🥇 Seller @ Tasting! NEW 95pt Ardanza Mind-Blowing Rioja $41.97

Monday, October 28th, 2024

The #1 Selling Winner of Spanish Tasting

The NEW 2017 La Rioja Alta Ardanza Reserva!

This latest vintage is the CREAMIEST, SMOOTHEST, MOST POLISHED Ardanza to DATE.

“A more vibrant and fruitier expression of Ardanza this year... Round and silky on the palate with lovely spices and a long, nicely saline finish. A nice touch of creaminess..."

95 Points - James Suckling

“2017 was not an easy harvest, but it produced some beautiful and classical wines, like the 2017 Viña Ardanza Reserva, which shows a little more advancement and polish and is ready to drink."

94 Points - Robert Parker's WA

“...this is a delicious release of Ardanza that shows no sign of the heat of the 2017 growing season."

94 Points - Tim Atkin, MW

“...with a juicy texture and fine, polished tannins that culminate in a bold and lingering finish. This is a vibrant red wine with harmonious balance.”

93 Points - Vinous

“There's a supple generosity on the palate, trimmed nicely by fine-grained tannins..."

92 Points - Wine Spectator

The #2 Selling Winner of Spanish Tasting:

Their Greatest Vintage Since 1964

"One of the finest vintages." -Parker

"Very impressive... Juicy, creamy finish lasting a minute. Really elegant and layered. It goes on and on. A real Rioja Gran Reserva and I recommend buying a case!" 98 Points, James Suckling

La Rioja Alta is one of ~~Spain's~~ the world's greatest and most beloved wineries. For 132 years (since 1890) they've made classically elegant and polished Rioja wines that are always released after many years aging in their cellars. They do all the work, you don’t pay the price. It’s a perfect arrangement.

Regarded by many as the greatest Rioja wines ever, they offer insanely high-quality for prices so low they seem like typos.

For those of you not familiar with La Rioja Alta, this wine has been a Cult Classic for decades.

The wine spent four years in barrel and then, once bottled, another five years aging in the bodega's cellars. The result is a wine that is drinking extremely well today, almost a decade from the vintage...plus it will continue rounding off its fine bouquet in the bottle over time.

Reflecting the excellence of the vintage, as well as its power, this is the latest in a superb run of 904 Gran Reservas. These delicious wines can grace your cellar for years to come but are also so delicious to drink now and whenever you please. Talk about brilliant investments for your cellar! Wines like this rarely come at such a gentle price.

Salud,

—James Tran

2017 La Rioja Alta Vina Ardanza Reserva

95 Points - James Suckling:

“A more vibrant and fruitier expression of Ardanza this year with strawberries, mussels, warm spices and berries. Round and silky on the palate with lovely spices and a long, nicely saline finish. A nice touch of creaminess works really well here and further extends the finish. 80% tempranillo and 20% garnacha. Drink or hold.” (Aug 2023)

94 Points - Robert Parker's WA:

“2017 was not an easy harvest, but it produced some beautiful and classical wines, like the 2017 Viña Ardanza Reserva, which shows a little more advancement and polish and is ready to drink. It was produced with 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha from their vineyard La Pedriza in Tudelilla. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured in American oak barrels, 36 months for the Tempranillo and 30 for the Garnacha (that was harvested 15 days later), with six rackings. It's ripe and aromatic, tertiary, with 14.5% alcohol and mellow acidity, a medium-bodied palate and sleek tannins. It has a pungent note of clove and pepper, some licorice and ink and the cherries in liqueur from the Garnacha. An updated classical Ardanza." – Luis Gutierrez (Feb 2024)

94 Points - Tim Atkin, MW:

“Made, as many wines were in the past, with a combination of Tempranillo from the Rioja Alta sub-region and 20% Garnacha from Tudelilla in the Rioja Oriental, this is a delicious release of Ardanza that shows no sign of the heat of the 2017 growing season. Aged for three years in American oak, it's tangy, savoury, layered and complex, with leather and tobacco leaf aromas, wild strawberry and red cherry fruit and appealing vanilla sweetness."

93 Points - Vinous:

“Viña Ardanza is a wine that embodies the long history of Rioja. The 2017 Gran Reserva Viña Ardanza is a blend of 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha sourced from Rioja Alta and Oriental. Aged for up to 36 months in American oak, it presents a ripe profile with aromas of black fruit, earth and balsamic, complemented by cedar and vanilla. On the palate, it is dry and rich, with a juicy texture and fine, polished tannins that culminate in a bold and lingering finish. This is a vibrant red wine with harmonious balance.” – Joaquin Hidalgo (Apr 2024)

92 Points - Wine Spectator:

“Baked cherry, raspberry ganache and warm fig flavors are ripe and expressive, with a pleasing counterpoint and added detail from rich notes of loamy earth and leather, plus accents of bay leaf, vanilla and red licorice. There's a supple generosity on the palate, trimmed nicely by fine-grained tannins and a tang of orange peel acidity. Tempranillo and Garnacha. Drink now through 2032. 9,000 cases imported.” – Alison Napjus (Aug 2024)

Varietal Composition: 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha
Alcohol: 14.5%
9,000 cases imported
30 bottles in stock now!

