sierra cantabria

SIERRA CANTABRIA GRAN RESERVA OTRA VEZ

Yeah, we ran this as an email a while back. Sold a bit of it, too. But, being honest, we were a little disappointed in the response. We aren’t usually ones to repeat ourselves but, in this case, we wonder if we didn’t quite convey our enthusiasm well enough. Or was it the day we chose to run it, on a low-key Sunday as opposed to one of our typical weekday slots? Was the one number we posted, all there was at the time, not big enough? Not sure what it was but clearly the message didn’t resonate the way we expected.

This is a special wine, from an exceptional vintage, made by a trusted house, that delivered high quality with over a decade of bottle age for less than you’d pay for a middling, new release Napa Cabernet. It’s fabulous with steak but far more versatile than most other red wine choices with a wide range of foods. We literally drink this about once a week at my house and just wanted to make doubly sure everyone saw the message. That’s all we can do so here’s the piece again.

“We have been fans of Sierra Cantabria at many levels for a couple of decades. We almost feel a familial connection with a couple of Rioja producers (Sierra Cantabria, Muga, La Rioja Alta, and Lopez de Heredia) as we have met the owners, visited the wineries, and sold their wines consistently for a long time. Even though there are no ‘automatics’ here, and we seriously look hard at every new vintage from these vaunted producers, it is almost inconceivable that we wouldn’t have something on the floor from each of them. They are staples for the genre.

“Within that context, you have your high points, and today’s offer is one of those. We were huge fans of the delicious Sierra Cantabria Rioja Gran Reserva 2009, one of the uncanny successes from this warm, successful-but-not-‘epic’ vintage. This time we are talking about the 2010 edition, from a vintage that has been acclaimed as one of the ‘best ever’ from a fairly broad historical perspective. We have been waiting for months for this to arrive, the process bogged down not only by the usual pandemic-tariff-shipping scenario that has had an impact on everything, but an additional delay thanks to the importer changing horses and the ‘new guy’ getting their system in order.

“As to the vintage, we’ll put it simply…on the Wine Advocate vintage chart 2010 was the highest rated vintage along with 2016 and 2004, and a point higher than 2001. In other words, pretty rare company as vintages go. The story here is that the Sierra Cantabria Rioja Gran Reserva 2010 is a traditional blend of 98% Tempranillo and 2% Graciano from vines planted between 1950 and 1970. Those vineyards employ ‘practicing organic,’ dry-farmed viticulture with certain selective biodynamic practices.

“The grapes undergo rigorous double-manual sorting, both before and after destemming then temperature-controlled fermentation in stainless steel followed by malolactic fermentation in barrel. The wine then spends 26 months in American oak barrels as is tradition for ‘gran reservas’, 25% new.

“So how does this differ from the 2009? More nuance, more elegance, more complexity. The nose starts with the same kind of billowing dark fruits, but there is more focus and definition, and an even greater sense of purity. Black fruits, damp earth, savory spice and notes of cocoa, it’s a complex mélange of scents. The same flavors are the central theme on the palate with a supple core of fruit as the focus. Brightness to the flavors, tender edges, and more evident layers across the palate, this is a very complete and complex version of this wine that is a notch or two higher qualitatively than anything we have tasted previously. Given this series, that’s saying something.

Not all of the critics have weighed in on this one as yet, but the early reviews are impressive, particularly for a wine with this kind of elegant profile. Wine Specator’s take was, “An edge of tar and smoke lines the cherry, clove and herb flavors in this complex red, which is focused and balanced. Mineral elements and woodsy notes combine on the long finish. Drink now through 2032… 93 points.”

“Vinous’s Josh Raynolds wrote, “Bright ruby-red. Highly perfumed red fruit, floral and spice aromas are complemented by subtle vanilla and coconut accents. Smooth, focused and gently sweet, offering raspberry, cherry-vanilla and candied rose flavors and an earthier hint of tobacco. Fine-grained tannins lend shape to a long, energetic finish that strongly repeats the red fruit note. Raised in a 50/50 mix of French and American oak barrels, 25% of them new… 93 points.”

We suspect other critics will be along with big numbers in time, but this little jewel might not be around by then. A lovely, layered, complex Rioja that expresses the kind depth that only a truly great vintage can deliver, the Sierra Cantabria Gran Reserva 2010 is the complete package. With a little air, it’s sensational now, and will easily perform for another decade or two. Here is a gorgeous, top-notch reserve level wine, with a decade of bottle age, for under $40. Nowhere else but Spain does this.

