Vina Otano, Rioja Reserva Red 2017
|
93
Wine Enthusiast
The scent of black cherry, mocha and sage wafts from the glass. Plush tannins support black cherry, blackberry, caramel, clove and mint tea flavors. Well-integrated acidity and a note of saline endure long after the last sip.
The 2017 Rioja “Reserva” from Viña Otano is composed from its customary blend of eighty-five percent tempranillo, ten percent graciano and five percent mazuelo, with all of the fruit hailing from vineyards in the Rioja Alta sector. The wine is given eighteen months of élevage in cask prior to bottling and tips the scales at 14.5 percent alcohol in this vintage. It offers up a lovely aromatic constellation of black raspberries, cassis, cigar wrapper, dark soil tones, brown spices, just a touch of meatiness and cedary wood. On the palate the wine is deep, complex and full- bodied, with a good undercarriage of tannins, fine depth at the core, good soil signature and a long, poised and very nicely balanced finish. Despite being seven years of age, the 2017 Reserva really could do with a bit more time in the cellar to properly soften up its tannins. It is a lovely bottle in the making. 2030-2065.
John Gilman; Issue 109, January – February 2024
|
|
|
|
Vina Otano, Rioja Reserva Red 2018
|
92
View from the Cellar
Viña Otano’s 2018 Rioja “Reserva” is crafted this year from a cépages of eighty-five percent tempranillo, ten percent graciano and five percent mazuelo, with all of the grapes picked by hand. The wine was aged for eighteen months in a combination of French and American oak casks, with rackings every six months and then aged another two and a half years in bottle prior to release. It is a ripe wine in the style of the 2018 vintage, coming in at 14.5 percent octane and delivering a deep and complex bouquet of dark berries, coffee bean, Rioja spice tones, a fine base of soil, cigar smoke and a nice mix of oak influences from the casks’ two countries of origin. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very nicely balanced for its octane level, with the start of a velvety palate impression on the attack, a fine core of black fruit, lovely soil undertow and grip, buried tannins and fine focus on the long, complex and classy finish. There is perhaps just a whisper of backend heat here, but it is so subtle that I have little doubt that this wine will age splendidly. 2035-2075+.
|
|
|
