92 |
Wine Review Online |
This is very well made Rioja Reserva that shows the generosity of a warm year but still manages to display regional typicity. There’s enough oak in the mix to require some aeration, but the wine shows quite well after an hour, and beautifully after two. In terms of weight, it is really just medium-bodied, but it is fully flavored when the spicy, toasty oak joins forces with the fruit’s impact on the palate. The oak pulls up short of the fruit in the finish, which is exactly what makes the wine so enjoyable, whereas lots of renditions of Rioja Reserva suffer from astringent finishes with wood tannin killing the sweetness of the fruit. The blend is 85% Tempranillo 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo. With time to loosen up, the overall impression is soft and invitingly deep and plush on the palate, and there’s no doubt this excellent now but looking at 5 to 7 very promising years ahead.
Michael Franz - November 3., 2020 |
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92 |
Wine Spectator |
This big red offers ripe, fresh fruit flavors of black cherry and plum, in a plump texture kept balanced by firm tannins and lively acidity. Harmonious, still youthful. Drink now through 2030. 4,500 cases made, 1,500 cases imported.
Thomas Matthews - August 31, 2021 |
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92 |
Vinous Media |
Deep violet. Spice- and mineral-tinged scents of fresh cherry, dark berries and spicecake are complemented by a candied rose accent. Juicy and pliant in the mouth, offering smoky black raspberry, cherry cola, vanilla and cracked pepper flavors that deepen steadily on the back half. In an energetic style, showing fine clarity and silky tannins that frame a long, focused finish. Raised in French and American oak barrels for 18 months. 2023 – 2032
Josh Raynolds - April 2021 |
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92 |
View from the Cellar |
The 2015 Reserva bottling from Viña Otano has a slightly different cépages than the 2017 Crianza, as the blend here is eighty percent tempranillo, fifteen percent graciano and five percent Mazuelo. The grapes are again hand-harvested and aged in a combination of older French and American casks, for eighteen months in this case, followed by three years of bottle aging in the cellars. The wine is really quite good on the nose, wafting from the glass in a mix of cherries, raspberries, cloves, cedar, a Chambolle-Musigny-like touch of mustard seed, a fine base of soil and a topnote of bonfires. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and starting to get nicely velvety on the attack, with a lovely core of red fruit, good soil undertow, still a bit of backend tannins and a long, well-balanced, tangy and complex finish. This is really very good Rioja! It is quite approachable today, but still shows some tannin on the finish and will drink even better with a bit more time in the cellar. 2022-2065.
John Gilman - Issue # 98 March/April 2022 |
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91 |
Washington Wine Blog |
The 2015 ‘Reserva’ Rioja by Vina Otano has a touch of Manzuelo and Graciano blended in, as this was aged for eighteen months in oak before bottling. The lovely freshness, weight and sense of salinity entices as bright red fruits dance with citrus rind and damp earth tones on the palate. Every bit outstanding at this stage, the 2015 Vina Otano ‘Reserva’ Rioja will enjoy another decade or more of life ahead of it. Drink 2020-2030.
Dr. Owen J. Bargreen, CS - July 2020 |
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