Remelluri Reserva Red

This Rioja property can trace its roots all the way back to the 14th century, when the vines were farmed by monks. Changing hands multiple times over the centuries, eventually the winery was purchased by Jaime Rodríguez in 1967. Jaime and his wife Amaia were intellectuals; he an archaeologist and she an artist. The couple focused on the estate's historic vineyards and in 1971 Remelluri became the first single-vineyard Rioja of the modern era. In 2010, Jaime’s son and daughter, Telmo and Amaia Rodríguez Hernandorena, stepped into their father's formidable shoes. Many consider Telmo to be one of Spain's greatest winemakers. When Amaia and Telmo took control of Remelluri, they set about making a series of changes to showcase the potential and diversity of the properties holdings. Cutting production by 1/3, they decided that their main wines would be made from only estate fruit. The vines are farmed according to organic principles and every step is taken to encourage a balanced polyculture. In the cellar Telmo is joined by his business partner Pablo Eguzkiza, who cut his teeth at famed Château Petrus. The wines are fermented naturally with indigenous yeasts, with each plot fermented separately. New oak is rarely used and the wines are very lightly filtered and fined.

"The flagship 2012 Reserva was cropped from a year when they started seeing the results of improvements made to the work in the vineyards that started in 2010. 2012 was not as warm and ripe as 2011, and the wine comes through as a nice balance between power and elegance, with some earthiness, good fruit and a fine palate. It has a personality between the Labastida and San Vicente bottlings of the Lindes bottlings. It matured in barrique for 18 months, but the wood feels very well integrated. 2012 was a shorter crop, and they produced some 281,000 bottles. It was bottled in April 2015." - 93 Points, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate