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2015 Imperial, Gran Reserva, C.V.N.E., Rioja, Spain

  • Red
  • Dry
  • Full Bodied
  • Tempranillo
Ready - youthful
Josh Raynolds
95/100
Tim Atkin MW
96/100
James Suckling
97/100
Product: 20158030856
2015 Imperial, Gran Reserva, C.V.N.E., Rioja, Spain

Description

Much anticipation has surrounded the release of the 2015 Contino Gran Reserva CVNE, and it has been rewarded with this brooding, dark and spicy wine. Displaying cherry blossom aromas, this is beautifully woven, with a palate bursting with flavours of damson, bramble and sweet spices. Succulent but concentrated, there is immense power here, hidden underneath pure and elegant fruit. This balance is complemented with a rolling freshness and a pleasant saline bit on the finish.

If you can keep your hands off it for that long, leave it for at least a few years, and enjoy from 2024 – 2040

Chris Lamb, Account Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd (September 2021)

Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2015
Alcohol % 14
Maturity Ready - youthful
Grape List Tempranillo
Body Full Bodied
Producer C.V.N.E.

Critics reviews

Josh Raynolds 95/100
Deep, brilliant ruby. Offers sharply defined, mineral-inflected red and dark berries, cherry liqueur, pipe tobacco, vanilla and exotic spice scents. Chewy and penetrating in the mouth, offering concentrated black raspberry, bitter cherry, boysenberry and spicecake flavors that steadily become more lively on the back half. The strikingly persistent finish features polished tannins, repeating minerality and a touch of candied flowers.josh_raynolds, Vinous.com.com (2021)
Josh Raynolds, Vinous.com (Jan 2021)
Tim Atkin MW 96/100
Produced in CVNE’s bodega within a bodega, entirely dedicated to Imperial, this is a superb Gran Reserva that combines Tempranillo with 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo. Rich, dense and layered, with fine new French and American oak, wonderful focus, savoury tannins and the depth and concentration to age for a decade or more.timatkin_com (2021)
Tim Atkin MW, timatkin.com (Jan 2021)
James Suckling 97/100
This is very ripe with blackberries, dried fruit, toasted oak and black licorice on the nose. Full-bodied with ultra-fine, linear tannins and a racy, refined finish. This has fantastic structure and length. It goes on for minutes. It needs time to open and refine even more. One of the best Imperial Gran Reservas in a very long time.Drink after 2023james_suckling, jamessuckling_com (2021)
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (Jan 2021)

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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C.V.N.E.

Bodegas C.V.N.E. is still owned and run by the Real de Asua family whose ancestors established it back in 1879. Its full name is Compañía Vinicola del Norte de España but it more commonly known as "coonay".
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