2002 Lopez de Heredia Cubillo Crianza

Y

Yule Kim

Yule Kim
Bright, zippy, and delicious. It still has plenty of fruit, but the earthiness elevates it from the merely gulpable. Absolutely wonderful with a ribeye steak. I know this is just the "entry-level" wine, and not something to ponder about, but it was just so much fun to drink. It moved me.
 
I heard there was a lot of variability in the '02. Luckily my single bottle of this sang. It is good to know that there is quality at the crianza level and makes me want to check out the other rioja producers and try theirs.

Luckily, DC seems to be awash in riojas nowadays. Thinking of trying the ostatu or the remelluri. Or maybe grabbing a bottle of the '01 rioja alta reserva especial.
 
Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial 2001 is a great wine, a return to the rich (20% garnacha) but unspoofed style of old.
 
originally posted by VS:
Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial 2001 is a great wine, a return to the rich (20% garnacha) but unspoofed style of old.
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What do you figure is the future for this wine? Is it worth cellaring or is it intended for drinking now?
 
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
originally posted by VS:
Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial 2001 is a great wine, a return to the rich (20% garnacha) but unspoofed style of old.
Click to expand...
What do you figure is the future for this wine? Is it worth cellaring or is it intended for drinking now?
Click to expand...
Tasted to me like a wine with potential.
 
As Joe says - possibly not as long-lived as more structured Riojas with more tempranillo, but probably as long-lived as the best CdPs!
 
I just helped Dirk Niepoort, Luis Gutiérrez and Ignacio Villalgordo (Jesús Barquín was missing somewhere) prep for the Revue du Vin de France European team tasting championship by downing a few bottles of red and white Rioja (López de Heredia, Martínez Lacuesta, Paternina, Montecillo, La Rioja Alta...) including 1936, 1928, 1913 and some unknown vintages. The aging ability of these devils is (was?) mindboggling.
 
Taste it again in five years' time and you won't find it. In good Bordeaux and Rioja (I mean good, not spoofed), oak is meant to integrate seamlessly. None of that bunch of old Riojas could be defined as 'oaky'.
 
A recent bottle of 2008 Magdeleine drew the same remark from a room full of Bordeaux experts. I almost never try the stuff young, so I can't say from my own experience.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
A recent bottle of 2008 Magdeleine drew the same remark from a room full of Bordeaux experts. I almost never try the stuff young, so I can't say from my own experience.
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But if you compare to 1998 at a similar stage, for example, there is a difference, and I don't think it's in the actual amount of new oak exposure, or the probability of successful integration. Some of the secondary attributes is what got my attention, on the creamy side of things. I wonder if part of the malo was done in oak? I honestly don't know - need to check my sources. Nor do I recall where CM stands on this matter, without searching through notes.
 
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