XR de Marqués de Riscal 2022

XR is made by Herederos del Marqués de Riscal, a Rioja house with more than 160 years of history. The wine takes its name and its style from the cellar's Reserva Histórica, barrels of special character that earlier cellar masters marked with chalk as a guide, and it blends Tempranillo with Graciano. Riscal works in the higher western Rioja, where a continental climate with hot days and cold nights gives the wide diurnal range that preserves acidity, colour and aromatic freshness through the long growing season. The Graciano in the blend adds the high acidity, deep colour and peppery, floral lift that balance the rounder Tempranillo. The wine ages for twenty-four months in oak, an extended barrel time during which slow oxygen exchange through the staves softens the tannins and develops tertiary notes of leather, tobacco and spice, while the oak itself frames the fruit with vanilla and cedar. It shows ripe dark fruit and red berry, tobacco and sweet spice on the nose, with an elegant, meaty and well-structured palate carried by fine tannin. Serve at 16 to 18 degrees, decanting ahead. It suits roast lamb, grilled red meat and aged cheese.