Tempranillo
Tempranillo
Olartia Rioja Crianza
Olartia Rioja CrianzaWhiffs of fresh-tilled earth, black olive and exquisite floral tones further delight the senses and entice you toward your first sip. On the palate, blackberries and dark cherries ride a plush, velvety texture through a charming midpalate complete with vibrant acidity and subtle cocoa nibs. Toasted oak and pleasant earth create a firm backbone that holds this wine together beautifully. You would be hard-pressed to find a better bottle for this price.
Senor de Lesmos Rioja Gran Reserva
Senor de Lesmos Rioja Gran ReservaAll estate fruit, hand harvested, and carefully vinified with native yeasts, this is a hand made wine with the purity, texture and elegance. Aged 30 months in barrel and many more in bottle, this Gran Reserva smells of ripe red fruit and chewy, dried fruits with a subtle hint of chocolate. On the palate, the red fruits show great development, with lots of chalky minerality and the elegance of a middle aged Gran Reserva.
A perfect blend of rusticity and elegance – so typical of old school Rioja – is clearly shown in this extraordinary wine.
Senor de Lesmos Rioja Reserva Especial
Senor de Lesmos Rioja Reserva EspecialBodega Casa Juan is located in Rioja Alavesea, the Basque area of Rioja. The winery is a converted flour mill, featuring concrete tanks for fermenting and blending the wine and barrels for ageing that are used for up to seven years. These are traditional Riojas in winemaking and spirit, though the site-specificity of their Laguardia and Villabuena vineyards confers a fruit character all its own to these wines. The reserva especial is a special blend of 50% Tempranillo and 50% Mazuelo, that is aged in a different selection of barrels than usual. Some more new oak comes into play, but that is only relative to Angel’s very conservative, light toast, high proportion of older barrels aging regimen. This is the rarest and smallest production of the Lesmos wines, and possibly their very best.
Senor de Lesmos Rioja Reserva
Senor de Lesmos Rioja ReservaAll estate fruit, hand harvested, and carefully vinified with native yeasts, this is a hand sewn wine with the purity, texture and elegance to prove it. Produced from 85% Tempranillo and 15% Mazuelo, the Reserva is a barrel selection of wines that Angel feels can undergo longer aging in barrel and then in bottle. Aged a total of 27 months in barrels, then into concrete for more than a year, the Reserva also sees bottle aging until Angel deems it ready for release.
This wine ramps up the intensity of the Crianza, with more pungent fruit as well as a real spicy and wild quality. In a good vintage, this wine is likely to improve for quite a long time.