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Washington Wine Blog |
Layers of toasty oak meld with red cherry and cranberry with dusty terroir on the nose. The palate is fresh with terrific weight and acidity that line the core of red fruits, with toasty oak and citrus rind tones. Enjoy this delightful Crianza Rioja over the next five to seven years. Drink 2020-2025.
Dr. Owen J. Bargreen, CS - July 2020 |
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Wine Review Online |
I love the way this wine is styled. Often Rioja Crianza ends up in a kind of vinous “no man’s land,” with too much oak to enjoy in the years immediately following release, but not quite enough guts to outlast the oak or age into something really worth the wait. This is an exemplary case in counterpoint. The fruit is quite ripe for a Rioja, and just a bit low in acidity, though that’s not a shortcoming for a wine made for early drinking. The oak is also unusually reserved for the breed, with none of the “piney,” resinous character that inhibits early enjoyment. The red cherry and berry flavors are very enjoyable, with just enough tannin to give the wine some backbone to stand up to food. Wonderfully easy to enjoy, you could reach for this as a partner for a meal when you might be thinking about New World Pinot Noir (surprising as that may seem), and end up with a much better wine for a comparable sum of money.
Michael Franz - November 3, 2020 |
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View from the Cellar |
The Crianza bottling from Vina Otano is composed from a blend of ninety percent tempranillo and ten percent mazuelo, with the wine aged in a combination of French and American oak for a year prior to bottling. The wine offers up a deep and youthful nose of red and black cherries, cigar smoke, a touch of Rioja spice, incipient nutskin, a lovely base of soil tones and smoky oak. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and has plenty of midpalate depth, with moderate tannins, fine balance and grip and a long, tangy finish. This is still a puppy and deserves some bottle age to fully blossom. It will be a fine bottle when it is ready to drink, but it needs a bit of cellaring. 2025-2055.
John Gilman - Issue #91 / February 2021 |
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Wine Enthusiast |
This wine has a nose of purple plum and cassis, with a touch of summer farm stand. Dark-berry flavors are joined by satiny tannins and notes of toffee, toasted almond and violet. The finish is marked with a note of salinity. M.D. - Best of the Year 2022 |
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Vinous Media |
Deep, brilliant red. Lively, sharply focused red fruit and floral scents are complemented by hints of vanilla and white pepper. Juicy and energetic on the palate, offering fresh red currant, pomegranate and cherry flavors that turn sweeter through the midpalate. Smooth tannins frame a long finish that strongly echoes the red fruit note. Raised in a combination of French and American oak barrels. 2021 – 2026
Josh Raynolds - April 2021 |
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