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Casa la Rad Tinto

"Offers complex aromas of black cherries and blackcurrants with notes black pepper, coffee beans, nutmeg, Indian spices and notes of vanilla. Deep and concentrated, it also displays considerable finesse and freshness." —

Winemaker's note

Winery

CASA LA RAD

Appellation

Rioja D.O.Ca.

Grape(s)

40% Tempranillo, 40% Garnacha, 10% Maturana, 10% Graciano; from 35+ year old bush vines in the single La Rad vineyard; all estate-grown fruit

Altitude/Soil

660 - 750 meters / sandy loam soils

Farming Methods

Organic methods, Vegan

Harvest

Hand havested during the second week of October

Production

The wine was fermented in and underwent malolactic conversion in 800L oak vats

Aging

Aged for 14 months in new French oak barrels

Suggested Retail Price

$40

Wine Name

Scores

Downloads

Reviews

Casa la Rad Tinto 2015

Gold Medal (MV) 93 (JS) 93 (VM) 92+ (VfC) 91 (WA) 90 (WA) 90 (I-WR)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
Gold Medal	Mundus Vini	Mundus Vini - GOLD 23rd Grand International Wine Award - 2018
93	JamesSuckling.com	An array of ripe black cherries and berries here with violets, pomegranate and plenty of cedary oak. The palate delivers a very nicely composed, concentrated and seamless array of black-cherry flavor. The tannins are really soaked in fruit. Great depth here. Drink in 2020. August 2018
93	Vinous Media	(fermentation and malo in 800 liter French oak barrels and aging for 14 months in new French oak barriques) Lurid ruby. Powerful aromas of ripe black and blue fruits, vanilla, incense and potpourri are complicated by a smoky mineral flourish. Broad, fleshy and appealingly sweet, offering palate-staining boysenberry and cherry-vanilla flavors that firm up slowly on the back half. Rich yet vibrant in style, with excellent finishing clarity and smooth, even tannins arriving late to frame the wine's lush, sweet fruit. 2022 - 2032 "Rioja Looks Back and Ahead" - February 21, 2019
92+	View from the Cellar	The 2015 Rioja Tinto from Casa La Rad is produced from forty year-old bush vines in the La Rad vineyard, with the cépages ending up forty percent each of Tempranillo and Garnacha, ten percent Graciano and ten percent Maturana. The wine undergoes malo in eight hundred liter oak barrels and this is aged in all new French barricas for fourteen months prior to bottling. The 2015 comes in at fourteen percent alcohol and delivers a deep and serious bouquet of red and black cherries, cigar smoke, Rioja spice tones redolent of cloves and nutmeg, a fine base of soil and a very suave, understated framing of nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and nicely light on its feet, with a good core, lovely focus and grip, plenty of complexity and a long, moderately tannic and quite promising finish. The new oak is a bit more evident on the palate than it is on the nose today, but there seems to be sufficient stuffing to absorb the wood nicely with a bit of cellaring. This is a young and very good bottle of Rioja in the making, but it will need at least four or five years in the cellar to start to blossom properly. Fine juice. 2023-2050+. Issue #75 – May/June 2018
91	Wine Align Canada	After significant aeration, this red from mostly old vines over 35 years old begins to unfold its impressive fruit component, dark, savoury and spicy, with significant extract and density. The palate is tightly packed and well-balanced, full-bodied (14% alcohol declared), with excellent length. Carefully crafted, premium wine, best after 2020 for more complexity and polished textured, or hold into the late '20s without a stretch. Tasted May 2018; John Szabo, MS
90	Wine Align Canada	This is a fullbodied bold red with a nose of black and red cherry fruit with well integrated oak spice. The palate is well balanced by soft acidity and fine tannin. Very good length. Very classy with great aging potential. Best 2018 to 2028. Tasted May 2018; Steve Thurlow
90	International Wine Review	The Casa La Rad Tinto is an attractive blend of 40%Tempranillo, 40% Garnacha, 10% Maturana, and 10% Graciano sourced from 40+ year old bush vines in the La Rad Vineyard. Fermented in large (800L)oak vessels and aged 14 months in new French oak barrels. It displays dark red fruit and toast on the nose. Big and soft on the palate with good depth of flavor, density and richness. Finishes with firm tannins andme astringency. "Spanish Wines of Value and Quality" - June 20, 2019

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Casa la Rad Tinto 2016

93 (VM) 92 (TA) 92 (VfC)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
93	Vinous Media	Dark violet. Mineral-laced cherry, blackberry, vanilla and cola aromas show excellent clarity and pick up a hint of smokiness as the wine opens up. Sweet and expansive on the palate, offering lively red berry, cherry cola, floral pastille and baking spice flavors that are sharpened by a peppery nuance. Shows impressive energy and floral lift on the persistent finish, which is given shape by smooth, even tannins. 2023 – 2032 Josh Raynolds - April 2021
92	Tim Atkin MW	The 80% new wood is quite noticeable on this cuvée of Tempranillo with Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha, Graciano and Maturana Tinta, but there's more than enough structure, fruit concentration and weight to cope. Serious, sappy and aromatic, it has cassis, plum and blackberry fruit and a herbal undertone. 2021-26. Rioja 2020 Special Report; February 2020
92	View from the Cellar	The 2016 Casa La Rad bottling of Rioja Tinto is produced from a fairly unique cépages of forty percent each of Tempranillo and Garnacha and ten percent each of Graciano and Maturana. It is a single vineyard bottling from the eponymous Casa La Rad vineyard, with the wine barrel-fermented and aged in new French casks for fourteen months prior to bottling. The wine offers up a youthful and very promising bouquet of raspberries, cherries, cloves, a touch of garrigue, cigar wrapper, good soil tones and cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep, ripe and complex, with a full-bodied format, an excellent core of fruit, fine soil signature and a long, ripely tannic and spicy finish. This comes in listed at fourteen percent octane, but seems just a touch riper to my palate, but it is well-balanced and should blossom with bottle age into a very serious wine! 2026-2055+. Issue #86 - March/April 2020

