The colour is deep ruby. On the nose chocolate, prunes, dark berries. In the mouth smooth and full, with a tasty finish and a long aftertaste.
To make its Gran Reserva wine, Marqués de Riscal uses Tempranillo grapes from over 80 years old vines. The wine is aged between two and a half and three years into French oak barrels, and rests another three years in bottle before its release.
Marqués de Riscal is one of the historic wineries of Rioja. It was founded by Hurtado de Amézaga, Marqués de Riscal, in 1858. In 1862 it was the first ever Rioja wine to be bottled.
Along with Marqués de Murrieta (1852), López de Heredia (1877), CVNE (1879), Montecillo (1872) and La Rioja Alta (1890), the winery is regarded as one of the pioneers of so-called “classic” Rioja, a style that emerged in the second half of the 19th Century.
Marqués de Riscal was the first non-French wine to win the diploma of honor of the Bordeaux Exhibition. This diploma appears to these days on each bottle’s label.
In the first quarter of the 20th Century, Marqués de Riscal started to cover its bottles with a golden net. This measure was taken to avoid fraud, by stopping people from filling empty bottles of Riscal with other, lesser wines (to get the cork out, you have to cut the net).
Riscal’s flagship wine is the Reserva, of which it produces around 5 million bottles each year. A wine that sells for around 20 CHF, but is often on sale for less than 14 CHF. Until 1987, it was the only red wine released by the winery.
I bought this bottle of Gran Reserva at Coop for 43.50 CHF.
Country: Spain
Region: Rioja
Grapes: Tempranillo
Type: Red
Vintage: 2016
Producer: Marqués de Riscal
Price range: Premium (30-50 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 4/5