Reviews
-Decanter -
-James Suckling -
-Guia Penin -
-Robert Parker's Wine Advocate -
-Wine Spectator -
Technical Details
- 95% Tempranillo, 3% Graciano, and 2% Mazuelo
- José Gallego
- Spain
- La Rioja
- Rioja
- The Tempranillo was sourced from Briñas, Labastida and Villalba. The Graciano and Mazuelo was sourced from Melchorón Estates I and II (Rodezno)
- Wineries for Climate Protection Certified, Organic and Sustainable Practices
- 20% new American oak barrels and 4 year old American oak barrels
- Fermented in stainless steel vats
- Aged in 20% new American oak barrels and 4 year old American oak barrels for 6 years
- 13.5%
- 4,150 cases
La Rioja Alta 890 Selección Especial Gran Reserva Rioja 2001
Wineries for Climate Protection Certified, Organic and Sustainable Practices
27% OFF RETAIL!
6 bottles only! La Rioja Alta’s 2001 vintage 890 Selección Especial Gran Reserva is offered for $289 apiece, well below the $400 retail price, and Decanter awarded it a perfect 100 points, adding that it is a wine “to drink or to keep for many years,” welcome guidance for a bottle now past its 25th birthday. Its journey begins in Haro in 1890, when five Rioja families and Basque investors founded the winery in the town’s railway quarter, and the name 890 recalls that year. The wine was first made in 1964 to mark the house’s 75th anniversary and has been reserved for only the finest vintages since. La Rioja Alta is famously traditional, even making its own American oak barrels in its cooperage. The 2001 is made mostly from Tempranillo, with small amounts of Graciano and Mazuelo for lift and structure, and it spent years in used American oak, racked by hand every six months, before a long rest in bottle. The vintage itself is remembered as an outstanding one in Rioja, and that combination of a great year and patient, old-school winemaking is the foundation of its excellence.
The aromas unfold gently with dried cherries and red plums, cedar and cigar box, a touch of leather and warm spice, then hints of orange peel, dried herbs, and sweet vanilla from the American oak, now fully incorporated into one another. The age shows as silkiness rather than frailty, with fresh acidity carrying the fruit, fine-grained tannins that have long since softened, and a savory, lingering finish of tobacco and earth. Open carefully and give this a solid decant for the optimal expression, and celebrate one of Rioja’s greatest vintages with a historic and noteworthy wine.