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Casa la Rad Tinto 2017

93 (OB) 93 (VfC) 92 (TA)

Label

Fact Sheet

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
93	OwenBargreen.com	2017 Casa La Rad Rioja- The 2017 Casa La Rad Rioja interestingly is equal part Tempranillo and Garnacha with 10% Maturana and 10% Graciano rom the 35 year old La Rad Vineyard. The salty character from the sandy loam soils really shines through. Tart pomegranate seed with Mandarin orange zest and teaberry notes all mark the palate. Bold and round on the mouth, this is drinking beautifully right now. Drink 2023-2033- Owen Bargreen - October, 2023
93	View from the Cellar	“This is a single vineyard bottling from Casa La Rad, made from a cépages of forty percent each of tempranillo and garnacha, ten percent graciano and ten percent maturana. The wine is fermented in eight hundred liter oak vats and aged completely in new French Bordeaux casks for fourteen months prior to bottling. The wine comes in at fourteen percent in 2017 and delivers a beautifully refined bouquet of red and black raspberries, Rioja spice tones, a touch of cigar smoke, a superbly complex base of soil, nutskin and cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep. pure, full-bodied and youthful, with a plush core of fruit, excellent soil signature and grip, ripe, buried tannins and a long, complex and very well-balanced finish. This is a superb bottle in the making. 2029-2065. John Gilman Issue #98 - March/April 2022
92	Tim Atkin MW	This stylishly packaged red marries mostly Tempranillo and Garnacha with 10% each of Maturana Tinta and Graciano and illustrates winemaker Marta Gallego's skills as a blender. Grassy, textured and alluringly perfumed, it has scented French oak, good acidity and layers of cassis, raspberry and blackberry fruit. 2022-27 *Tim Atkin; Rioja Report* - February 2021**

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Casa la Rad Tinto 2018

92 (VfC)

Label

Fact Sheet

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
92	View from the Cellar	The estate bottling of Rioja from Casa la Rad is made from older vines than their Solarce bottling, as these organically-farmed bush vines average thirty-five years of age. The blend here is forty percent each of Tempranillo and Garnacha, ten percent of Maturana and ten percent of Graciano. The wine is barrel-fermented in eight hundred liter casks and aged entirely in new Bordeaux casks made from French oak for fourteen months prior to bottling. The 2018 version comes in at 14.5 percent octane and offers up a deep and complex bouquet of red and black raspberries, cigar wrapper, smoked meats, Rioja spice tones, a nice base of salty soil and cedary oak. The new wood component here is far more subtle on the nose than in the 2020 Solarce bottling from the winery. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and tangy, with a fine core of fruit, excellent soil undertow and grip, ripe tannins and a long, nascently complex and very nicely balanced finish. This will need some bottle age to blossom, but it is going to be a very good bottle once it is ready to drink. 2030-2075. John Gilman - Issue #103 January/February 2023.

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Casa la Rad Tinto 2019

90+ (VfC)

Label

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
90+	View from the Cellar	The flagship bottling of Rioja from Casa La Rad in 2019 is crafted from a cépages this year is forty percent each of tempranillo and garnacha blended with ten percent each of graciano and maturana. It is a single vineyard wine made from thirty-five year-old bush vines. The wine is handled the same as the 2021 bottlings from the estate, with hand-harvesting of the grapes, alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel and malolactic in oak puncheons, but with the élevage time in new French oak Bordeaux casks stretches out to fourteen months. The wine comes in at 14.5 percent alcohol in 2019 and offers up a ripe, black fruity nose of cassis, cigar wrapper, Rioja spice tones, a fine base of dark soil and cedary new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a good core of fruit, fine soil undertow and grip, firm, chewy tannins and a long, a fairly-balanced finish. With the alcohol a touch higher here, the oak tannins have leached out of the new barrels a bit more briskly and the extra six months in barrel have produced a wine where the oak tannins are not yet integrated fully into the wine and show more prominently as the wine sits in decanter. I am not wild about the balance in the wine today, though there is plenty of depth of fruit here and it may well absorb the oak tannins fully with extended bottle age. But, at age five, it is still a question of how long this will take. If I am being overly cautious and the wine eventually eats up its new oak, then the wine will merit the score at the top of the range. But, I am just not certain if that will be the case at this point in the wine’s evolution. 2035-2075 John Gilman, Issue 109, January – February 2024

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Casa la Rad Tinto 2021

91+ (VfC)

Label

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
91+	View from the Cellar	The 2021 Rioja “Viñedo Singular” from Casa La Rad is composed entirely from garnacha, with the vines thirty-five years of age and the wine’s cellar handling similar to the 2021 Solarce bottling: malo in puncheons and eight months’ worth of élevage, but for this cuvée, the aging is entirely in new Bordeaux casks. The wine comes in at an even fourteen percent octane and delivers a lovely nose of dark berries, smoked meats, dark soil tones, Rioja spices, cigar smoke, just a hint of garrigue and a framing of cedary new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, ripe and full, with excellent depth at the core, firm, chewy tannins, a nice spine of acidity and good focus and balance on the long and youthfully complex finish. The wood tannins on the backend here stick out just a touch more than in the Solarce, so the wine will need a couple of years longer in the cellar before it softens up, but there still seems to be plenty of stuffing to absorb them in time. It is a very well- made wine, but my impression is the wine could be even a hair better with the use of one wine barrels to mitigate just a touch of the influence of the oak tannins. Good juice. 2034-2075. John Gilman; Issue 109, January – February 2024

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