Bodegas Bagordi Rioja Reserva

Lost this bottle in my cellar, so kept longer than advised. Stilll it was a very nice rioja and aged well.

Still alive, showing medium garnet colour with brick rim, however, riding down the hill for quite some time, fruitiness pretty much gone, medium intensity aroma of shy dried sweet-brier and cherries, tobacco, dried herbs, licorice, spices, hints of sherry. Medium body, smooth attack with lean density and high acidity, melted tannins with short grip.

** I didn't take a real TN, but this was nice, bright, fruity and interesting. (Much better than the Numanthia). Medium weight. Drinks very well.

A grand old reserva from lesser seen Baja district of Rioja.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Els12golafres Wine Tasting Group: http://vinosclasicos.blogspot.com.es/2016/01/usoa-de-bagordi-2001-gran-reserva.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - …

I bought this because a salesman said it would pair well with a 2001 flight of Riojas I was planning. That is ridiculous, without regard to the fact that I liked this wine, because the only similarity between this wine a "real" rioja is that it says Rioja on the label. It is 100% Grenache and tastes like Grenache, not Tempranillo. A brought this to a dinner midway through a conference I was attending because the wife of one of …

Did not have the fully ripe undertones I associate with Rioja. Maybe this is because this wine comes from Rioja Baja instead of where most of my Rioja comes, Rioja Alta. I like this winery's Graciano Reserva, and this Tempranillo is good, but it doesn't come up to the standard great Rioja's from Alta.