Bodegas Franco-Espanolas, Rioja Excelso Gran Reserva

Bodegas Franco-Espanolas · Rioja › Spain

Red · Tempranillo Blend

Critics

89 /100

Reviews

professional

Vintages

No vintages

No vintage-specific entries have been added for this wine.

Community Reviews

Reviews

89.4

Avg Score

Highest

Much improved from bottles in '17 and '19. Medium weight, red fruit, spices, good balance of oak. Nothing extravagant but very enjoyable.

2007 vintage

This bottle is drinking really nicely. Medium (+) ruby. Smells like dark and dark red fruits, bit of floral, cinnamon, cedar, black tea, tobacco, orange peel, lemon, bit of smoke. Medium body and finish, medium (+) acid, and flavors of dark fruits, minerals, lemon, and orange. Solid tonight.

2007 vintage

1/6. Medium ruby to garnet. Smells like dark fruits, barnyard funk, earth, mushrooms, and a bit of wood and spice. Medium body, acid, and finish, with flavors of dark fruits, balsamic, orange, spice, and minerals. Drinking pretty well now and could probably age a bit more too.

2007 vintage

Really came into it's one. Absolutely delicious. Notes similar to my first bottle.

2007 vintage

Best wine of the night; smooth, bold. Oak is integrated, fruit still with us, acidity medium high, tannins mild--this could probably age longer but doesn't need to. Doesn't especially scream of any particular place or grape (could have been American, Italian, cab blend, etc) but it's a good wine.

2007 vintage

Cherry.

2007 vintage

Light in body but exhibits lovely tertiary flavours. A great value for money.

2007 vintage

Opened up nicely after about an hour of decanting

2007 vintage

1 hour decant and it ranks as one of my all time favorites.

2007 vintage

No complexity. A lot of primary fruit still prevalent.

2007 vintage

Perhaps a bit better than before. Taking on a little bit more weight but still light.

2007 vintage

The wine looks deep ruby colored. There is no sediment in the bottle. It smells like black currant (cassis), lime, fig, apricot, honeydew, stoniness, light toast, cedar, black pepper, carnation, green olive, thyme and honey. It tastes like blueberry, grapefruit, raisin, pear, papaya, flint, medicinal, clove, apple blossom, artichoke, tea and pistachio. The body is light/medium. The wine has high acidity.

2007 vintage

Really taste better on its own, not with dinner. We thought mediocre with our chili, but loved it after dinner.

2007 vintage

Dry tea, cherry. Drinking nicely. A bit richer than a year ago.

2007 vintage

Popped and poured. Cherry, some vanilla, but pretty light overall. A nice bottle that friends enjoyed.

2007 vintage

Wonderful!

2007 vintage

Completely different experience vs last time. Perhaps it was the extra 7 months, or maybe I drank to soon after shipping, but could not be more different. Initial impression is a refined elegant wine, but with a little oomph behind it. Cherry, vanilla and a real sense of place with a very long finish.Floral with nice acid. Beautiful

2007 vintage

Robust and smooth. Great with a light Sunday dinner!

2007 vintage

Good color, some vanilla, and relatively high acidity but lacks the roundness, depth and complexity one would expect from a Gran Reserva. A fair value at the $20 I paid.

2007 vintage

Dried cherry and tea. A bit light, slight oxidation, light tannins. Comes off a bit light

2007 vintage

Popped and poured. Found this rather thin and one dimensional, although refined just wasn't a lot there. Toward the end of the bottle seemed to be trying to give more. So perhaps we'll hold on to remaining bottles before trying another, or give it a proper decant and see where that leads.

2007 vintage

Rather thin and ho-hum for a Gran Reserva. It has some old world charm but other than that, its quite generic.

2007 vintage