Familia Montana Rioja Reserva 2016
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Spice and leather complement the deep blackberry fruit and ferrous minerality of Rioja's red soils. Mouth-filling yet fresh, with the structure for improving in the bottle for a number of years.
The Montaña family traces its heritage to the origins of the modern Rioja wine industry in the late 19th century. Román Montaña consolidated the family business in 1920 as the viticultural component of one of Rioja’s grand old marques, situated in medieval cellars underneath Haro, capital of Rioja Alta. The Montaña family retains portions of these impressive cellars to this day. Román’s grandson Oscar Montaña currently directs a vineyard estate comprising over 270 acres of prime sites in the Rioja Alta and Alavesa districts. The Montaña vineyards boast a high average vine age, many vines dating to the immediate post-phylloxera period and including significant acreage of the rare Graciano.
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.