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La Rioja Alta Rioja Viña Ardanza Reserva 1996

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La Rioja Alta Rioja Viña Ardanza Reserva (1996)

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Starting at: $35.99 USD

3 Reviews

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Winery:: La Rioja Alta
Varietal:: Tempranillo
Region:: Spain > Rioja > Rioja Alta
Type:: Red Wine
Color:
Drink Dates:: Drink Now - 2016
UPC:

User Tags: acidic, serve chilled, refined, vigorous, after-taste, fruit, mild, enveloping, fine, usual

What to Expect

The Rioja region of Spain produces one of the world's finest, and most long lived wines: Rioja. Rioja's renaissance, in the latter half of the 19th century, was a direct result of the phyloxera bug that decimated vineyards around the globe. While English merchants came to Rioja to replace their French imports, the wines here actually have much more in common with Chianti. Both wines are blend relying heavily on one grape, in this case Tempranillo. Like Chianti's Sangiovese, Tempranillo usually produces a relatively high acid wine of medium to medium-full body. Tempranillo tends to produce wines with a dusty, leathery edge to its raspberry and blackberry fruit tones. With additions of Graciano, Mazuela and Grancha, the wines of Rioja can take on additional layers of flavor and aroma, but the tradition of extended oak aging for Rioja's great wines contributes to an even more obvious imprint. While the Spaniards have traditionally been fans of the strong vanilla and coconut components that American oak barrels have contributed to Rioja, more and more producers have turned to French oak favoring its more subtle spice tones. Rioja continues to undergo extended aging in barrel with Reserva and Gran Reserva bottlings, representing a producer's highest achievement, spending a minimum of 3 of 5 years respectively in the producer's cellar.

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Find other vintages of this wine:

1986, 1985, 1982, 1983, 1989, 2000, 1987, 1999, 1970, NV, 1978

Reviews Add a Review

Wine.com

This blend of Tempranillo (75%) and Granacha (25%) is deep cherry red. The aroma is a perfect harmony from ripe fruit and the maturation in American oak casks. The flavor is powerful, spicy, round, enveloping and vigorous. All the varied flavours are bound together in elegant harmony. The aftertaste is long, pleasurable and insistent The fine colour, good extract, high alcoholic content and ideal pH and acidity lead us to believe that this vintage will turn out to be one of the great Rioja vintages. The determining factor was the weather. The winter was milder and drier than usual. Growth started read more...