CVNE
'Imperial' Gran Reserva
Rioja Alavesa
2016

The producer

Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España, commonly known as CVNE (pronounced 'Coo-nay'), is one of the most renowned and historic wine producers in Spain, founded in 1879 in the heart of the Rioja wine region. Based in the town of Haro, CVNE has been a pivotal force in the development and recognition of Rioja wines, combining traditional winemaking practices with innovative techniques to produce some of the region's most acclaimed wines.

The company is known for its range of Rioja wines, from classic Reservas and Gran Reservas to the pioneering Monopole white wine, the oldest white wine brand in Spain. CVNE's commitment to quality and terroir expression has helped it to achieve international acclaim, making it a flagship for Spanish winemaking on the global stage.

The wine

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.