97 points James Suckling: "A perfumed nose of plums, mulberries, mushrooms, caramel, sweet tobacco and sweet spices. Full-bodied with velvety, fine tannins and lively acidity. Balanced and supple with a creamy texture. Delicate and precise with a long, polished finish. 90% tempranillo and 10% graciano. Drink or hold. (2/3/22)"
97 points Peñín Guide to Spanish Wine: "Colour: cherry, garnet rim. Aroma : balanced, complex, ripe fruit, spicy, fine reductive notes, meaty notes, earthy notes. Flavour: good structure, flavourful, round tannins, balanced, great length. (2022)"
96 points Tim Atkin, MW: "One of a pair of current releases of 904, both of them from warmer vintages, this delightful 2015 is a felicitous cuvée of Tempranillo and 10% Graciano. All sourced from higher altitude vineyards, this will reward further time in bottle, showing classic sweet spices, fine tannins, layers of red and black fruits and chalky freshness. (2021)"
95+ points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "The 2015 Rioja “Selección Especial 904” Gran Reserva from La Rioja Alta is crafted from a blend of eighty-nine percent tempranillo and eleven percent graciano in this vintage, with all of these vines at least sixty years of age. The wine was raised in four and a half year-old American oak barrels for thirty-three months prior to assemblage and bottling. The wine offers up a stunningly beautiful bouquet of red and black raspberries, cigar wrapper, a lovely array of Rioja spice tones, salty soil tones, woodsmoke and a lovely framing of coconutty American oak. On the palate the wine is deep, ripe and full-bodied, with a sappy core of fruit, superb soil inflection and grip, suave, seamless tannins, beautiful focus and balance and a very, very long, complex and utterly refined finish. This wine comes in at 14.5 percent in the ripe vintage of 2015, but there is absolutely no hint of heat on the backend, which is just utterly classical and stunning. At eight years of age, this wine is certainly approachable already, but in reality it is still a young wine and it will not to show all of its layers of complexity without another decade’s worth of bottle age. It is a brilliant wine. 2023-2085+. (May/Jun 2023)"
95 points Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate): "They used the words subtlety, elegance, finesse, delicacy and silk to define the 2015 Gran Reserva 904 Selección Especial, a blend of 90% Tempranillo from their vineyards in Villalba, Briñas and Rodezno with 10% Graciano from the Montecillo vineyard in Fuenmayor that was picked 23 days later than the Tempranillo. The grapes were sorted optically for the first time, and they fermented in stainless steel where the wine went through malolactic too. The wine was put in barrel in January 2016—used American oak barrels built by their own coopers—where it matured for four years, during which time it was racked every six months. 2015 was a healthy vintage with balanced ripeness that delivered wines with good aging potential. They thought the wine needed a little more time in bottle to polish those tannins and have decided to hold it and release the wine around March 2023; it will be marked Selección Especial, the first 904 to do so, as they have very high hopes for this year and believe it's one of the finest vintages. They think it will develop the sophistication in the palate with a little more time and that is should achieve the silkiness that is the signature of 904. This is very 2015; I saw quite strong tannins in all the 2015 wines I tasted from Rioja Alta. Drink: 2024-2035. (7/14/22)"
95 points Josh Raynolds (Vinous): "Vivid ruby. Expansive red and blue fruit preserve, tobacco, potpourri, spice and botanical herb aromas, with vanilla and smoky mineral notes emerging as the wine opens up. Sappy, penetrating and gently chewy on the palate, offering vibrant, mineral- and spice-accented black raspberry, bitter cherry and rose pastille flavors that deepen and turn sweeter on the back half. Shows sharp focus and floral lift on the impressively long, youthfully tannic finish, which leaves behind notes of candied blue fruits and spicecake. Drink: 2025-2036. (Apr 2021)"
97 points Peñín Guide to Spanish Wine: "Colour: cherry, garnet rim. Aroma : balanced, complex, ripe fruit, spicy, fine reductive notes, meaty notes, earthy notes. Flavour: good structure, flavourful, round tannins, balanced, great length. (2022)"
96 points Tim Atkin, MW: "One of a pair of current releases of 904, both of them from warmer vintages, this delightful 2015 is a felicitous cuvée of Tempranillo and 10% Graciano. All sourced from higher altitude vineyards, this will reward further time in bottle, showing classic sweet spices, fine tannins, layers of red and black fruits and chalky freshness. (2021)"
95+ points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "The 2015 Rioja “Selección Especial 904” Gran Reserva from La Rioja Alta is crafted from a blend of eighty-nine percent tempranillo and eleven percent graciano in this vintage, with all of these vines at least sixty years of age. The wine was raised in four and a half year-old American oak barrels for thirty-three months prior to assemblage and bottling. The wine offers up a stunningly beautiful bouquet of red and black raspberries, cigar wrapper, a lovely array of Rioja spice tones, salty soil tones, woodsmoke and a lovely framing of coconutty American oak. On the palate the wine is deep, ripe and full-bodied, with a sappy core of fruit, superb soil inflection and grip, suave, seamless tannins, beautiful focus and balance and a very, very long, complex and utterly refined finish. This wine comes in at 14.5 percent in the ripe vintage of 2015, but there is absolutely no hint of heat on the backend, which is just utterly classical and stunning. At eight years of age, this wine is certainly approachable already, but in reality it is still a young wine and it will not to show all of its layers of complexity without another decade’s worth of bottle age. It is a brilliant wine. 2023-2085+. (May/Jun 2023)"
95 points Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate): "They used the words subtlety, elegance, finesse, delicacy and silk to define the 2015 Gran Reserva 904 Selección Especial, a blend of 90% Tempranillo from their vineyards in Villalba, Briñas and Rodezno with 10% Graciano from the Montecillo vineyard in Fuenmayor that was picked 23 days later than the Tempranillo. The grapes were sorted optically for the first time, and they fermented in stainless steel where the wine went through malolactic too. The wine was put in barrel in January 2016—used American oak barrels built by their own coopers—where it matured for four years, during which time it was racked every six months. 2015 was a healthy vintage with balanced ripeness that delivered wines with good aging potential. They thought the wine needed a little more time in bottle to polish those tannins and have decided to hold it and release the wine around March 2023; it will be marked Selección Especial, the first 904 to do so, as they have very high hopes for this year and believe it's one of the finest vintages. They think it will develop the sophistication in the palate with a little more time and that is should achieve the silkiness that is the signature of 904. This is very 2015; I saw quite strong tannins in all the 2015 wines I tasted from Rioja Alta. Drink: 2024-2035. (7/14/22)"
95 points Josh Raynolds (Vinous): "Vivid ruby. Expansive red and blue fruit preserve, tobacco, potpourri, spice and botanical herb aromas, with vanilla and smoky mineral notes emerging as the wine opens up. Sappy, penetrating and gently chewy on the palate, offering vibrant, mineral- and spice-accented black raspberry, bitter cherry and rose pastille flavors that deepen and turn sweeter on the back half. Shows sharp focus and floral lift on the impressively long, youthfully tannic finish, which leaves behind notes of candied blue fruits and spicecake. Drink: 2025-2036. (Apr 2021)"
| Product SKU | 346914 |
| Producer | La Rioja Alta |
| Country | Spain |
| Region | Rioja |
| Varietal | Tempranillo/Tinto Fino |
| Designation | Gran Reserva |
| Vintage | 2015 |
| Size | 750ml |
| Color | Red |
| Blend | 90% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano |
| ABV | 14.5% |
| Ships To |
