Faustino I Gran Reserva 2016

Faustino I Gran Reserva is the historic flagship of Bodegas Faustino in Rioja, a blend of Tempranillo with Graciano and Mazuelo from the 2017 vintage. Tempranillo gives the body and red fruit, Graciano lends acidity and aromatic lift, and Mazuelo, also called Cariñena, adds colour and grip, a classic Rioja partnership grown on the clay and limestone soils of the region. After harvest the grapes ferment at a controlled 30 degrees and macerate for 27 days to draw out colour, tannin and structure capable of long ageing. The wine then spends 28 months in American and French oak, where slow, steady oxidation through the staves polymerises the tannins into silk and develops the leather, tobacco and dried-herb complexity that marks a mature Gran Reserva, with vanilla and sweet spice from the wood. Further bottle age rounds it further. It pours a garnet red with bricking at the rim and shows plum and cherry fruit folded into leather, tobacco, vanilla and a savoury, earthy depth. The palate is elegant and fully resolved, the tannins fine and the finish long. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees, decanted, with roast lamb, game or aged cheese.