Tasting notes:

This mature expression from the great Rioja producer Remírez de Ganuza is a wine that is hard to fault. Aged for at least 20 months in new French oak and several years in bottle, it shows wonderful characters of stewed fruit and wood-influence allied to fine Rioja’s high natural acidity, making this richly flavoured red wine surprisingly refreshing. Among the notes of cedarwood and dried cherry are sweet balsamic and vanilla pod, cracked pepper and prunes, then a touch of tar and coconut, before the wine finishes very dry, with plenty of chalky-fine tannins. Delicious - and a wine to complement grilled red meat from any animal.  Patrick Schmitt MW