2015 Gran Reserva 904, Selección Especial, La Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain

They used the words subtlety, elegance, finesse, delicacy and silk to define the 2015 Gran Reserva 904 Selección Especial, a blend of 90% Tempranillo from their vineyards in Villalba, Briñas and Rodezno with 10% Graciano from the Montecillo vineyard in Fuenmayor that was picked 23 days later than the Tempranillo. The grapes were sorted optically for the first time, and they fermented in stainless steel, where the wine went through malolactic too. The wine was put in barrel in January 2016—used American oak barrels built by their own coopers—where it matured for four years and was racked every six months. 2015 was a healthy vintage with balanced ripeness, delivering wines with good ageing potential. They thought the wine needed a little more time in the bottle to polish those tannins and have decided to hold it and release the wine around March 2023; it will be marked Selección Especial, the first 904 to do so, as they have very high hopes for this year and believe it's one of the finest vintages. They think it will develop the sophistication in the palate with a little more time and that it should achieve the silkiness that is the signature of 904. This is very 2015; I saw firm tannins in all the 2015 wines I tasted from Rioja Alta. There are some 150,000 bottles of this.Drink 2024 - 2025Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (July 2022)

Vivid ruby. Expansive red and blue fruit preserve, tobacco, potpourri, spice and botanical herb aromas, with vanilla and smoky mineral notes emerging as the wine opens. Sappy, penetrating and gently chewy on the palate, offering vibrant, mineral- and spice-accented black raspberry, bitter cherry and rose pastille flavours that deepen and turn sweeter on the back half.Shows sharp focus and floral lift on the impressively long, youthfully tannic finish, leaving notes of candied blue fruits and spice cake.Drink 2025 - 2036josh_raynolds, Vinous.com.com (April 2021)

A perfumed nose of plums, mulberries, mushrooms, caramel, sweet tobacco and sweet spices. Full-bodied with velvety, fine tannins and lively acidity. Balanced and supple with a creamy texture. Delicate and precise with a long, polished finish. 90% tempranillo and 10% graciano. Drink or holdjames_suckling, jamessuckling_com (February 2022)