Rioja
Rioja, one of Spain's most esteemed wine regions, is renowned for its exceptional fine wines. With a winemaking tradition that spans centuries, Rioja is celebrated for its unique terroir, diverse grape varieties, and the artistry of its winemakers. Situated in northern Spain, Rioja produces wines that embody the rich history and passion of Spanish winemaking.
One of the most famous vineyards in Rioja is Bodegas Marqués de Riscal, a historic winery that has been producing wines since 1858. Their wines, including the iconic Marqués de Riscal Reserva and Marqués de Riscal Gran Reserva, are renowned for their elegance, complexity, and age-worthiness.
Another esteemed vineyard is Bodegas López de Heredia Viña Tondonia, known for its traditional winemaking practices and long-aged wines. Their Viña Tondonia Reserva and Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva are highly sought-after by wine enthusiasts seeking the classic Rioja style.
Rioja is primarily known for its red wines, which are crafted predominantly from the Tempranillo grape variety. Notable vineyards such as Bodegas Muga, Bodegas Roda, and Bodegas CVNE (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) produce exceptional red wines that showcase the region's unique characteristics. These wines display flavours of ripe red fruit, subtle oak influence, well-integrated tannins, and a remarkable balance.
Rioja also offers notable white wines, mainly made from the Viura grape variety. Bodegas Riojanas, Bodegas Ontañón, and Bodegas Valdemar are among the renowned vineyards that produce exquisite white wines with vibrant acidity, citrus flavours, and a refreshing crispness.
The region's wines are often classified into four categories: Rioja, Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva, indicating the aging process and quality level. This classification system ensures consistent quality and allows wine lovers to choose wines based on their preferred style and maturity.
Rioja's fine wines beautifully capture the essence of the region, showcasing a harmonious balance between tradition and innovation. Whether you're savouring a well-aged Reserva, a vibrant Crianza, or a complex Gran Reserva, Rioja's wines promise an unforgettable experience that reflects the region's winemaking heritage and dedication to excellence.
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Rioja
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Rioja | 1 | 97 (DC) | د.إ589.00 | |||||
Decanter (97)This dark, relatively tight-knit Rioja proves that the Gran Reserva category doesn't just indicate the supremely well-aged, relaxed and reposeful style of Rioja, but can also serve to draw drinkers' attention to outstanding wines of density and tenacity which still have a way to run along their potential ageing trajectories. Look out for dark, urgent fruits here sweetened and back-lit by cunningly angled oak, with intense, deep, fresh and searching flavours in which the 10% of Graciano seems to be working overtime. A Rioja of innate drama. |
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Rioja | 59 | 98 (TA) | د.إ3,990.00 | |||||
Tim Atkin MW (98)The superlative 2010 release is the first 890 Gran Reserva since 2005, and it was definitely worth the wait. Partnering Tempranillo with 3% Graciano and 2% Mazuelo, it has a wonderful combination of structure, sweetness and focus. Aromatic spices, red berry fruit and top notes of tobacco and fresh leather are underpinned by age-worthy tannins and refreshing acidity. One to keep. |
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Rioja | 2 | 96 (JS) | د.إ1,220.00 | |||||
James Suckling (96)Lovely dried red fruit, such as plums with just a hint of prunes. Cedar, walnut and leather undertones. Full-bodied with lots of fruit, considering its age, as well as hints of smoke, tobacco, bark and black tea. Some balsamic at the finish. Traditionally styled with lovely results. Drink or hold. |
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Rioja | 5 | 97 (JS) | د.إ1,750.00 | |||||
James Suckling (97)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. |
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Rioja | 1 | 93 (VN) | د.إ1,210.00 | |||||
Vinous (93)Dark ruby. A deeply perfumed bouquet evokes spice-tinged dark fruit preserves, potpourri, vanilla and incense, and a smoky mineral overtone builds as the wine opens up. Sappy and broad on the palate, offering weighty blackberry, cherry-vanilla and spicecake flavors that turn spicier with air. Shows excellent precision on the persistent finish, which features sweet dark fruit liqueur and floral elements and harmonious tannins. |
