Marqués de Riscal Reserva Rioja DOCa

The Rioja region, where the Marqués de Riscal Reserva has its home, is one of the most climatically and geologically favored wine-growing regions in this world: in the north, the peaks of the Cantabrian Mountains protect the Ebro Valley from too much humidity and cold, and in the south, the over 2,000 m high massif of the Sierra de la Demanda protects against scorching heat and violent storms of the Spanish plateau. Calcareous soils and low temperature fluctuations allow vines to thrive excellently. Marqués de Riscal is the most traditional of the famous Rioja houses. In 1860, after a long stay in France, Don Camilo Hurtado de Amézaga, Marqués de Riscal, had a bodega built in Elciego modeled after the great Bordeaux wineries and produced his Rioja wine in the same way. He was the first in Rioja to bottle his own wine and won high international awards after only a few years.

Marqués de Riscal still produces exclusively wines from the Reserva maturity level in Rioja Alavesa and uses only hand-picked grapes from its own vineyards. The wine underwent 26 months of aging in small American oak barrels and spent another 22 months in the bottle before its delivery.

Nevertheless, the Marqués de Riscal Reserva presents itself with more fine fruit and perhaps a little more elegantly than the previous vintages. The oak tannins, which were prominently used in the past for the sake of aging potential, have been reduced; overall, the wood appears better integrated. The vintage impresses with a good interplay of the usual beautiful ripe note, spicy berry fruit, fine-nerved acidity, and the delicate vanilla tones and traces of tobacco and dark chocolate from the barrel aging.

Weinwirtschaft 2021 Top 50 Rank 9