GREAT NEW JUICE FROM SIERRA CANTABIA

It’s a family affair in a way. We have been fans of Sierra Cantabria at many levels for a couple of decades. We almost feel a familial connection with a couple of Rioja producers (Sierra Cantabria, Muga, La Rioja Alta, and Lopez de Heredia). We have met the owners, visited the wineries, and sold their wines consistently for a long time. Even though there are no ‘automatics’ at Winex, and we look hard at every new vintage of everything, it is almost inconceivable that we wouldn’t have something on the floor from each of these producers.

Sierra Cantabria just recently rolled out an impressive ‘triple play’. The lineup is distinctive, with stylistic variety based on different philosophies for each wine and sourcing from three different vintages. We have already done an email in the two sensational Gran Reserva efforts, Sierra Cantabria Rioja Gran Reserva 2009 and the Egurens’ single vineyard estate El Puntido Rioja Gran Reserva 2007. The reviews are sensational, the styles distinctive, and we advise you to check this pair of classics out if you didn’t see that offer.

Since we almost never put more than two items in an email these days, we did not include this one in that offer. But the Sierra Cantabria Rioja Reserva Unica 2016 is another really impressive effort that certainly should not be overlooked. We just finished up the last bottle of the 2009, and it was smoking! This 2016 comes from a great vintage and is perhaps finer tuned and more seamless than that ’09 from a warmer vintage.

This series has been around since at least 2008 and, while it is done in the traditional manner (as you’ll see in Jeb Dunnuck’s notes below), this definitely sports a fresher, more modern bent to the fruit and comes off a bit more modern. Lots of dark cherry and red plum fruit with a subtle underpinning of earthy minerality and baking spice. Appealing and pretty user friendly out of the gate, as that 2009 demonstrated, it will age nicely if that is the call.

From Jeb Dunnuck, “The 2016 Reserva Unica comes from a single vineyard located in the alluvial soils beside the Ebro river. Made from 97% Tempranillo and 3% Graciano that was all destemmed and aged 24 months in 30% new French and America oak, this deep, concentrated 2016 packs some serious muscle in its blackcurrants, black cherry, licorice, toasted spice, and dried earth-like aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied, with a dense, concentrated mid-palate and ripe tannins, give bottles a few years in a cold cellar and enjoy over the following 10-15 years…94 points.”

A great choice at a modest $24.98, it’s a sensational value for a quality red.

SIERRA CANTABRIA UNICA 2014: MUY TASTY

The Eguren brothers have their fingers in a lot of pies including Dominio de Eguren in Manchuela, the single vineyard estate Senorio de San Vincente, and Teso la Monja, an estate they started after they sold their previous Toro project, Numanthia. Yeah the boys are busy (they currently operate six wineries), but it all centers around the original property founded five generations earlier in 1870, Sierra Cantabria. They started as growers that for decades sold their grapes to other wineries and they still see themselves as viticulturists first. But they clearly know what to do with the juice.

Sierra Cantabriamakes a number of different wines but this series (which started in 2008 if memory serves) has been perhaps one of the best performers all things considered. Made from vines planted in 1985 in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, the wine itself is made from 98% Tempranillo with a pinch (2%) ‘older vine Grenache’. The wine sees 24 months in 60% French and 40% American oak, 30% of which is new. There’s no pretense at ‘traditional’ styling here even though it qualifies under the law.

This is a big, ripe mouthful of plush, ripe black fruits, spice cake, earthy minerality and hints of smoke. The bottle age is clearly sufficient to take whatever edge off this wine it might have had, and it now presents itself as an open, fruit driven wave of flavor. It’s very well put together but in a more ‘bottoms up’ style that doesn’t require a lot of thinking. In other words lush, easy to like stuff. The critics seemed to like it well enough. Both Vinous’ Josh Raynolds and Wine Spectator hung 92s on this one. Raynolds said, “…Sappy and focused on the palate, offering juicy raspberry, cherry and spicecake flavors that put on weight with air. Shows excellent precision on the clinging finish, which features sweet red fruit liqueur and floral elements and harmonious, silky tannins.”

Wine Spectator’s Thomas Mathews offered, “Vanilla, sandalwood and cedar notes lend a spicy accent to the cherry, tangerine, underbrush and licorice flavors in this round red. Shows good density, with well-integrated tannins and lively acidity imparting focus. Tempranillo and Graciano. Drink now through 2026.”