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Rioja | 1 | 94 (TA) | د.إ873.00 | |||||
Tim Atkin MW (94)La Rioja Alta is one of the most traditional wineries in Haro’s Barrio de la Estación, famous for producing wines that are good to drink on release, but also age beautifully in bottle. This new Gran Reserva, made from Tempranillo with 6% Graciano for added backbone, is very much a reflection of the cooler, more “Atlantic” 2014 vintage. La Rioja Alta didn’t make its top two Gran Reservas – 904 and 890 – in 2014, so all of its best grapes were used for Viña Arana. Fine and elegant, with vibrant acidity, notes of coconut and cinnamon from the American oak and a core of savoury, refreshing tobacco leaf and red berry flavours framed by fine, caressing tannins. Old-fashioned Rioja at its glorious best. |
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Rioja | 1 | 96 (DC) | د.إ963.00 | |||||
Decanter (96)Beautiful nose coconut cream, vanilla and mocha nose. Smooth and mellow on the rich and velvety palate with lots of sweet spices, dates and chocolate-covered currants. Long-lasting and utterly delicious. |
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Rioja | 11 | 94 (VN) | د.إ1,260.00 | |||||
Vinous (94)Deep magenta. An intensely perfumed bouquet evokes ripe black raspberry, cherry cola, potpourri, tobacco and exotic spices, plus a smoky mineral flourish. Sweet and broad in the mouth, offering lush red and blue fruit, spicecake, mocha and coconut flavors that firm up on the back half. Finishes extremely long and spicy, with resonating florality, gently chewy tannins and lingering oak spice notes. |
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Rioja | 14 | 95 (JS) | د.إ550.00 | |||||
James Suckling (95)Savory and complex with dried orange peel, cedar and plenty of sweet spices, walnuts, caramel, dried mushrooms and pine needles. Shows maturity here, with a medium body and superb freshness. Incredibly long finish with lots of truffle and walnut. Lasts over a minute. Very complete now, but you can still hold it. |
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Rioja | 1 | 94 (WA) | د.إ716.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (94)No 2018 was produced, so after the 2017 I tasted last year, we jumped to the 2019 Viña Ardanza Reserva, produced with a blend of 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha. It fermented destemmed in stainless steel and aged in American oak barrels, 36 months for the Tempranillo and 30 months for Garnacha, and was blended before bottling. 2019 is a very good year for them, a small crop of powerful and concentrated wines when they produced all their brands, an exception. This is spicy, structured, balanced and powerful in this warm year, reaching the customary 14.5% alcohol and keeping a pH of 3.54 and 5.5 grams of acidity. It's still very young and undeveloped, with the classical profile, generous in American oak aromas and flavors that should slowly integrate in the wine with years in bottle. For them, 2019 means a change in Ardanza, less spicy (but still quite spicy, with clove, vanilla and tobacco leaves) and with more fresh fruit from the Garnacha. But the year is a modern version of 2015. 500,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2023. No 2023 or 2024 will be produced either. |
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Rioja | 1 | - | د.إ1,205.00 | |||||
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Rioja | 1 | 93 (WA) | د.إ3,410.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (93)The 2011 Viña Tondonia Blanco Reserva reflects a warm and ripe year, and the wine is more evolved and already hints at some caramel and honey. It has a mellow palate without the vibrancy of the 2010 I tasted next to it. This wine matured in used, ancient American oak barrels for six years. 19,000 bottles were filled in November 2019. |
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Rioja | 1 | 96 (WA) | د.إ920.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (96)Following the appreciation of the 2007 vintage from María José López de Heredia, the red 2007 Viña Tondonia Reserva is showing great, revealing unusual finesse and elegance. The nose is a little reticent but nuanced and complex, a little shy rather than explosive. The palate is medium-bodied, and the tannins are very refined. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Viña Tondonia Reserva of recent years. 200,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2015. |
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Rioja | 1 | 97 (TA) | د.إ883.00 | |||||
