Your way gourmet
Excellens Gran Reserva
Excellens
2016
D.O.Ca Rioja
Varieties
Tempranillo
Winemakers
Fernando Costa, Emilio González and Manuel Iribarnegaray
Graduation / Service
14% vol. / 17º C
Great wine
elegantly classic
Dark ruby colour with brick red highlights. Reminiscent of ripe, black fruit jam and mild cinnamon. Overall, the wine is enriched with subtle hints of fine oak and spices providing great balance.
Lively palate, displaying balanced intensity as time passes. Pleasant tannic notes, devoid of harshness, with volume and elegance on the palate, thanks to its long refinement. Evolves well on tasting revealing complexity along with a finish suggestive of fig, clove and black pepper notes. It appears timeless thanks to its potential for ageing.
2016 Vintage
Abundant rainfall, especially before bud break, led to a good start to the phenological cycle with sufficient water reserves. In September, in the middle of ripening, there was a general rise in temperatures and sunshine, which ensured complete and balanced ripening, giving rise to musts rich in sugars and polyphenolic structure.
Soils
Mainly clayey-calcareous, of shallow depth and very poor.
Vineyards and Yields
Special selection of old vines from Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa, aged between 65 and 85 years old. Very low yields of between 3,000 and 4,500 kg/ha.due to the age and limited vigour of the vines. Produced with Tempranillo grapes from vineyards planted at different altitudes in Cenicero, Elciego and Laguardia.
Harvest
Harvesting by hand, meticulously deciding the optimum harvesting time for each plot and each variety.
Vinification
Bunches destemmed with maximum care. Alcoholic fermentation at a controlled temperature. Maceration with skins extended for up to 30 days, to extract colour, flavours and tannic structure. Malolactic fermentation in new French oak barrels or in stainless steel tanks, subject to the batches of wine. Once malolactic fermentation is complete, all the wines are transferred to barrels, and racked every 6 months.
Total time in barrel
24 to 26 months, depending on the origin of the vines and the types of barrel. New French oak barrels and second wine barrels.
Ageing in bottle
4 year minimum before release.
workspace_premium Awards
2011
Tim Atkin Special Report 2019 93 points