Elsewhere: $~~50.00~~

Our Sale: $41.97

Order Link

2015 La Rioja Alta 904 Seleccion Especial Gran Reserva

98 Points - James Suckling:

"Very impressive complexity and width on the nose, showing lots of savoriness with mushrooms, sandalwood, cedar, sweet spices, dried oranges and tobacco. Really even and juicy on the palate with fine and very present tannins. Juicy, creamy finish lasting a minute. Really elegant and layered. It goes on and on. A real Rioja Gran Reserva and I recommend buying a case! The first vintage that La Rioja Alta labelled ‘Seleccion Especial’. So appealing now, but this will evolve well in the next 20 years."

97 Points - Penin Guide:

"COLOUR: cherry, garnet rim AROMA : balanced, complex, ripe fruit, spicy, fine reductive notes, meaty notes, earthy notes FLAVOUR: good structure, flavourful, round tannins, balanced, great length." (5/2022)

96 Points - Tim Atkin, MW:

"One of a pair of current releases of 904, both of them from warmer vintages, this delightful 2015 is a felicitous cuvée of Tempranillo and 10% Graciano. All sourced from higher altitude vineyards, this will reward further time in bottle, showing classic sweet spices, fine tannins, layers of red and black fruits and chalky freshness."

95 Points - Robert Parker's WA:

"They used the words subtlety, elegance, finesse, delicacy and silk to define the 2015 Gran Reserva 904 Selección Especial, a blend of 90% Tempranillo from their vineyards in Villalba, Briñas and Rodezno with 10% Graciano from the Montecillo vineyard in Fuenmayor that was picked 23 days later than the Tempranillo. The grapes were sorted optically for the first time, and they fermented in stainless steel where the wine went through malolactic too. The wine was put in barrel in January 2016—used American oak barrels built by their own coopers—where it matured for four years, during which time it was racked every six months. 2015 was a healthy vintage with balanced ripeness that delivered wines with good aging potential. They thought the wine needed a little more time in bottle to polish those tannins and have decided to hold it and release the wine around March 2023; it will be marked Selección Especial, the first 904 to do so, as they have very high hopes for this year and believe it's one of the finest vintages. They think it will develop the sophistication in the palate with a little more time and that is should achieve the silkiness that is the signature of 904. This is very 2015; I saw quite strong tannins in all the 2015 wines I tasted from Rioja Alta. Drink 2024-2035." - LG (7/2022)

95 Points - Vinous Media:

"Vivid ruby. Expansive red and blue fruit preserve, tobacco, potpourri, spice and botanical herb aromas, with vanilla and smoky mineral notes emerging as the wine opens up. Sappy, penetrating and gently chewy on the palate, offering vibrant, mineral- and spice-accented black raspberry, bitter cherry and rose pastille flavors that deepen and turn sweeter on the back half. Shows sharp focus and floral lift on the impressively long, youthfully tannic finish, which leaves behind notes of candied blue fruits and spicecake. Drink 2025-2036."

Varietal Composition: 90% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano from 40-year-old vines
Alcohol: 14.5%
3,200 cases imported
2 cases in stock now!

Our Sale:

$99.97 (1-5)

$94.97 (6-11)

$89.97 (12+)

Order Link

2019 La Rioja Alta Vina Alberdi Reserva

92 Points - James Suckling:

"Attractive aromas of sweet spices, smoke and seaweed. Some roasted nuts. Hints of Iberico ham. Medium-bodied with a nice rounded character to the tannins and juicy fruit. Pure tempranillo. Drink now." (October 2023)

91 Points - Vinous Media:

"The 2019 Reserva Viña Alberdi is 100% Tempranillo, sourced from Labastida, Rioja Alavesa and aged for two years in American oak barrels. Garnet in color, the bouquet features vanilla and ripe plum notes along with hints of balsamic and caramel. Dry and juicy on the palate, the polished tannins and silky flow lead to a fairly nimble finish—a delicate Rioja red." – Joaquin Hidalgo (Apr 2024)

91 Points - Wine Spectator:

"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. 46,000 cases made, 16,500 cases imported." - AN (Jun 2024)

Varietal Composition: 100% Tempranillo from 40-year-old vines
Alcohol: 14.5%
16,500 cases imported
34 bottles left

Elsewhere: $~~35.00~~

Our Sale:

$28.97 (1-11)

$25.97 (12+)

Order Link

Also Available: The Best Vintages of Bodega MUGA!