CVNE 'Imperial' Gran Reserva, Rioja DOCa 2015

 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 Imperiale Gran Reservas in a very long time.  (9/2021)

 The 2015 Imperial Gran Reserva is crafted from a constellation of eighty-five percent Tempranillo, ten percent Graciano and five percent Mazuelo this year. Like the Contino Gran Reserva, this wine tips the scales at fourteen percent alcohol in 2015 and offers up a pure, nascently complex and sappy nose of black raspberries, black cherries, Cuban cigar wrapper, a lovely base of soil tones, toasted coconut, a touch of cedar, fresh nutmeg and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, refined, deep and full, with a great core of fruit, impeccable focus and balance, ripe, firm tannins and a long, tangy and nascently complex finish. This is going to be an absolutely superb vintage of Imperial Gran Reserva, but it is even younger than the Viña Real Gran Reserva out of the blocks and will need a bit more cellaring to soften up. In due course, it is going to be a stunning wine! (Drink between 2031-2080)  (6/2021)

 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. (JR)  (4/2021)

 Deep violet in color, this wine has aromas of cassis, strawberry and black tea. It is juicier than expected, with flavors of cranberry, raspberry, dark chocolate and toasted almond. Grippy tannins recede into a bright orange zest finish. (MD)  (7/2022)

 This vivid red shows good momentum, with solid tannins encasing cherry, cola, clove and balsamic notes, marked with cedar, anise and spice elements. The flavors are well-integrated, but this complex red has a long life ahead of it. Drink now through 2038. (GS)  (9/2021)