La Rioja Alta Vina Alberdi Reserva 2020 - 750ml

93pts James Suckling

A classical, typical Rioja Alta red with elegant notes of vanilla, coconut, smoked spices and strawberries. Refined and suave, with fine tannins and a long, creamy finish. Juicy and elegant. Really approachable now, but give it two more years to get more mushroom complexity.

91pts Wine Spectator

Hints of tobacco, smoke and vanilla are a fragrant thread winding through the baked cherry and raspberry fruit, cocoa powder and red licorice notes on display in this lively, harmonious, focused red. Fine, crisp tannins firm the finish.

Tasting Notes

Bright, deep ruby colour with intense dark cherry hues on the rim of the glass. It stands out for its intense ripe red fruit aromas like strawberries, raspberries and redcurrants complemented by pleasantly sweet spicy notes of vanilla, caramel, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. The palate is round, with lively freshness at the start and sweet, supple tannins, leading to a long, fruity and balsamic finish, so characteristic of Viña Alberdi.

Viña Alberdi is characterised by a notable food-pairing versatility. It is an ideal companion to appetisers, snacks and barbecues, perfect with rice, pastas and stews, and great with lightly-grilled meat and fish.

Winemaker Notes

Rated Excellent, the weather conditions during the growing cycle were optimal, producing very healthy grapes in the vineyards. The bunches, loose and well aerated, ripened exceptionally well. This allowed us to wait for the optimum time to harvest each of the plots selected for this particular wine. As a result, the wines stand out for their balance, attractive freshness and round, silky tannins, particularly suitable for ageing and with a decidedly Atlantic character, typical of this part of Rioja.

100% Tempranillo from Mayorita, El Bardal and El Rebollar in Rodezno, and Alto del Rey in Labastida. These vineyards are situated at 500-600 metres above sea level and the vines were planted on clay-limestone soils more than 40 years ago.

The harvest is done by hand, selecting the bunches in the vineyard. The grapes are placed in boxes and taken to the winery in refrigerated transport to preserve their integrity. After destemming and crushing, the grapes were placed in tanks where alcoholic and malolactic fermentation took place naturally. The wine was aged for two years in American oak barrels made by our in-house coopers —new ones in the first year and four-year-old barrels for the second year. We carried out four rackings in the traditional way, from barrel to barrel, separating by candlelight the sediment that formed during the ageing process.