Need help? Call +44 (0)20 7793 7900 or email wine@goedhuiswaddesdon.com.
Immediately open and charming on the nose, the 2019 Imperial Gran Reserva comes from a classic year - never too hot or too cool - offering a beautifully complex and concentrated medley of fruit that can only ever be from this brilliant estate. A blend of Tempranillo with 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo, the immediate hit of glossy plum and ripe blackcurrant feels very natural and unforced. Vanilla, nutmeg and clove spice, with some truffle notes, delicately frame the fruit, wrapped themselves around a gently phenolic core. The key though is the granitic minerality that runs through the wine, providing a wonderful balance against the fruit, held together by super fine tannins. This is a humdinger; pure, precise and focused.
The 2019 Gran Reserva Imperial is a blend of 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo. Following malolactic fermentation in concrete vats, it aged for two years in 225-liter French (70%) and American (30%) oak barrels—both new and second use. It underwent rackings every eight months, before extended aging in century-old cellars. This opens with ripe black fruit and plum aromas, framed by well-integrated oak and subtle herbal notes. It displays a delicate style in the mouth, with fine, chalky tannins and a hint of dried herbs on the finish. The 2019 is a refined, flavorful red in a thoroughly classic Rioja tone. Drink: 2025-2039
2019 was a warm and classical year of healthy grapes, and the 2019 Imperial Gran Reserva is a powerful version only produced in exceptional years. Produced with a blend of Tempranillo with 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo, it fermented in oak vats with their own selected yeasts, and the wine matured for two years in new and used barriques, 80% of them French and the rest American. It has a classical nose, with notes of dry leaves, truffle, cigar ash and dark spices and a touch of iodine and earth. It comes in at 14% alcohol, with a pH of 3.63 and 5.67 grams of acidity. It's harmonious and balanced, with elegant, polished and sleek tannins. 56,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2022. Drink: 2025-2040
Immediately open and charming on the nose, the 2019 Imperial Gran Reserva comes from a classic year - never too hot or too cool - offering a beautifully complex and concentrated medley of fruit that can only ever be from this brilliant estate. A blend of Tempranillo with 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo, the immediate hit of glossy plum and ripe blackcurrant feels very natural and unforced. Vanilla, nutmeg and clove spice, with some truffle notes, delicately frame the fruit, wrapped themselves around a gently phenolic core. The key though is the granitic minerality that runs through the wine, providing a wonderful balance against the fruit, held together by super fine tannins. This is a humdinger; pure, precise and focused.
By far the best known of Spain's wine regions is Rioja, which takes its name from the rio(river) Oja, a tributary of the river Ebro. Lying in the north of the country, along the Ebro valley, the area is sheltered from rain-bearing Atlantic winds by the dramatic Sierra de Cantabria to the north and west. The hilly vineyards are interspersed with orchards, poplars and eucalyptus trees. Rioja is further divided into three sub-regions - Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Baja. The first two are best regarded, with vines planted on cool slopes with clay and limestone soils. The permitted grape varieties for Rioja are tempranillo, which is grown extensively in Rioja Alta and Alavesa and will form the backbone of all the best wines, garnacha, widespread in Rioja Baja and used to add body to the blend, and mazuelo (carignan) and graciano, both grown in miniscule proportions. The key to understanding Rioja is the technique used to mature the wine. Unlike most other areas of Europe, American oak barrels are used which give the wines their characteristic soft vanilla, almost coconuty flavour. Historically the wines were aged for periods far longer than legally required, until all the fruit character had died down and the end result was a light, tawny-coloured wine dominated by oak flavours. Although there are still supporters of this classic style, far more producers are making wines in a more modern way, allowing the dark berry fruit flavours to burst through balanced by a more judicious use of oak ageing and often opting for French oak now.
