La Rioja Alta
Gran Reserva 890
Rioja Alta
2010

The producer

Created in 1890, La Rioja Alta is unusual for that time as a consortium of several families established as a company. There have been several changes among the shareholders, most notably the merger of one of the founders of the company – Ardanza – with La Rioja Alta. “Ardanza” was the top reserva of the range for decades. The signature of La Rioja Alta is the use of American oak for all the range – a range notable for the high quality at all levels from the crianza Vina Alberdi through to the three Gran Reservas.

The pinnacle wines are named for the year of merger with Ardanza – Gran Reserva 904 (dropping the “1”) and the year of founding – Gran Reserva 890.

The wine

Named after the date of the creation of La Rioja Alta – 1890 – this cuvee is the ultimate flagship wine from the company. Made only in the best vintages, Gran Reserva 890 is made from 96% Tempranillo with a soupcon of Graciano and Mazuelo. It matures for 6-8 years in American oak cask and a further 6 years in bottle and is presented in numbered bottles. Certainly, among the finest wines produced in Rioja, 890 is medium bodied with firm yet fine tannins, exceptional drive, complexity and length, and can be kept almost forever.

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.