Tim Atkin MW (97)Tondonia's reds have been on an upward curve recently and are now at the same level as the bodega's world-class whites. This is a fine, elegant, savoury, low-alcohol blend of Tempranillo with 20% Garnacha and 5% each of Mazuelo and Graciano, combining summer berry fruit, racy acidity, granular tannins and an earthy, balsamic undertone. Good now, but this will develop further in bottle. |
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Rioja | 1 | 94 (TA) | د.إ819.00 | |||||
Tim Atkin MW (94)Serious and concentrated, at least by the standards of some López de Heredia reds, this reflects the heat of the 2009 vintage. Tempranillo-based with 30% Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo, it’s spicy, savoury and high toned with grippy tannins, layers of tobacco and red fruits and classic, supporting acidity. 2021-30 |
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Rioja | 1 | 96 (WA) | د.إ877.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (96)The 2010 Viña Tondonia Reserva has all I expect from a Reserva from Tondonia, complexity, elegance and evolution, a developed nose with notes of forest floor and wild berries, herbs and flowers, a touch of iodine, brick dust and very fine, polished tannins. It has the seriousness and elegance of Tondonia. This is a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho (they use the masculine form of the name of the grape) and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in the ancient oak vats from when the winery was created 144 years ago and matured in well-seasoned, American oak barrels for six years. It has 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.4 and 6.6 grams of acidity. 260,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2017. |
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Rioja | 1 | 95 (JS) | د.إ863.00 | |||||
James Suckling (95)A traditional beauty that effuses iron, warm earth and savory tobacco leaves, together with plums, spices and orange zest. This is juicy and still tight, with firm but savory tannins. Medium-weight and quite zesty in texture, as is the case with the other López de Heredia reds tasted this session. Drink now or hold. |
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Rioja | 32 | 95 (TA) | د.إ898.00 | |||||
Tim Atkin MW (95)Viña Tondonia can seem austere in its (comparative) youth, especially when compared with sweeter Bosconia, but this is a wine that will reward patience. Picked earlier to assuage the effects of a warmer site, this blend of Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and 5% each of Graciano and Mazuelo is structured and focused, with redcurrant, forest floor and green herb notes. Give it time. |
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Rioja | 1 | 97 (VN) | د.إ864.00 | |||||
Vinous (97)The 2013 Reserva Viña Tondonia is a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and 10% Graciano and Mazuelo, grown in the calcareous soils of the Tondonia meander in Rioja Alta. Aged extensively in American oak, it offers restrained black fruit, wild herbs, balsamic hints and sweet spices with gentle cedar and vanilla notes. Medium-bodied with chalky grip and a layered, tertiary finish, this is a benchmark classic—refined, enduring and unmistakably Tondonia. |
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Rioja | 3 | 98 (JS) | د.إ3,505.00 | |||||
James Suckling (98)Extremely well-mannered, traditional character to this, showing layer upon layer of savory complexity on the nose, with iron, dried meat, tobacco, balsamic fruit, dried red berries, orange peel, leather and dried mushrooms. A medium-to full-bodied, linear and zesty Rioja that’s full of nuanced flavors that linger through the very long, savory finish. Floral, too. Yet, it remains bright and precise. Tempranillo with 16% mazuelo. Drink on release or hold. |
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Rioja | 1 | 98 (JS) | د.إ1,220.00 | |||||
James Suckling (98)This is historical Rioja in the glass with dark-berry, Spanish-cedar, bark, mahogany and light earth aromas that follow through to a full body with firm, fine tannins that are layered and intense. It really is multilayered, with a citrus and cedar aftertaste. Wonderful length and composure. Try after 2023, but already fantastic. |
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Rioja | 1 | 94 (TA) | د.إ736.00 | |||||
Tim Atkin MW (94)Fresh, serious, stylish and well balanced, this is a delightful 2015, with no sign of the heat of the vintage. |
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Rioja | 1 | 97 (JS) | د.إ1,435.00 | |||||
