CVNE, Imperial, Gran Reserva, Rioja, 2018

Name: CVNE, Imperial, Gran Reserva, Rioja
Brand: Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España
Price: 250 GBP

Available Vintages

all 2017 2018

justerini & brooks tasting note

The impressive 2018 offers cool tensile blackcurrant, blackberry and black cherry, overlaid by brambles and orange rind. Cracked fennel seed, tomato skin, grilled meat jus and French onion soup flavours power through the mid palate. Graphite, iron filings and white pepper endure on the lifted violet floral finish. The overwhelming impression is of precision, tension, depth and a lovely, understated oak charm. Despite its relatively modest price tag, this imperious Rioja will bring unmitigated pleasure to those that taste it, even now, but it will evolve beautifully over decades, if given the chance. A better accompaniment to roast lamb has yet to be discovered.

critic reviews

95+/100Luis Gutierrez,Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2018 Imperial Gran Reserva was cropped from a year with the weather from yesteryear, a cold winter with frost, snow and abundant rain, a cool spring and mild summer that resulted in a long vegetative cycle of 180 days and a late harvest between October 8th and 26th. It has similar parameters to the 2017 I tasted next to it, with 14% alcohol, a pH of 3.55 and 6.03 grams of acidity, but it shows fresher. It feels very complete, fresh and vibrant, with more depth and tannin. It's still quite young and should develop nicely in bottle with that extra kick from the cooler year. It was a smaller crop, and they produced 56,000 bottles. It was bottled in July 2021.

DRINKING WINDOW 2025 - 2038

date of review 02/2024