La Rioja Alta SA produces some of the best examples of Rioja Gran Reserva with 890 and 904 being a must for wine collectors. Both wines are aged for at least eight years before being released so they are ready to drink immediately.
There’s nothing like a mature gran reserva, layered with the memories of red fruit, autumn, wood smoke and wild herbs; smooth and very long-lived – Decanter Magazine
La Rioja Alta’s Story
The Sociedad Vinícola de La Rioja Alta was founded in 1890 by Five Riojan and Basque families in Haro's Station District. Monsieur Vigier, a Frenchman, was the House's first winemaker and the Reserva 1890 (predecessor of today's Gran Reserva 890) is the first wine he made. A few years later, the Ardanza Winery, proposed the merger of both companies. To commemorate the event, they made the Reserva 1904, which eventually became the Gran Reserva 904.
Over the years, the reputation of the winery has kept on growing. Rated within the top 50 ‘World’s Most Admired Wine Brand 2023’ from Drinks International, La Rioja Alta S.A. is one of Spain’s most prestigious wineries and has always strive for perfection through both traditional and innovative processes. This is one of the best addresses in Rioja and one of the rare wineries to release their wines late.
The Art of Barrel Maturation
As in other wine regions, winemakers are more and more focussing on producing single vineyards and old vines wines, however maturation is a big factor to develop Rioja Gran Reserva’s complexity. The bodega has mastered the art of barrel ageing, and their wines are the proof that the alliance of wood and wine offer some of the greatest pleasures to wine lovers.
In addition to the century-old winery in Haro, they have a state-of-the-art winery in Labastida, where they grow their own grapes. Here, they own no less than 30,000 barrels. They import wood from the USA and season it for two years before employing a team of coopers to craft them. During the maturing process, each barrel is constantly monitored. They rack the wines every six months by hand and candlelight to check for eventual sediment and imperfections.
La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva
Both flagship wines 890 and 904 are aged for at least eight years before release so they are ready to drink immediately. The 2010 Gran Reserva 890 boasts four resounding ‘100 points’ from specialized critics. The 2015 Gran Reserva 904 was aged an extra year than previous vintage and bears "Selección Especial" on its label for the first time.
2010 Rioja Gran Reserva 890
100 points Sobremesa | 100 points Peñín Guide | 100 points Guia ABC | 100 points Vivir el Vino
Drinking Window 2022-2040
This is really refined and complex, with dark mineral, savory berries, mussels, walnuts, sweet spices, truffles, dried oranges, forest floor and cocoa powder. Beautiful acidity with vertical and velvety tannins. Tense, dimensional and very long. Drink or keep holding. - 99 points James Suckling
The wine epitomizes the classical style of Rioja Alta with long aging in barrel, developed and tertiary wines with a silky palate and a complex and decadent nose of forest floor, truffles, cigar ash and cedar wood. They need a very special selection of vineyards at higher altitude that take longer to ripen, and they don't do it fully every year. If they don't, the grapes go to Ardanza, but in 2010, the days were warm and the nights very cold and the grapes ripened thoroughly and could stand the long time in barrel without being oaky. They have stopped the last rackings to keep a little more freshness, and the wine feels phenomenal. This has to be one of the finest vintages for this wine. It's drinkable now but should also age for a very long time; it's intense, complex and elegant. - 97 points Robert Parker
2015 Rioja Gran Reserva 904
Drinking Window 2024-2035
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. - 95 points Robert Parker
Very impressive complexity and width on the nose, showing lots of savoriness 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. - 98 points James Suckling