2020 La Rioja Alta Viña Alberdi Reserva Rioja [JS92][JG92][WS91]

"The 2019 Rioja 'Viña Alberdi' Reserva from La Rioja Alta is made entirely from tempranillo, with the vines at least forty years of age. The wine is aged entirely in small American oak barrels for two years, with the first year in new wood and the second in 'three wine' barrels. The wine is excellent on both the nose and palate, with the bouquet offering up a complex blend of red and black raspberries, woodsmoke, a touch of spiced meats, chalky soil tones, cloves, nutmeg, a touch of nutskin and a nice mix of smoky and toasted coconutty oak scents. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with superb depth of fruit, lovely soil inflection and grip, moderate, buried tannins and fine balance on the long, complex and classy finish. This is already very tasty, but it has plenty of well-integrated tannins still on the finish and tucking it away in the cellar for four or five years will result in a more velvety and complex wine. Fine juice. 2024-2055+" 

Wine Spectator, 91 Points 

"Hints of toast, smoke and spices lace flavors of soft cherry and plum fruit, mandarin orange peel and dried flowers and herbs in this well-knit, medium-bodied red, framed by lightly chewy tannins. Drink now through 2029." 

Winemaker Notes: 

"Medium-depth, cherry red, with a clean, bright orange rim. Its nose is intense, with dominating ripe fruit and strawberry jam rounding off the background notes of cocoa, vanilla, caramel, and smoke from oak ageing. A pleasant acidity and soft, round tannins provide a very pleasant, medium-bodied mouthfeel. Intense finish, with persistent hints of strawberry jam, cocoa and vanilla and a seductive final acidity that entices you to carry on drinking."