La Rioja Alta, 890 Gran Reserva, Rioja

The level was outstanding for a wine of this age - basically no ullage. The cork, however, was a swine. Spongy and moldy, to say it collapsed would be to ascribe qualities of firmness that simply did not apply. I dug it out using the end of a tea-spoon, then strained the wine into a decanter. There was a notable stink of musty cupboard - would that blow off, or was it the dreaded cork taint? Pouring a glass straight …

Frankly amazing. Cork broke but level was good. Light, sweet, fragrant, red berry and dark spice, fragrant sweet old oak. Very clean, pure, nose, some earth but not gamey. Sweet, raspberry and damson, sour cherry stone, light vanilla oak and spice. Fine furry tannins. Reasonable acidity. Superb. And double superb for its age.

Rioja dinner at Phil's (Chicago, IL) : A second bottle of this, from the same lot as my note from 2014, was also corked.

Rioja Night (Chicago, IL) : Verdict is corked, but some pretty dark fruits and spice notes poke through a bit. It's a shame these have been so variable as there is good raw material here.

An odd wine. Musty throughout, this seemed slightly corked to start. But that musty character never materially changed, making me think it more likely slightly dirty or bretty, but not corked. Still, there were good dried red cherry flavors that stayed persistent over several hours. Also interesting is that this seemed more corked/musty from a Burg (bowl) stem vs a Bordeaux stem.

Rich with lots of undergrowth and tertiary interest. Plenty of red fruit here, becoming cranberry with air. Held up well, no hurry here but it drinking extremely well... no reason to wait! Drink to 2035.

Earth, sweet red cherry, and vanilla nose. Well-integrated with some remaining sweet red fruits on the palate. Soft with good length and balance throughout. Tart, balancing acidity pick up on the finish. Very nice. Mature.

HDH auction tasting at Tru; 12/12/2014-12/13/2014 (Chicago, IL) : Slightly corked. Still lots of fruit and stuffing underneath that layer of wet cardboard though. Leather, earth, and fruit on the palate, this has plenty of interest despite the wet blanket of cardboard that gets in the way.

I started off here thinking this was a bit corked as ACYSO noted, before thinking it not corked, and then going back and forth for a while until it opened up pretty well; who knows? Either way, I like where it ended up... medium bodied, sweet, leathery and earth notes. A bit lean in the middle, particularly for the producer, but a good backbone and generally very drinkable.

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TN: Twelve from 1959, six from 1952-1962 and a 1929 La Conseillante, in secret. : From a bottle with a great fill and cork. Shows that wonderful, classic old school Rioja nose of sweet cherries, cedar, beef blood and hints of dustiness. There's also a lactic note that blows off quickly. On the palate it's mature, but also sports some youthful qualities. The cherries initially have that dessicated quality to them that comes from age, but retains sweetness and are …