Farr Vintners Logo

Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva, Compañia Vinicola del Norte de España (CVNE) 2011

RegionSpain
Subregion Spain > Rioja
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietyTempranillo

View all vintages of this wine | View all wines by Compañia Vinicola del Norte de España (CVNE)

Label

Tasting Notes

This is a fabulous gran reserva from a very good but lightly heralded vintage. Aromas of spiced plum, black olive, fig, tobacco and cassis come together like a puzzle. A deep, pure palate shows near-perfect balance, while this tastes of plum, berry fruits and earthy spice. Smooth, elegant and chocolaty on the finish, this delivers all one can ask for from Rioja. Drink through 2035.

97
Michael Schachner, Wine Enthusiast, January 2019

... this is the latest in a series of brilliant Imperial Gran Reservas: serious, dense and showing old vine concentration, with sweet liquorice, blackberry and bramble flavours, a lick of oak and chalky intensity.

96
Tim Atkin MW, timatkin.com, January 2018

I'm always looking forward to tasting CVNE's Gran Reserva bottlings, especially the 2011 Imperial Gran Reserva, as the year was highly praised, and I was very curious to see how it behaved. It's a classical blend of Tempranillo with 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo that matured in barrel for two years. It has good depth and complexity in the nose, nicely layered, very balsamic and tertiary. It feels elegant and harmonious. The palate is surprisingly fresh and vibrant, with finesse, freshness, fine and mostly resolved tannins and a fine thread of acidity that holds and lifts up the finish. 50,000 bottles were filled in June 2014. Drink 2018-2028.

93+
Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate (235), February 2018
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.

Back to Wine List