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93 | Tim Atkin MW | Graciano ripens well in the warmer conditions of the Rioja Oriental, bringing backbone and structure as well as flavour to this blend with Tempranillo. Aged in new wood, it's an ambitious wine with savoury tannins, some earthy, forest floor notes and layers of damson and blueberry fruit. 2021-27. Rioja 2020 Special Report; February 2020 |
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92+ | View from the Cellar | I know I do not get around as much as I used to, but this is the heaviest bottle of Rioja I have ever crossed paths with, including some of those glass behemoths from Roda. However, despite the heavy-gauged glass, the wine is quite classical in its sensibilities, being composed of a blend of forty percent Tempranillo, forty percent Garnacha and ten percent each of Graciano and Maturana. It is a single vineyard bottling from the la Rad vineyard and was fermented and underwent malo in eight hundred liter French casks, after which it spent fourteen months in new French oak barrels prior to bottling. This is a very limited bottling, as there are only four hundred and sixteen cases produced, which is too bad, as the wine is excellent. The complex and classy bouquet wafts from the glass in a mix of raspberries, cherries, Rioja spices, a fine base of soil tones, a touch of nutskin and a very deft framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, ripe and focused, with an excellent core of fruit, impressive soil signature, ripe, buried tannins and a long, tangy and gently warm finish. This is listed at 14.5 percent octane and is a bit warm on the backend, but also long, complex and balanced. I would love to see it a bit lower in octane, but there is serious depth and complexity here and I suspect it will age quite gracefully, even at 14.5 percent alcohol. Given my predisposition for the traditional camp in Rioja, I was surprised just how much I liked this wine! It is slightly modern in style, but still pays homage to the great terroir of Rioja and is more hybrid than brazenly modern in personality. It is certainly a very, very good wine in the making! But, given that the world is burning, could we perhaps bottle future vintages in a less heavy bottle? 2024-2055. Issue # 85 - January/February 2020 |
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92 | Tim Atkin MW | Alma is the flagship red from Casa La Rad, marrying equal parts Tempranillo and Graciano with 10% Cabernet Sauvignon in a harmonious cuvée. Rich, concentrated and built to age, with lots of fine-grained, mocha oak, layers of youthful dark berry fruit, glossy tannins and the freshness and lift that are typical of the 2018 vintage at its best. 2024-30 Tim Atkin; Rioja Report - February 2021 |
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93 | View from the Cellar | The flagship bottling from Casa La Rad is their Rioja “Alma”, which is crafted from a blend of eighty percent tempranillo and ten percent each of graciano and garnacha. Hand-harvested grapes are fermented in stainless steel for their primary fermentation, with malolactic being undergone in five hundred liter, new French oak puncheons and the wine raised in the same casks for eighteen months prior to bottling. The 2019 vintage of Alma tips the scales at 14.5 percent octane and delivers a deep and refined aromatic constellation of black cherries, black raspberries, Rioja spice tones, cigar smoke, a fine base of soil tones and a generous serving of cedary new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a lovely core of fruit, fine soil inflection, ripe, chewy tannins and lovely length and grip on the nicely balanced finish. With the wine aged in new puncheons, the influence of the oak tannins on the wine is less than in the 2019 Casa La Rad bottling. This is a fine bottle in the making. 2032-2075. John Gilman; Issue 109, January – February 2024 |