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New Shipment Just Arrived May 11th
Eric Asimov of the New York Times recently wrote an article titled “For Riservas, No Cellar Required.” The idea is that many people cannot afford to be aging wine or don’t have the proper storage or cellar space to do so. He goes on mention that Rioja Reservas are the perfect answer with some on the shelf that are 10 years old already.
The New York Times wine panel tasted twenty Rioja Reservas and the #1 wine selected was the 2001 La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial. They also named it the "Best Value" of the twenty, at $34. They called it “a wine that right now is absolutely delicious, but is also so much more than that. With lightly spicy fruit flavors, mellowed by long aging in barrels of older American oak, it was a brilliant example of a classic Rioja, with complexity and finesse. The 2001 vintage is widely regarded as great, and the producer, La Rioja Alta, thought so highly of this wine that it called it Reserva Especial, only the third time one of its wines has earned that designation, along with 1964 and 1973.”
Jay Miller of the Wine Advocate also loved the 2001 La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial, rating it at 94 points, which was the highest rating given to any Spanish red $35 and under in the extensive review of nearly 600 Spanish wines in Issue #189 of the Wine Advocate.
We are offering the 2001 La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial at a pre-arrival price of just $26.99 per bottle, with $1 per bottle shipping on all orders of a case or more.
Reviews Jay Miller Wine Advocate 94 Points
The current release is the 2001 Reserva Especial, a deeply colored wine with a lovely perfume of cinnamon, lavender, incense, balsamic, and black cherry. Medium-bodied, velvety-textured, and already complex, it will continue to evolve for another 5-10 years and offer a drinking window extending from 2016 to 2036. For those seeking immediate gratification, it has the virtue of being approachable now.
La Rioja Alta's wines are all blends, there are no single vineyard wines, and all of the wines are produced from estate-grown grapes....Vina Ardanza’s wines are labeled Reserva with three exceptions. In what La Rioja Alta considers the greatest years (there have been three to date, 2001, 1973, and 1964) the wine is called Reserva Especial.
International Wine Cellar 92 Points
Deep red. Sexy, intensely perfumed bouquet of ripe raspberry and cherry with suggestions of potpourri, sandalwood and vanilla. Shows more power and darker fruits on the palate, picking up a touch of singed plum that adds a serious quality to the sweet black raspberry and cherry flavors without costing the wine any of its vibrancy. The long, sweet finish hangs on with very good tenacity. | 
