95 points James Suckling: "Black cherries with cedar and dried flowers, as well as dusty earth. It’s medium-to full-bodied with firm tannins that are long and polished. Lots of structure. Very typical and focused. Drinkable now, but better in 2024. (8/23/21)"
94 points Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate): "I tasted two vintages of the estate red that represents the blend and the character of the place. The 2018 Reserva comes from a cooler year and is a blend of 86% Tempranillo, 6% Mazuelo, 6% Graciano and 2% Garnacha with 14.12% alcohol and a pH of 3.48. The grapes ripened thoroughly and the wine is tasty but has a vibrant palate with freshness and depth. It has a classical nose and is complex and spicy with an earthy touch, a little developed and with fine-grained tannins. Very tasty. It spent 18 months in oak barrels, 90% of them French and 10% American; they are reducing the amount of American oak in this wine. 290,998 bottles and 3,500 magnums produced. It was bottled in June 2021. Drink: 2022-2030. (7/14/22)"
94 points Tim Atkin, MW: "(14%). Contino's Reserva combines fruit from a series of "micro-plots" on this single estate, partnering Tempranillo with 14% Mazuelo, Graciano and Garnacha. Spicy, rich and perfumed, with some of the focus of a cooler year in a warmer site, this is sweetly wooded, Mediterranean herb scented and built to last. 2024-32. (2022)"
93+ points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "Contino’s 2018 Rioja “Reserva” is crafted this year from a cépages of eighty-six percent tempranillo, six percent each of graciano and mazuelo and two percent of garnacha. The wine’s élevage was eighteen months in cask, with ninety percent of the barrels made of French oak this year; the other ten percent were American oak. The wine comes in at fourteen percent octane and delivers a refined aromatic constellation of black cherries, black raspberries, Rioja spice tones, just a hint of meatiness, a lovely base of soil, cigar smoke and cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a lovely core of fruit, fine soil signature, excellent balance and a long, suavely tannic finish. The balance here is so refined that the wine is quite accessible today, but it is still very early days for the 2018 Contino Reserva and I would try very hard to tuck it away in the cellar and not touch a bottle for at least another five years, just to let its secondary layers of complexity emerge completely. This is a stellar bottle in the making. 2028-2075+. (May/Jun 2023)"
94 points Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate): "I tasted two vintages of the estate red that represents the blend and the character of the place. The 2018 Reserva comes from a cooler year and is a blend of 86% Tempranillo, 6% Mazuelo, 6% Graciano and 2% Garnacha with 14.12% alcohol and a pH of 3.48. The grapes ripened thoroughly and the wine is tasty but has a vibrant palate with freshness and depth. It has a classical nose and is complex and spicy with an earthy touch, a little developed and with fine-grained tannins. Very tasty. It spent 18 months in oak barrels, 90% of them French and 10% American; they are reducing the amount of American oak in this wine. 290,998 bottles and 3,500 magnums produced. It was bottled in June 2021. Drink: 2022-2030. (7/14/22)"
94 points Tim Atkin, MW: "(14%). Contino's Reserva combines fruit from a series of "micro-plots" on this single estate, partnering Tempranillo with 14% Mazuelo, Graciano and Garnacha. Spicy, rich and perfumed, with some of the focus of a cooler year in a warmer site, this is sweetly wooded, Mediterranean herb scented and built to last. 2024-32. (2022)"
93+ points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "Contino’s 2018 Rioja “Reserva” is crafted this year from a cépages of eighty-six percent tempranillo, six percent each of graciano and mazuelo and two percent of garnacha. The wine’s élevage was eighteen months in cask, with ninety percent of the barrels made of French oak this year; the other ten percent were American oak. The wine comes in at fourteen percent octane and delivers a refined aromatic constellation of black cherries, black raspberries, Rioja spice tones, just a hint of meatiness, a lovely base of soil, cigar smoke and cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a lovely core of fruit, fine soil signature, excellent balance and a long, suavely tannic finish. The balance here is so refined that the wine is quite accessible today, but it is still very early days for the 2018 Contino Reserva and I would try very hard to tuck it away in the cellar and not touch a bottle for at least another five years, just to let its secondary layers of complexity emerge completely. This is a stellar bottle in the making. 2028-2075+. (May/Jun 2023)"
| Product SKU | 703712 |
| Producer | Contino (Cune) |
| Country | Spain |
| Region | Rioja |
| Varietal | Tempranillo/Tinto Fino |
| Vintage | 2018 |
| Size | 750ml |
| Color | Red |
| Blend | 86% Tempranillo, 6% Mazuelo, 6% Graciano and 2% Garnacha |
| Ships To |
