2005 Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain

2005 Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain

Product: 20051120990
Prices start from £294.00 per case Buying options
2005 Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain

Buying options

Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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6 x 75cl bottle
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6 x 150cl magnum
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Description

Following a vintage as profound as 2004, 2005 has come as a very pleasant surprise.  Many Spanish producers have on the whole been cautiously subdued regarding the 2005 vintage, partly due to wariness of declaring back to back exceptional vintages.  Although slightly different in style to the 2004, this new 2005 release is arguably its equal.  There is less structure, and more finesse but it is exactly what we now expect from this wonderful Gran Reserva.  A sweet, dark cherry and wild raspberry core is bolstered by that classic creaminess to the fruit.  There’s the classic vanilla, and sweet spice hints that you’d expect but this is tempered by fine acidity, very clean and fresh, serious precision for a wine of this style.  Light on its feet right across the long palate, but not at the expense of vibrancy; this can be enjoyed direct from release or cellared for the long term.  One only has to look at the cost of mature vintages (’94, ’85, ‘82) to see the benefit of buying at first release.   
Martyn Rolph - Private Account Manager

wine at a glance

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate96/100
The 2005 Gran Reserva 904 is a superb blend of Tempranillo from the villages of Brias, Labastida and Villalba with 10% Graciano from Briones and Rodezno. The grapes were destemmed and crushed and fermented in stainless steel for 18 days at 25 C. Malolactic fermentation was spontaneous and lasted 38 days. These wines are marked by a long aging in used American oak barrels following the most strict Riojan tradition; four years during which time the wine was manually racked eight times. This is usually my favorite wine from La Rioja Alta and 2005 is one of its best showings, going back to the quality of the vintages of the 1950s and 60s. The nose is very balsamic with notes of camphor, hints of mint, leather and hung game wrapped around a core of cherries in liqueur. Together it is balanced, subtle, truly elegant and classical. The palate is only medium-bodied but with great concentration of flavors that are very tasty, mineral, almost salty and framed by ultra-fine tannins and smashing balance. A great classic. This wine will be released in October 2015, a full ten years after the vintage. At this quality level this is a bargain. 150,000 bottles produced.
Luis Gutirrez - 30/04/2015 Read more

About this WINE

La Rioja Alta

La Rioja Alta

La Rioja Alta continues to be one of the benchmarks for traditionally produced Rioja wine. Established in 1890 at the same spot where their head office sits today, their three Reserva Wine brands, Alberdi, Arana and Ardanza are named after the founding families, all three of which remain shareholders. The company still maintains traditional Rioja winemaking practices whilst embracing many of the new technological advances.

It is unusual for a great bodega of Rioja to own vineyards, but La Rioja Alta own 360ha from which they can source top-quality grapes, resulting in excellent fruit and richness throughout their wines. Tempranillo dominates the plantings, complemented with a small proportion of Garnacha and Graciano vines.

The company is renowned for the quality of its Reservas and in particular for its Gran Reservas, the 904 and the 890. The latter are produced only in exceptional years, are amongst the finest wines being produced in Rioja today.

Gran Reserva 890  is named, rather confusingly, after the date of the creation of La Rioja Alta (1890). It is the non-plus-ultra of the family, a wine that slumbers patiently for 6 years in oak, then is allowed to rest in bottle for a few more years before its released to the suspecting market-place.

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Best of BBX: Rioja

Best of BBX: Rioja

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Tempranillo/Tinto Fino

Tempranillo/Tinto Fino

A high quality red wine grape that is grown all over Spain except in the hot South - it is known as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero, Cencibel in La Mancha and Valdepenas and Ull de Llebre in Catalonia. Its spiritual home is in Rioja and Navarra where it constitutes around 70% of most red blends.

Tempranillo-based wines tend to have a spicy, herbal, tobacco-like character accompanied by ripe strawberry and red cherry fruits. It produces fresh, vibrantly fruit driven "jovenes" meant for drinking young. However Tempranillo really comes into its own when oak aged, as with the top Riojas  where its flavours seem to harmonise perfectly with both French and American oak, producing rich, powerful and concentrated wines which can be extraordinarily long-lived.

In Ribera del Duero it generally sees less oak - the exception being Vega Sicilia where it is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and then aged for an astonishing 7 years in oak and is unquestionably one of the world`s greatest wines.

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