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2008 Viña Ardanza, Reserva, La Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain

2008 Viña Ardanza, Reserva, La Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain
Red • Dry • Full Bodied • Tempranillo
Ready - mature
Richard Hemming MW 17/20 Luis Gutiérrez 93/100 James Suckling 94/100 Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW 95/100
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Code: Y9737B
Description

For us, Vina Ardanza, Reserva is the sweet spot of La Rioja Alta’s range. The 2008 shows aromas of spiced plums, damson, and sweet spice, with hints of Asian spice and vanillin on the nose. Succulent brambly fruit sits at the core of the medium-bodied palate. Ripe, integrated tannins hold the framework for the layers of sweet cherry and strawberry fruit, savoury notes of leather and cured meat, entwined with a gentle spiciness.

Texturally pleasing, a gentle creaminess coats the palate courtesy of American oak maturation, which is wonderfully balanced by a complementing acidity, maintaining freshness and balance through to the long finish. Wonderfully produced with lots going on, you can buy confidently here with quality assurance from one of Rioja’s most famed and adorned bodegas. It is delicious to enjoy now but will continue to evolve and develop further complexity over the coming years.

Berry Bros. & Rudd

  • Colour
    Red
  • Sweetness
    Dry
  • Vintage
    2008
  • Alcohol
    13.5%
  • Maturity
    Ready - mature
  • Grape
    Tempranillo
  • Body
    Full Bodied
  • Producer
    La Rioja Alta
Critics reviews
Richard Hemming MW 17/20

80% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha.

Mushroom, farmyard, milk chocolate and soft red berries. It is ever-reliable, with its expert balance of rounded tannin and fresh acid. Lovely liquorice notes to finish.

Drink 2018 - 2028

Richard Hemming MW, JancisRobinson.com (February2018)
Luis Gutiérrez 93/100

No less than 600,000 bottles are produced. I tasted from a bottle from March 2013.

Vintages for Viña Ardanza seem to be going fast. It seems like yesterday that the 2001 was released, and now the 2008 Viña Ardanza is already here.This is the first vintage when they have been able to use the fruit from their new Garnacha vineyards in the village of Tudelilla Rioja Baja), La Pedriza, which represents 20% of the blend complementing the majority of Tempranillo. The wine was put in barrel in March 2009 separately; the Tempranillo was in four-year-old barrels for 36 months with six rackings, and the Garnacha in second and third-use barrels for 30 months with five rackings.

Vintages might go fast, but the wine does not feel too young, which was my fear. There are notes of stewed meat, cured leather, cloves, other spices and an overall balsamic character. The palate feels solid, consistent, and nicely built, with abundant tannins and good balancing acidity. This should stand up to food and be able to develop in bottle.

Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (August2016)
James Suckling 94/100

An aromatic nose of dried strawberries and flowers follows through to a full body, soft and velvety tannins, and a long and flavorful finish. It is extravagant and delicious yet refined.

Drink now

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (December2016)
Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW 95/100

PBT: The best classic style of Grenache and Tempranillo, pulling together joyful fruit expression and serious depth. It is amazingly complex and unique in the mouth—a benchmark Rioja blend.

SJE: A rich, sweet, savoury Reserva style with all the red cherries and a strong Grenache influence. It is somewhat old-fashioned, with plentiful integrated oak and a fine rasp of tannin.

PM: This has a wonderful oxidative style, giving it a superb savoury nose of leather. It is a perfect combination of mellowness versus vigour and, at the same time, exudes great finesse.

Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW, Decanter.com (December2016)
About this wine

Rioja Alta
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La Rioja Alta

Tempranillo/Tinto Fino

A high quality red wine grape that is grown all over Spain except in the hot South - it is known as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero, Cencibel in La Mancha and Valdepenas and Ull de Llebre in Catalonia. Its spiritual home is in Rioja and Navarra where it constitutes around 70% of most red blends.

Tempranillo-based wines tend to have a spicy, herbal, tobacco-like character accompanied by ripe strawberry and red cherry fruits. It produces fresh, vibrantly fruit driven "jovenes" meant for drinking young. However Tempranillo really comes into its own when oak aged, as with the top Riojas where its flavours seem to harmonise perfectly with both French and American oak, producing rich, powerful and concentrated wines which can be extraordinarily long-lived.

In Ribera del Duero it generally sees less oak - the exception being Vega Sicilia where it is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and then aged for an astonishing 7 years in oak and is unquestionably one of the world`s greatest wines.
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