Telmo Rodriguez Rioja Yjar

Vêtu d’une élégante robe pourpre aux franges rubis, ce Rioja Alavesa nous dévoile avec pudeur de belles notes fruitées de prune dès le premier nez. Je ne peux m’empêcher de songer à certains Irouléguy. Contrairement à ses compagnons de la Rioja alta, notre ami d’un soir, Monsieur Yjar, ne présente pas de note de fumé mais plutôt une fragrance légèrement poivrée. D’élégantes et discrètes larmes couronnent à merveille mon verre. Malgré une longueur en bouche peu persistante, la texture, de …

I seem to be missing something with this wine, 2nd bottle of 3 purchased. Expensive and with high expert ratings. It's a good but not great wine for me. Conflicting info on the best drinking window. I tend to think it needs alot more age. Red cherry, very earthy, cedar.

(Mostly) Iberia (Chicago, IL) : In contrast to the Burgundian quality of the Beatas, this is a Bordeaux-drinker's style of Rioja. The oak shows through quite a bit right now and this comes across as very much a primary showing, with plummy black fruit that has still to recede. Grainy as far as the tannins go, but that should be solved with some more time. I'm interested to see how this turns out with many more years of bottle age.

Needs more time. Somewhat closed. Cherry, clove, smoke.

Quite the amazing wine. Deep reservoir of complexity. Very long finish. Reminds me of the very best in Rhone. Still on the young side, with big tannins, that become very noticeable by the second glass.

Ripe red fruit.

Before decanting, I tasted half a glass. The wine had quite a lot of acidity and did not have much length. Then I decanted the wine for 2 hours. After two hours the wine was much better and improved during the other two hours. I knew that the wine would be very young, but I still wanted to try a bottle. I think the wine will be better in 5-7 years. 91 pts. after opening, up to 92+ pts. after …