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La Rioja Alta Description
La Rioja Alta Rioja Vina Ardanza Reserva is a beautifully refined Rioja that shines with a bright, vivid cherry-red color and a medium-high intensity highlighted by an elegant garnet rim. The nose is wonderfully expressive, revealing aromas of redcurrant, plum, and cherry layered with distinctive balsamic nuances and warm spices including black pepper, licorice, vanilla, clove, and nutmeg. On the palate, it is fresh, balanced, and exceptionally smooth, with sweet, polished tannins that add elegance and structure. The finish is long, lively, and memorable, echoing the wine’s signature balsamic and spicy character. A fantastic partner for roasted lamb, grilled meats, Spanish tapas, mushroom dishes, and aged cheeses, this classic Rioja brings sophistication and flavor to every meal.
Jeb Dunnuck: 96 Points
The 2019 Vina Ardanza is a highly impressive, full-bodied blend of 80% older-vine Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha from two different parts of Rioja grown at the same altitude. The producer’s own American oak was used to age the Tempranillo 36 months and the Garnacha 30 months, 20% new. The fruity nose of black cherry and plum complements beautifully against Garnacha’s seductively spicy texture and mouthfeel. It’s lively, complex, and lengthy, with melty tannins. Age 10-15 years.
James Suckling: 95 Points
This has classic Rioja aromas of cherries, dried flowers, earth, spices and orange peel. The palate is medium- to full-bodied with firm, fine-grained tannins. Juicy, with opulent fruit. Drink or hold.
John Gilman: 94 Points
La Rioja Alta’s 2019 Rioja “Viña Ardanza” Reserva is made from a blend of seventy percent tempranillo, from a thirty year-old vineyard in Rioja Alta, and thirty percent garnacha, from a vineyard in the Rioja Baja subsection. The wine is raised for fully three years in American oak barrels, but never sees any new wood, as these casks are four years of age before they are used for this bottling. The 2019 version tips the scales at 14.5 percent octane and offers up a deep, nicely black fruity bouquet of dark berries, cassis, Cuban cigar wrapper, dark soil tones, a nice touch of clove, woodsmoke and a lovely framing of American oak that will get a nice, toasted coconut aspect to it with further bottle aging. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a velvety attack, a beautiful core of fruit, a fine foundation of soil, suave tannins and a long, beautifully balanced finish. This carries its octane beautifully. As it did not see any new oak, it is already approachable, albeit, still with some buried backend tannins. It will be even better with another decade in the cellar. It is one of the finest recent vintages of Viña Ardanza that I can recall tasting!
Decanter: 94 Points
A super-classic and great interpretation of Rioja reserva, this offers all the appealing sweet red berry fruit and American oak with serious struture and balance. Soft and inviting, this is surely a reference for reserva wines in the region. A blend of 80%Tempranillo – from two vineyards in Fuenmayor and Cenicero, northern Rioja Alta – and 20% Garnacha from Tudelilla in Rioja Oriental, a 17-day fermentation was followed by ageing in American oak barrels from the producer's own cooperage: 36 months for the Tempranillo and 30 months (in 20% new) for the Garnacha. Bottled in December 2023.
Wine Advocate: 94 Points
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.
Vinous Media: 93 Points
The 2019 Reserva Viña Ardanza is a blend of Tempranillo and Garnacha from Rioja Alta. Its bouquet opens with cherry liqueur, black fruit and balsamic herbs alongside a touch of pepper. Dry, silky and just fresh enough, it offers good body with agility, polished tannins and a velvety feel. The long, sapid finish continues with gentle grip. This is balanced and expressive—a classic Rioja with a modern, fruit-driven flourish.
Wine Spectator: 91 Points
Hints of cocoa powder and anise wind through the warmed cherry, plum and fig fruit flavors on display in this plushly textured red, backed by lively acidity and lightly chewy tannins. Hints of iron and herbs linger on the finish. Tempranillo and Garnacha. Drink now through 2036. 41,666 cases made.
