CVNE Asúa Reserva 2018

CVNE has worked from the Rioja Alta since 1879, and its Asúa Reserva honours the brothers who founded the house. The wine is Tempranillo grown on the limestone and clay soils that run through the region, where cooler nights preserve acidity and slow ripening keeps the fruit fresh through a long, gradual season. Ageing runs to eighteen months split between concrete tanks and oak barrels. The concrete holds the fruit clean and primary, while the porous oak allows a slow exchange of oxygen that softens the tannins and folds in cedar, vanilla and a savoury, leathery edge as the wine matures. The result is mid weight and built around structure rather than power. The colour is a deep ruby with a garnet rim. The nose leads with ripe plum and cherry, then tobacco, dried herbs and a smoky, toasted character from the barrel. On the palate it is balanced and firm, the fruit carried by fine tannin and bright acidity into a long, earthy finish. Serve at sixteen to eighteen degrees, decanted for half an hour, alongside roast lamb or a plate of aged Manchego.