Tuesday, July 19th, 2022
Hey Artisans,

Back in March we told you this was already in our Top 10 Best Old World Buys of 2022.

The rest of the world is now barely catching up. Wine Advocate just published their score:
This is from the same legendary producer of this perennial beloved best buy, you likely may recall —>
"Quite simply, these are some of the finest Riojas that can grace your cellar: complex, refined, classic but without compromising fruit intensity and to reiterate: wines that speak about where they come from." – Neal Martin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The TLDR is 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 the finest Rioja wines, the 2015 Vina Ardanza is a great initiation into the classics. The wine spent three years in barrel and then, once bottled, another three 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. 
 
This is a brilliant investment for your cellar but so delicious to drink now and whenever you please. Wines with this much pedigree rarely come at such a gentle price.
 
Cheers,
—James Tran
2015 La Rioja Alta
Vina Ardanza Reserva 

96 Points - James Suckling:
"A rich nose of raspberry, crushed strawberry, blueberry, coconut, cedar and sweet spice. It’s medium-to full-bodied with fine tannins and fresh acidity. Creamy, balanced and layered with vibrant, spicy character. Long and polished. 80% tempranillo and 20% garnacha. Drink or hold." (11/22/21)

94 Points - Vinous:
"Deep magenta. An intensely perfumed bouquet evokes ripe black raspberry, cherry cola, potpourri, tobacco and exotic spices, plus a smoky mineral flourish. Sweet and broad in the mouth, offering lush red and blue fruit, spicecake, mocha and coconut flavors that firm up on the back half. Finishes extremely long and spicy, with resonating florality, gently chewy tannins and lingering oak spice notes." -JR (4/21)

94 Points - Tim Atkin, MW:
"One of two vintages of Ardanza that are currently on the market, the 2015 is a cuvée of Tempranillo from Fuenmayor and Cenicero and 20% Garnacha from high altitude Tudelilla in the Rioja Oriental. Savoury and aromatic, with a slight animal note, this has raspberry and wild strawberry fruit, scented oak and sweet baking spices. 2021-2027." (2021)

94 Points - Robert Parker's WA:
"I tasted two vintages of their sleek and polished blend of Tempranillo and Garnacha, the oldest of which is the 2015 Viña Ardanza Reserva. It's a blend of 78% Tempranillo and 22% Garnacha (because they found that they needed a little more volume in the wine) from a powerful, warm and ripe year, very interesting to compare with the 2016. They consider 2015 a very good vintage; they compare it with 2001, a year when they produced all the wines. There are three wines from 2015, and there is something in common in all thee wines. The grapes were picked in mid-October and put through optical sorting to ferment followed by malolactic until the end of the year. The wine matured in used American oak barrels—the Tempranillo for 36 months with six manual rackings and the Garnacha for 30 months with five rackings. I find it to be more tertiary, with hints of leather and cured meat and a little wild, very spicy. It has a powerful palate with plenty of tannin, and it even feels that it needs some more polishing of perhaps powerful food... The final blend was bottled in September 2019. No 2013 or 2014 were produced." - Luis Gutierrez (Jul 2022)

93 Points - Decanter:
"Bright beacon of freshness, layers of dark cherry fruit, with hints of a bright Garnacha. Fine and soft tannin, lots of mocha and cacao. Juicy, lively, with a long finish. A model blend, excellent." (11/21)

  • Varietal Composition: 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha
  • Alcohol: 13.5%
  • 9,500 cases imported
  • 69 bottles left
Elswhere: $44.99 btl
Web Avg: $39.00 btl
Our Sale: $34.97 btl
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