La Rioja Alta Vina Ardanza Reserva 2009
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Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert - Decanter
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Spectator
Wine
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with every kind of red meat, roast lamb, game, seasoned fish stews, tuna and sword fish, smoked and ripened cheese. Barbecues.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very fresh and vivid 2009 with berries, dark spice and hints of walnuts. Full-bodied, reserved and so held back and muscular, but you don’t feel the tannins and the strength. A great wine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The current vintage of one of the flagship wines from La Rioja Alta is the 2009 Viña Ardanza Reserva, the second year it has contained 20% Garnacha grapes from their estate vineyards in La Pedriza in the village of Tudelilla in Rioja Baja. The Tempranillo comes from vineyards averaging 30 years of age in Fuenmayor and Cenicero. The hand-harvested bunches were sorted and put in boxes, transferred to the winery at 14 degrees Celsius to be destemmed and crushed, then the grapes fermented in stainless steel, including malolactic. The two varieties were aged separately, 36 months in used American oak barrels for Tempranillo and 30 months for Garnacha, and racked every six months. It was initially closed, shy and serious, riper and a little darker than the 2008 but still very balanced, serious and harmonious. The palate combines power with elegance, with some tannins, focused flavors, some chalky texture and a rustic touch that gives it character.
Rating: 93+ -
Decanter
The 2009 Viña Ardanza is a blend of 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha from estate vines, vinified separately in stainless steel before being aged in old American oak - the Tempranillo spends 36 months in wood and the Garnacha 30 months, meaning that this wine technically qualifies for Gran Reserva status. Still fairly youthful, it has aromas of vanilla and cedar-tinged macerated cherries, while on the smoothly-textured palate a zesty raspberry acidity provides a spine around which wrap soft red fruits, spicy cedar and fragrant spices.
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Wine Spectator
A plush texture carries cherry, strawberry, vanilla, tea and spice flavors in this traditional red. Light tannins and orange peel acidity keep this lively and focused. Spicy and floral notes linger on the finish. Drink now through 2018.
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Always evolving quality, elegance, innovation, evolution... They are the pillars on which the five founding families erected our winery in 1890 and built a way of living, feeling and producing wines of the highest quality that continue to evolve subtly, perfectly adapting to new tastes. This is how the permanent pursuit of excellence started; a pursuit that continues into the 21st century with identical enthusiasm. We draw the best from our winemaking tradition and wisdom —our own cooperage, manual racking, long ageing periods, etc.— and combine it with the most modern winemaking technology. Today, our wines are an international exemplar of the great wines of Rioja and our brands are present in the best restaurants across all continents.
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.