2011 Rioja Vina Del Olivo

Sourced from a specific plot of vineyards planted on chalk-rich soils in 1980 within the Contino estate, the 2011 Viña El Olivo is named after an olive tree that is planted in the vineyard. A blend of 90% Tempranillo and the rest Graciano, the grapes were harvested quite early, on September 19 and 13, respectively. The grapes were sorted, and fermented in oak vats with malo in new oak barrels (a mixture of French, American and Hungarian oak) where the wine aged for 18 months with rackings every six months. If some of the other wines show more classical, the Viña el Olivo is unmistakably modern with notes of smoky bacon, roasted corn and lush, ripe black fruit, true to the style from the age when it was born in the mid 1990s. The palate is medium to full-bodied, with abundant, fine-grained, slightly dusty tannins, good volume and persistence. It ends quite dry and is still marked by the elevage. Very good in its style. I would wait a couple of years for the wine to absorb and digest the oak, because I know the old vintages are evolving well (because there is a good vineyard behind0). 9,647 bottles and 500 magnums produced.

From the Olivo vineyard and 90% Tempranillo and 10% Graciano. Not quite as intense a crimson as the Graciano. Sweet, graceful wine that is so much better balanced than the 100% Graciano! Delicate and beautifully balanced with lift and ripeness. (JR)