CVNE, Imperial Gran Reserva, Rioja 2018

The 2018 Imperial Gran Reserva was cropped from a year with the weather from yesteryear, a cold winter with frost, snow and abundant rain, a cool spring and mild summer that resulted in a long vegetative cycle of 180 days and a late harvest between October 8th and 26th. It has similar parameters to the 2017 I tasted next to it, with 14% alcohol, a pH of 3.55 and 6.03 grams of acidity, but it shows fresher. It feels very complete, fresh and vibrant, with more depth and tannin. It's still quite young and should develop nicely in bottle with that extra kick from the cooler year. It was a smaller crop, and they produced 56,000 bottles. It was bottled in July 2021.