Thanks for the great feedback everyone. I opened a ‘10 LRA Ardanza last night and really enjoyed it. The oak wasn’t off putting and I thought it was well integrated. I’m very sensitive to American oak in white wines but for some reason it doesn’t bother me in most Rioja.
Will be buying a handful of each of these to sample and lay down. I’ll post TNs soon.
Sounds like this critic is a candidate for the “Fish Slapping Dance”. I too get coconut and dill in older LRA and don’t drink it because of that. We have friends with vintages as far back as mid-70’s and still taste that in the LRA.
Oh, and if you are looking at long-term prospects, the Prado Enea is quite good after 20+.
Good gosh! I went and found the note and your post on the CT forum. I looked into that user: he (she?) has a rather robust history of unsavory comments on others’ tasting notes. (S)He must be a real peach.
Me too. And such a shame as the fruit is gorgeous.
I like Muga Prado Enea, Castillo Ygay GRE & LRA 890 GR (890 much over the 904). If I had to choose one for very long ageing, I’d go for the Ygay GRE.
I’ve got a fair amount of LdH and LRA in my cellar. I’ve had plenty of aged examples of both. They are different takes on Rioja, and sometimes one calls to me more than another. However, I don’t find the oak on LRA to be overwhelming (though it is always present). I’ve also had a good amount of CUNE (with some in my cellar). I find CUNE less oaky than LRA but more so than LdH.
Anyway, if you’re looking for an LRA that should have a very long future and not terribly expensive, you might try 2010 La Rioja Alta Rioja Viña Ardanza Reserva, Selección Especial. I think this is the third time they’ve made this particular wine owing to the quality of the 2010 vintage. I picked my bottles up for under $30.
Prado Enea, Ygay & La Rioja Alta 904 are probably my favourite three riojas. (Remelluri makes a great Gran Riserva too)…If I had to pick one it would probably be Prado Enea. I prefer the LRA for shorter-term drinking (i.e. within 5-6 years of release), as I actually find the heavy oak on that wine to be less distracting when the fruit is still youthful, rich and powerful, and find that the dill becomes more prominent as the fruit softens and matures. (I tend to find dill, rather than coconut/tanning lotion, to be the issue with the oak on this particular wine.)
It’s the fourth of Ardanza’s “Especiales”; the previous three being ‘64, ‘73 & ‘01 if I recall correctly. Of those, I’ve had only the ‘01, first during a private tasting at the LRA Haro compound in April 2010 with my wife, the humble, soft spoken, yet extremely talented technical director/winemaker, Julio Sáenz, and the always charming PR Directress, Gabriela Rezola. Julio was still experimenting with some French barrels for Viña Ardanza back then and mentioned that he was having a bit of a problem sourcing from François Frères at Fils; and I was able to help him out with that.
I recall Julio wasn’t yet that comfortable conducting the tasting in English; and looked so relieved when Gabriela told him it would be fine to conduct it in Spanish. When I visited them again in 2015, he proudly told me he would conduct the entire tasting in English - which he did very well - he obviously had taken the time from his incredibly busy work schedule to polish his English. Great people in LRA.
I like them all and buy them with the idea of not drinking them until they have at least 20+ years on them as they are much closer to being in balance by then. I prefer the Gran Reservas as they usually are much more complex and interesting for me.
This is something I have given a bit of thought to in the last couple of years. If you are looking for a wine that is like Tondonia, the only one that comes close is not a Rioja but a Ribera. I often mistake older Pesqueras for aged Tondonias. They both seem to display an antique desk drawer smell which I love.
We visited Haro in September and were lucky enough to get a full morning tour of Lopez de Heredia. It is stunning how much different the operation is to any other winery. The shear scale of the operation is staggering and the massive aging cellars and inventory on hand is hard to believe. Essentially the whole cellar smells like Tondonia.
Across the street is the much more modern LRA operation. The quality here is equal to LdH but very different. I have grown to prefer the Ardanza bottling to the 904. However after trying a few vintages of 904 on that day I may be changing. If I was going to recommend a wine to stick in your cellar for the rest of your life it would be the 2010 904. It was and is incredible in every way. I look forward to trying the 2010 Ardanza but doubt it will be as good.
