Well-aged Riojas are a treat for old-world wine-lovers; at their best they offer beautifully-textured mouthfeels, balance, and a complex array of fruity and savory flavors that work in harmony.
The 2008 "El Puntido" Gran Reserva from Viñedos de Páganos is a prime example of this. It's a single vineyard Tempranillo - farmed organically - that's named for the benchland at the feet of the Sierra de Cantabria mountains. It's hot and dry in the Summer, but being perched above the Ebro river valley, along with the calcareous-clay topsoil, tempers the effects of the heat. The result is a wine that combines ripe fruit and elegance, with vibrant acidity and mineral sensations in the mouth.
The long conditioning in new French oak, followed by years of slow evolution in bottle have made this a wonderfully mature wine to enjoy during the holidays. Share it with friends and family, perhaps accompanied by a richly-flavored roast or moderately-aged cheeses!
The winery is part of the well-known, family-run Bodegas y Viñedos Sierra de Cantabria wine company, which was founded in 1870 as Rioja was becoming an important player on the international wine scene.
WINE ADVOCATE 97 POINTS - "I was greatly impressed by the 2008 El Puntido Gran Reserva, a wine with a more traditional profile than the majority of wines from the Eguren family. At age 14, the wine is glorious, still young and with a mixture of primary and more developed notes. It goes more in the direction of the old wines, with balsamic notes of incense and cedarwood, mushrooms and some berries and herbs. It's complex and elegant, with fully resolved tannins. This was bottled back in May 2011, so it's been in bottle for over a decade, and the texture shows it. It has 14% alcohol and a pH of 3.55. This matured in brand-new French oak barrels for 28 months, and the wine has absorbed the oak completely."
The 2008 "El Puntido" Gran Reserva from Viñedos de Páganos is a prime example of this. It's a single vineyard Tempranillo - farmed organically - that's named for the benchland at the feet of the Sierra de Cantabria mountains. It's hot and dry in the Summer, but being perched above the Ebro river valley, along with the calcareous-clay topsoil, tempers the effects of the heat. The result is a wine that combines ripe fruit and elegance, with vibrant acidity and mineral sensations in the mouth.
The long conditioning in new French oak, followed by years of slow evolution in bottle have made this a wonderfully mature wine to enjoy during the holidays. Share it with friends and family, perhaps accompanied by a richly-flavored roast or moderately-aged cheeses!
The winery is part of the well-known, family-run Bodegas y Viñedos Sierra de Cantabria wine company, which was founded in 1870 as Rioja was becoming an important player on the international wine scene.
WINE ADVOCATE 97 POINTS - "I was greatly impressed by the 2008 El Puntido Gran Reserva, a wine with a more traditional profile than the majority of wines from the Eguren family. At age 14, the wine is glorious, still young and with a mixture of primary and more developed notes. It goes more in the direction of the old wines, with balsamic notes of incense and cedarwood, mushrooms and some berries and herbs. It's complex and elegant, with fully resolved tannins. This was bottled back in May 2011, so it's been in bottle for over a decade, and the texture shows it. It has 14% alcohol and a pH of 3.55. This matured in brand-new French oak barrels for 28 months, and the wine has absorbed the oak completely."
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