From Wine Spectator: Dark and alluring, this rich red delivers coffee, tobacco and mineral flavors, with undertones of prune and date. The structure is solid yet balanced."
We’ll go out on a limb here and say that this estate, whose winemaking has been under the guidance of Peter Sisseck, owner/winemaker of Pingus (one of Spain’s elite estates), in one of the exceptional vintages of the last couple of decades, did well in ‘01. In fact, it may be one of the best Spanish wines we've tasted over the last couple of years and was one of the standouts at the Eric Solomon portfolio tasting in 2007 (in a room full of superstar wines). That’s saying quite a bit. It was skipped in the last Wine Advocate (as was the fabulous 2003 Crianza although the ‘04 was reviewed and given a ‘94’). But that doesn't matter a lick to us, we’ll be putting some of this (and the regular) in our own cellar. Dark, massive wine crammed with plum and currant fruit and chewy tannins, this nicely walks the line between the old fashioned powerhouse ‘super Ribera’ in structure and the fresh, more primary fruit of the more modern discipline. Bottom line, to us this is a great wine and we consciously try not to overuse that phrase. A must, the 'regular' 2001 bottling was a Tanzer 91 (though he didn't review the 2001 Reserva either) and an Advocate 92!