I also have tried recent bottlings of the Ygay and CVNE Imperial GR. I think they have a lot in common and think that the CVNE at half the price in my market is a better buy. I would say that they would be Rioja for Claret lovers. My experience with 04 and 05 Prado Enea a couple of years ago has made me very wary of purchasing the current releases. They were both very ripe and disjointed.
When it comes to Rioja though my true love is the great blancos from Lopez de Heredia and Honorio Rubio. I’m sure there are others but I love the oxidized style of these 2 houses. I have yet to try a Ygay GR Blanco.
Totally agree
The oldest white I’ve had would be Y’Gay and it ages really nicely. You’re unlikely to find any at forty years, but they develop a lemon-cream kind of quality. The oak seems really to help actually, giving it a light vanilla tone. Good stuff.
I don’t know about Pesquera and Rioja although I can see the connection. But Pesquera is bigger, it’s Ribera after all, and like Muga, it also has a characteristic funk that lets you identify it blind relatively quickly. I guess it’s old-school in that respect. You might want to be cautious with Pesquera though - in the 1990s they had a horrible problem with corks. When you get a good bottle, the wine is wonderful but it’s always a crapshoot. We laughed when Parker raved about the Janus, giving it 97 points and saying “The 1994 Janus may be the greatest Pesquera ever made.” That may have been true with a good bottle, but I’ve been burned enough to be cautious. That’s not a knock to Pesquera though - it’s really a wonderful wine and David is right, people should consider that once in a while rather than limit themselves to LdH. And actually, all of the wines produced by the Fernández group are pretty good values that reward aging. He was a real pioneer.
Great story about Julio LMD!
Funny side story, Greg. My cousin married the niece and god daughter of Alejandro Fernandez. He went to the wedding. I recall being excited to meet him, but then had a funny language barrier thing going on. I used to buy a lot of that wine, but stopped years ago and cannot recall why. The two are since divorced.
Wow. Maybe it was the wine? Or whine?
Same here on both points (other than Muga). I don’t think you’re sensitive; I think the LRA wines are dominated by the oak.
The Ardanzas age quite well. I’ve had beautiful bottles of the '70 and the '85. Very harmonious, with fruit that still shined through.
I’m looking forward to opening bottles of '70 CVNE and '70 Franco-Espanolas later this year for a friend’s 50th…
The 904 is one of my absolute favorite wines. It was the wine my wife and I drank at our wedding. The 2001 is incredible and drinking perfectly now. But you asked about laying down. Look for the 2010 when it’s available, drink it in 10 years, and pick up the 2010 Ardanza Seleccion Especial while you’re at it.
But then I am not put off by how incredible oaky those wines are - I think that kind of oak suits that kind of style. It sounds like neither are you. But actually I’d recommend getting all three because they’re all great, ageable wines at very reasonable prices. Prado Enea would be of the least interest, especially these days.
Great to know! Starting this thread made me want to drink Rioja on Saturday so I popped one of the ‘10 Ardanza Seleccion Especial. Didn’t realize it was anything but the basic Ardanza! It has a ton of potential. My first Ardanza since the ‘01 coincidentally.
After reading all of the feedback here, I ended up using the Berserker Day deal from Hi-Time to order two each of the ‘10 Prado Enea and ‘10 904 plus one ‘09 Ygay. The ‘09 Ygay appears to be fairly approachable due to the vintage so I’m going to pop it soon. If I love it I’ll load up on the ‘10 when it’s available. Many thanks again, everyone.
A 2010 I had recently (dinner 19th October 2019 at Restaurante Herrerías, Logroño, la Rioja) which was surprisingly accessible (with an hour’s decant for aeration) was the 2010 Vinícola Real 200 Monges Reserva. Still very young of course; but already quite nice with some food. I’m not sure how easy/difficult it is to source in the US; but, in Spain, it’s around 30€-40€ per bottle.