James Suckling (97)Really beautiful aromas of crushed blackberry, brambleberry, hazelnut, walnut and light coffee, following through to a full yet so reserved and polished body with fine, creamy-textured tannins. Fresh and exquisite finish. This is a much more refined and harmonic rendition of their classic wine. Three years in French oak from their own production. Very enjoyable now, but this will improve with age for a long time. |
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Rioja | 1 | 98 (WE) | د.إ1,655.00 | |||||
Wine Enthusiast (98)This dark-ruby wine offers a bouquet of ripe cherry and baking spices. Notes of clove and nutmeg transition to the palate alongside flavors of blackberry, cassis, chocolate-covered espresso bean, eucalyptus and violet. Luxurious tannins amble toward a lengthy finish. Drink through 2045. |
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Rioja | 1 | 94 (WA) | د.إ775.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (94)The 2019 Reserva, sold as Crianza in Spain, comes from a dry and warm year with low yields and concentrated wines. The grapes from the Haro zone, the four from Rioja, Tempranillo, Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Graciano fermented destemmed and lightly crushed in oak vats with indigenous yeasts, and 80% of the volume matured in French oak and the rest in Centro European and American oak, 20% of them new, for 22 months, during which time the wine was racked every eight to nine months. This is serious and young but balanced, nuanced and complex. They are shortening the time in oak, as they feel they have better and younger barrels and think the wines need less time in oak and more time in bottle. This is very Muga, very Rioja and very good. They produced an impressive 960,000 bottles and 18,000 magnums of this. There is only one master blend that is bottled at different times. I tasted a bottle that was filled in April 2022 (because of the lack of availability of bottles!). |
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Rioja | 2 | 95 (DC) | د.إ589.00 | |||||
Decanter (95)Grupo Bodegas Olarra was founded in 1973 and is now a large organisation producing wines under three different bodega names in Rioja and beyond. The Laztana 2011 is a blend of about 80% Tempranillo with 10% Garnacha and the remainder Graciano and Mazuelo, from vines aged on average for more than 30 years. Fermentation in stainless steel was followed by malolactic fermentation and nearly three months on lees in new 225-litre Allier oak barrels, then six further months in new oak before cask-ageing up to 27 months in total in a mix of new to five-year-old Allier and US barrels. The wine was subsequently cellared for 40 further months in bottle prior to its first release. Sarah Jane Evans MW - Truffly, balsamic, cherry aromas. Full-bodied and fleshy in the mouth, a really youthful wine, packed with energy. Notes of oranges, blackberries and redcurrants abound, then following through with a firm structure of tannin. Christine Parkinson - Spicy aromas of turmeric, cumin, strawberry and dark chocolate, which all carry through to the palate. Creamy layers of tannin are very appealing, and the strong core of acidity makes this a great wine for food. Very long, confident, concentrated finish. Beth Willard - Attractive nose of rose petal, peach and red cherry. Very ripe, jammy fruit, strawberry, with a touch of white pepper on the finish and fresh acidity. A more fruit-forward style of wine, with well balanced oak Drinking Window 2021 - 2033 |
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Rioja | 1 | 97 (TA) | د.إ1,080.00 | |||||
Tim Atkin MW (97)The vines are still comparatively young at 19 years' old, but Norte, located at 730 metres on the slopes of the Sierra de Cantabria, is one of Rioja's greatest parcels. Influenced by the presence of limestone close to the surface, this is a thrilling Tempranillo that's taut, chalky and chiselled with serious, ageworthy tannins, sappy acidity and layers of red berry and black cherry fruit. 2025-35 |
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Rioja | 1 | 96 (DC) | د.إ1,080.00 | |||||
Decanter (96)Part of an accomplished range of Riojas from Laguardia producer Pujanza, this 100% Viura is grown on the small 3.5ha limestone vineyard of San Juan de Anteportalatina at 600m. This terroir produces a distinctive and distinguished white, with layered aromas, savoury notes, fresh lemon, preserved lemon, a touch of salinity, and stony minerality. Rioja's answer to white Burgundy: elegant, mineral, toasty, buttery, citrus, with real verve - a seam of focused acidity. Vibrant finish, long and layered with fresh grapefruit, saltiness, toasted nuts. Aged for 12 months in French oak and concrete. Limited production. |
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