Lopez de Heredia "Vina Bosconia" Rioja Reserva 2013

93+ Points Wine Advocate

The 2013 Viña Bosconia Reserva even in a cooler and rainier year, like 2013, has a rounder body and still 13.5% alcohol. They also insisted that "remember that we can use 15% of wine from another vintage, and perhaps we topped this one up with wine from 2015. We want consistency year after year." This matured in barrels for five years and was bottled unfiltered but fined with egg whites. It's expressive, elegant and subtle, clean and complex, with polished tannins and very good acidity (pH 3.3 and 6.7 grams of tartaric acid per liter of wine).

Vina Bosconia comes from the 15ha El Bosque vineyard on the banks of the river Ebro at an altitude of 465m, one km away from the Haro winery. The vines here are planted on the south-facing foothills of the Sierra Cantabria. The soil is a mixture of clay and limestone, with an average vine age of 40 years. The blend is Tempranillo (80%), Garnacha (15%) with Mazuelo (aka Carignan) and Graciano making up the balance. The wine aged in barrel for 5 years, being racked twice a year.