The highest praise, and a bit of explanation, came from Jeb Dunnuck, “The 2014 Sierra Cantabria Reserva Única is a cellar selection of the best barrels of the Reserve, selected with the idea of making a big, rich wine that can drink well in its youth yet also age. Blackberry, blueberry, violet, peach pit, graphite, and lead pencil notes all flow to a rich, medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced red that has good acidity, fine tannin, and a great finish. This sexy, decadent, layered beauty shouldn’t be missed! …94 points.”

It is absolutely “big, rich wine that can drink well in its youth” which will definitely make a few new friends for Spain but not at the exclusion of long time fans of Rioja.

SIERRA CANTABRIA RIOJA SELECCION 2014

SIERRA CANTABRIA RIOJA SELECCION 2014

Think of this as what we used to call a wine-of-the-month, though with the new ongoing format time is a lot less linear. An amazing deal from Spain shouldn’t surprise us. We have been on our soapbox regarding the value of Spanish wines at a wide range of price points for, what, a couple of decades now? But this one certainly did! When the purveyor pulled the bottle out of the bag, the only thing we saw was Sierra Cantabria, one of the most trusted, go-to names for us in Rioja since we began selling their wines in the mid-90s.

The Eguren family have been one of the superstars of the region not only for their range of Sierra Cantabria wines, but also their Senorio de San Vicente project that focuses on an arcane variety of Tempranillo (called Tempranillo Peludo because the leaves have a unique ‘fuzzy’ surface) that typically works on the level of a Classified Growth Bordeaux. These same folks, along with importer Jorge Ordonez, sidled over to Toro and created Numanthia (which they later sold to LVMH) which helped redefine the region. They turned right around and started Teso la Monja essentially with the same concept as Numanthia as premium Toro red.

The Egurens, even though the family has been in Rioja since the 1870s, they are ‘movers and shakers’ in the region in the most modern way. Where do they fall stylistically? They do it all, making traditional Crianzas, Reservas and Gran Resevas, as well as wines reaching for a more modern sheen with the like of Finca Eel Bosco, Reserva Unica, El Puntido and Seleccion Privada outside the traditional ‘rules’. They make more than twenty different wines, including a more ‘mass market’ enterprise under the Dominio de Eguren label.

Given our knowledge of this winery’s broad lineup, we had no idea what to expect of this label that we couldn’t remember seeing before. We tasted it with no particular expectations in mind since these folks worked on many levels. Plenty of dark fruit (strawberry, plum, currant), vanilla highlights from what appeared to be some time in oak, fine purity of fruit, and the classic chocolate/earthy notes that are a part of Rioja terroir. ‘Pretty good stuff’, we thought, ‘a fine tipple in the upper teens.’

As it turned out, this was only the second release of this wine, and the price was under $10! Our shock was legitimate. Sourced from proprietary vineyards located in San Vicente de la Sonsierra and Laguardia, this wine was 100% de-stemmed and saw 6 months in tank and 6 months in a combination of 1-3 year old American and French Bordelaise barrels.

For the price point, it was a revelation! We have been complaining for quite a while that ‘value-priced’ wines have been tasting more and more homogenized and ‘messed with’. Far too many have the prevalent flavor of wood stays or oak chip ‘teabags’ meant to give the wine the ‘impression’ of more expensive winemaking, or leave residual sweetness in the wine to fill in some of the ‘cracks’. The flavors often lean more towards industrial chocolate cake frosting and candied fruit.

This one tastes like wine! Good wine! We can’t think of a more exciting thing to say than that in a wine world that seems to be intent on using wine-making tricks to gussy up marginal, ordinary juice (the ‘lipstick on a pig’ analogy comes to mind). The Egurens are giving you delightful, honest Rioja for the same kind of price.

Not only is this a $10 wine we would happily drink ourselves, it caught the attention of the usually-not-particularly-generous Josh Raynolds of Vinous, who remarked, “…Dark ruby. Ripe dark berries, candied flowers and a suggestion of woodsmoke on the perfumed nose. Pliant and expansive in the mouth, offering bitter cherry, cassis and peppery spice flavors that become sweeter on the back half. Finishes on a juicy dark berry note, showing very good persistence, gentle tannins and lingering spice and floral notes…90 Points.” A 90 from Josh on a wine in this price range is a rare occurence.

The Egurens know their business, but something tasty, honest, and inexpensive is the hardest thing to do in wine. Bravo. House red, party red, something that delivers in a way few $10 wines can (and, sadly, a whole lot of $15-20 wines as well), this is one to buy by the case…$9.98