Viña Alberdi Selección Especial Reserva 2021

Viña Alberdi Selección Especial Reserva is made by La Rioja Alta, one of the founding houses of the region, from Tempranillo grown in D.O.Ca. Rioja. The grape thrives on Rioja's mix of clay-limestone and alluvial soils under a climate moderated by the Atlantic to the north and the Mediterranean to the east, a balance that gives ripe but fresh fruit. This Reserva spends 24 months in American oak barrels, the traditional Rioja choice, where the wood's wider grain and the long, slow oxygen exchange soften tannin and lend the classic vanilla, coconut and toasted notes that define aged Rioja, while bottle time after barrel adds tertiary complexity. The result is a wine in the savoury, structured Rioja register rather than a fruit-forward modern style. The colour is a deep ruby with garnet at the rim, the nose shows red berries and cherry layered with vanilla, tobacco, leather and dried herbs, and the palate is medium to full-bodied, with ripe fruit, fine grippy tannin and a long savoury finish. Serve at 16 to 18 degrees, and decant young bottles.