ardanza Reserva was produced with 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha that matured in used American oak barrels for three years, where it was hand-racked from barrel to barrel six times in the case of Tempranillo and five times for the Garnacha, as it had a slightly shorter élevage of 30 months. Against all odds, I found the 2016 to be fresher than the 2015 and less developed, despite the fact that winemaker Julio Sáenz told me he considers it a warmer year. But I have found many wines I like in 2016, and the wine feels very clean and quite harmonious, younger and less developed, with more primary notes and a velvety mouthfeel.
Savoury and complex with dried orange peel, cedar and plenty of sweet spices, walnuts, caramel, dried mushrooms and pine needles. Shows maturity here, with a medium body and superb freshness. Incredibly long finish with lots of truffle and walnut. Lasts over a minute. Very complete now, but you can still hold it.
Savoury and complex with dried orange peel, cedar and plenty of sweet spices, walnuts, caramel, dried mushrooms and pine needles. Shows maturity here, with a medium body and superb freshness. Incredibly long finish with lots of truffle and walnut. Lasts over a minute. Very complete now, but you can still hold it.
95 | James Suckling
Vintage | Wine | Size | Cs | Bt | Price | Per | Actions | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NM | WA | AG | JS | JD | ||||||||
2015 | Vina Arana Gran Reserva, Rioja Alta | 6x75cl | 7 | - | £168 | CS(6) | [Add to shopping basket] | - | - | - | - | - |
Brilliant ruby. Energetic, spice- and smoke-accented black raspberry and candied cherry aromas are complemented by suggestions of rose oil, coconut and cured tobacco. Youthfully chewy and focused on entry, offering concentrated red and dark berry, cherry cola and candied licorice flavors that deepen steadily with air. Floral pastille and oak spice notes linger on the impressively long, smoke-tinged finish, which shows excellent clarity and polished tannins.
Aromas of dark plum, raspberry, mocha, mushroom, chocolate, mocha, coconut and cigar box. Full-bodied with ripe, fine tannins and bright acidity. Balanced and supple with a velvety texture. Coffee notes on the long, succulent finish. 95% tempranillo and 5% graciano. Drink or hold.
Supple, smooth tannins give this red an inviting texture, with dried dark cherry, balsamic, leather and smoke notes, layered together with anise, garrigue and black tea details. Complex, with good balance. Drink now through 2031.
Prices shown In Bond, excluding duty & VAT. Wines available for immediate delivery.
For more information or to place an order, email us.