La Rioja Alta, 904 Gran Reserva, Rioja 2015

Very impressive complexity and width on the nose, showing lots of savouriness with mushrooms, sandalwood, cedar, sweet spices, dried oranges and tobacco. Really even and juicy on the palate with fine and very present tannins. Juicy, creamy finish lasting a minute. Really elegant and layered. It goes on and on. A real Rioja Gran Reserva and I recommend buying a case! The first vintage that La Rioja Alta labelled ‘Seleccion Especial’. So appealing now, but this will evolve well in the next 20 years.

The 2015 Gran Reserva 904 is a blend of 90% Tempranillo and 10% Graciano from Rioja Alta, aged up to four years in American oak barrels. This garnet red wine with a brick sheen features an evolved and complex nose. It offers notes of cola, liquorice, sour cherry and dried flowers, and hints of leather and herbs. The palate is dry, silky and juicy, with fine-grained tannins and a chalky texture that leads to a nimble flow and a lingering finish. This old-school, precise Rioja sets the standard for the region and will delight many consumers.

Drink 2024 - 2040

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. Sappy, penetrating and gently chewy on the palate, offering vibrant, mineral- and spice-accented black raspberry, bitter cherry and rose pastille flavours that deepen and turn sweeter on the back half. Shows sharp focus and floral lift on the impressively long, youthfully tannic finish, leaving notes of candied blue fruits and spice cake.

Drink 2025 - 2036

I tasted again 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 that I had already tasted in mid-2022 before the wine was released. Time in bottle has done it some good, polishing the strong tannins that are the signature from 2015, though they are still not fully resolved, and a few more years in bottle will do it good. It's tasty, very classical, balanced and fresh. Impressive for such a powerful year. It was bottled in March 2020 after it matured in used American oak barrels for four years.

Drink 2024 - 2035