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2009 Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain

  • Red
  • Dry
  • Full Bodied
  • Tempranillo
Ready - youthful
Luis Gutiérrez
95+/100
Product: 20091120990
2009 Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain

Description

904 is amongst my top 10 go-to wines, it never disappoints and I am thrilled that the 2009 is no exception. A product of perhaps the best Rioja vintage since 2005, this edition, even at eight years old is brimming with the youth and vitality that this wine always seems to exude well into its second decade. The first nose is unmistakable, I struggle to recall a more outrageously seductive use of American oak in any red wine. The synonyms therefore run aplenty; coconut, cinnamon, coco powder, nutmeg, its everything you want in proper Rioja and then some. Sour cherry and stewed red fruit lurk beneath but come alive on the palate where a riot of cranberries and redcurrants freshen the whole. Leave this just a couple of years to knit together then choose a year in the next 20 to drink it – it doesn’t matter when, it’ll be delicious.
Jared Ehret, Private Account Manager
Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2009
Maturity Ready - youthful
Grape List Tempranillo
Body Full Bodied
Producer La Rioja Alta

Critics reviews

Luis Gutiérrez 95+/100
Time flies, and the 904 for sale is already the 2009 Gran Reserva 904, as they didn't bottle it in 2008. They are only going to bottle their top wines in very good and excellent vintages, so there will be a 2010 and 2011 but no 2012, 2013 or 2014. This super classical cuve showcases the wines from Haro, silky and elegant after long aging in oak and a good future in bottle. 2009 was a powerful vintage, ripe but with good balance. The blend is approximately 90% Tempranillo and 10% Graciano, fermented in stainless steel with a 78-day natural malolactic. The aging was in four-year-old American oak barrels crafted by their own coopers; the wines aged from April 2010 until April 2014. During that time, the wine was racked every six months, to be finally bottled in November 2014. This is usually my favorite wine from the portfolio, where the balance between aging and youth reaches its highest point. It's developed but it keeps some fruit character, plenty of spices and balsamic aromas. The palate is polished but has some clout, with clean, focused flavors and a long, spicy and tasty finish. This represents good value for the quality it delivers. 150,000 bottles produced. Because they didn't produce 890 in 2009, the grapes for the 890 were in this 904. As a curiosity, they uncorked a 1982, which was superb.Luis Gutirrez - 28/02/2018
Luis Gutiérrez, RobertParker.com (Feb 2018)

About this wine

Tempranillo/Tinto Fino

A high quality red wine grape that is grown all over Spain except in the hot South - it is known as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero, Cencibel in La Mancha and Valdepenas and Ull de Llebre in Catalonia. Its spiritual home is in Rioja and Navarra where it constitutes around 70% of most red blends.
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Rioja Alta

Rioja Alta

Rioja is known primarily for its reds although it also makes white wines from the Viura and Malvasia grapes and rosés mainly from Garnacha. Most wineries (bodegas) have their own distinct red wine formula, but are normally a combination of Tempranillo, Garnacha and sometimes Graciano. Other red varieties recently approved into the Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa) regulations are the little-known Maturana Tinta, Maturana
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La Rioja Alta

La Rioja Alta continues to be one of the benchmarks for traditionally produced Rioja wine. Established in 1890 at the same spot where their head office sits today, their three Reserva Wine brands, Alberdi, Arana and Ardanza are named after the founding families, all three of which remain shareholders. The company still maintains traditional Rioja winemaking practices whilst embracing many of the new technological advances.
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