2009 Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain

2009 Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain

Product: 20091120990
Prices start from £400.00 per case Buying options
2009 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
BBX marketplace BBX 1 case £400.00
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6 x 150cl magnum
BBX marketplace BBX 1 case £779.00
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Description

904 is amongst my top 10 go-to wines, it never disappoints and I am thrilled that the 2009 is no exception. A product of perhaps the best Rioja vintage since 2005, this edition, even at eight years old is brimming with the youth and vitality that this wine always seems to exude well into its second decade. The first nose is unmistakable, I struggle to recall a more outrageously seductive use of American oak in any red wine. The synonyms therefore run aplenty; coconut, cinnamon, coco powder, nutmeg, its everything you want in proper Rioja and then some. Sour cherry and stewed red fruit lurk beneath but come alive on the palate where a riot of cranberries and redcurrants freshen the whole. Leave this just a couple of years to knit together then choose a year in the next 20 to drink it – it doesn’t matter when, it’ll be delicious.
Jared Ehret, Private Account Manager

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate95+/100
Time flies, and the 904 for sale is already the 2009 Gran Reserva 904, as they didn't bottle it in 2008. They are only going to bottle their top wines in very good and excellent vintages, so there will be a 2010 and 2011 but no 2012, 2013 or 2014. This super classical cuve showcases the wines from Haro, silky and elegant after long aging in oak and a good future in bottle. 2009 was a powerful vintage, ripe but with good balance. The blend is approximately 90% Tempranillo and 10% Graciano, fermented in stainless steel with a 78-day natural malolactic. The aging was in four-year-old American oak barrels crafted by their own coopers; the wines aged from April 2010 until April 2014. During that time, the wine was racked every six months, to be finally bottled in November 2014. This is usually my favorite wine from the portfolio, where the balance between aging and youth reaches its highest point. It's developed but it keeps some fruit character, plenty of spices and balsamic aromas. The palate is polished but has some clout, with clean, focused flavors and a long, spicy and tasty finish. This represents good value for the quality it delivers. 150,000 bottles produced. Because they didn't produce 890 in 2009, the grapes for the 890 were in this 904. As a curiosity, they uncorked a 1982, which was superb.
Luis Gutirrez - 28/02/2018 Read more
Tim Atkin MW
Reflecting the excellence of the vintage, as well as its power, this is the latest in a superb run of 904 Gran Reservas. Combining Tempranillo with 10% Graciano for added backbone and grip, it’s a wine that is (as ever) supremely drinkable on release, but will reward further cellaring. Spicy, aromatic and enticing, with the vanilla sweetness of American oak, savoury tannins and a core of stylish, balsamic-edged fruit. Traditional Rioja with a modern accent.
96/100 - Tim Atkin MW 2018 Rioja Report
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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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