Critics Average score from professional wine critics and publications.
89
/100
Reviews
19
professional
Vintages
No vintages
NV
Community Reviews
2828
Reviews
89.3
Avg Score
94
Highest
Taster #2752
· Sep 21, 2025
Nose and flavours of aniseed, fennel along with red fruits. Enjoyable and in a good place to drink.
2009 vintage
Taster #2752
· Sep 29, 2024
Red with slight bright edge. Cedar on nose - not hugely expressive. Soft and smooth - red fruits. Enjoyable but felt slightly simple. Not sure where this will go.
2009 vintage
Taster #2752
· May 19, 2023
Deep, dark red. Tight nose - dark cherry and a bit of asphalt. Round mouthfeel - dark fruits, sarsaparilla fed a touch of sweet musk. Opened up over 30 minutes. Good acid bite with a medium length finish. Feels in the last burst of youth moving into adolescent. Enjoyable but plenty of time left in this.
2009 vintage
Taster #4686
· Apr 29, 2023
Nose of dried cherry and licorice. On the palate more cherry and more licorice. Maybe some leather but not much else. Pronounced alcohol and rather one dimensional at this stage. Not sure where this goes.
2009 vintage
Taster #6663
· Apr 9, 2023
88/100
Deep ruby to the rim, a clean but muted nose. The palate has quite a lot grip with drying tannins and insufficient fruit to support it. Dried cherry fruit with a bit of warmth on the mid palate and towards the finish. Still primary and little boring.
2009 vintage
Taster #6663
· Jan 15, 2023
88/100
Ruby with an inviting nose of red fruits, leather, cigar box, tobacco. The palate has sour red cherry and raspberry juice, grape pips. It is a little austere and dried out which is disappointing given what the nose offered up.
2009 vintage
Taster #6966
· Feb 7, 2022
88/100
Long waited for, but a bit disappointed. Drink now
2009 vintage
Taster #2752
· Jan 16, 2022
Deep, dark red colour. Quite tight.nose - a touch of liquorice but not a lot else. More expressive in flavour - dark fruits and herbs. Drying tannins - medium to long tannins. Possibly shutdown and needs a bit more time.
2009 vintage
Taster #0105
· Apr 19, 2021
89/100
Getting better. Seems more volatile on the nose now. Red fruit (cranberry, red currant). Definitely wood but less vanilla than you'd expect with new French oak. Earthy notes - clay pot and crushed gravel. I noted some mint last time - more green peppercorn and eucalyptus now. Still some tannin. This has improved a lot in the last year.
2009 vintage
Taster #0105
· May 3, 2020
88/100
A year since last bottle. We had forgotten what it was like so approached it with no preconceptions. On the nose, a light whiff of fruit, but more of alcohol. A lot up front of the palate - meaty, hint of mint, more savoury than sweet. We had this with lamb, and it did go well. Not one to have on its own. We had this an hour after opening. Could do with a lot longer.
2009 vintage
Taster #6109
· Sep 22, 2019
90/100
As before. Better on night 1, so don't hold back!
2009 vintage
Taster #0105
· Apr 28, 2019
88/100
Not a lot on the nose. Deep scarlet in colour. Mostly up front on the palate. Benefitted from breathing for a few hours. Strong but quite savoury/meaty rather than fruity. Needs to be drunk with food.
2009 vintage
Taster #6109
· Aug 13, 2017
91/100
Once I got over the shock of this being a Rioja, a very enjoyable bottle (I must try more of the "modern" style). Lush fruits, some spice and a touch of mint. Long and complex. I think it would benefit from another year or so.
2009 vintage
Taster #5358
· Apr 28, 2017
94/100
Killer. Balanced, fairly modern, yet still shows signs of Rioja.
2009 vintage
Taster #3196
· Dec 18, 2016
90/100
Spicy aromas of cloves and dried currant, opulent and racy, lingering finish. Has aging potential.
2009 vintage
Taster #3407
· Oct 19, 2015
89/100
Deep carmine at the rim - shy nose. Light to medium bodied, delicate with very fine tannins - this wine really needed 2-3 hours in the decanter to open at all. A very deft, subtle touch - the fruit is contained within a gentle but insistent structure and requires more time in the cellar. A very distinctive style of Rioja that I could have easily overlooked if I had not had the chance to taste the bottle over the whole …
2009 vintage
Taster #1803
· Jan 12, 2015
88/100
Very high alcohol content and was too much up front. Decanted for two hours and it helped, but would not buy at this price point again. Better values in Rioja to be had
2009 vintage
Taster #7888
· Nov 8, 2014
90/100
Big and full bodied. Modern in style. I think this wine would benefit from another five years in bottle as today most of flavours are very primary. Try in 2020.
2005 vintage
Taster #8815
· Oct 11, 2014
Very nice Rioja, great balance- Highly recommend. Of course give a some time to breathe.
2009 vintage
Taster #5598
· Aug 24, 2012
89/100
Very dark blackcurrant red. The nose is plummy rich fruit and alcohol. It developes cherries and mint. Palate is spicy rich fruit not cooked just full. Lovely stuff. And very long.
2005 vintage
Taster #8531
· Mar 10, 2012
94/100
Stars of the Melbourne Wine and Food Festival (Prince Wine Store - Bank Street) : A big and powerful nose of dark cherry, chocolate, nuts and smokey spice. The palette has cola, berries, rich coffee and leather.
2005 vintage
Taster #2271
· Nov 25, 2011
Beautiful dark ruby red. The nose shows strong baking chocolate and dark red fruit. Powerful and appealing on a cold evening. Full bodied with great intensity. Red currant, black cherry and dark mocha envelop the palate, but this maintains the perfect weight in the glass. Medium acidity and silky polished tannins offer some backbone, but this is all about the luscious fruit. Nice oak integration as well. Big showy finish.
2005 vintage
Taster #2546
· Jan 22, 2011
88/100
Opaque purple red violet color; smoke, Chinese red bean, baked berry nose; very tight, tart berry, smoke, red currant palate with firm, drying tannins; medium-plus finish
2005 vintage
Taster #1303
· May 14, 2010
89/100
Distinctive Terroirs of Spain wine tasting with Helio San Miguel (Instituto Cervantes, New York City) : Deep, purplish ruby color. Nose of deep black fruits with some licorice and cigar notes, and a bit of funkiness. Slightly closed on the palate and watery, god acidity and chalky tannins, medium bodied with good acidity. May need more time.
2005 vintage
Taster #5821
· Apr 14, 2010
87/100
Such a funky nose! Cavey, stinky cheese, barnyard nose gives way to a great, tannic, peppery, dark fruit and eucalyptus laden Rioja.
2005 vintage
Taster #0492
· Jul 4, 2009
89/100
Upon opening, the nose was tar, red fruits, a little barnyard, burnt matchstick and pencil; later it was carmelized sugars, red fruits, spice and eucalyptus. The mouth was highlighted by round, distinct tannins with red fruit - strawberries and cherries - eucalyptus, celery and mint. Throughout the profile, a consistent level of acidity from front to back. There was a medium /long finish with toasted after notes. All in all, this was a wonderful food friendly wine that was difficult …
2005 vintage
Taster #6171
· Feb 28, 2009
Oh how I hardly new ya'. I remember someone, sometime, telling me that teh label was a commentary on how the zone of Rioja had recently been expanded into crappy areas. And I thought "wasn't it Riberia that was expanded? That is what I remember Peter Sisseck saying. And why are there flames shooting out of the factory." More, I cannot say.
2005 vintage
Taster #9728
· Feb 27, 2009
This was opened last night with Telmo. Today it has weird diaper pail
2005 vintage