"2021 was a cooler year, going back to the character from decades ago ... overall, it’s a really good vintage, the best in recent years." Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
With Rioja running a trend of warm to hot vintages lately, 2021 was a welcome return to form for the region's great estates, many of which produced reference-point renditions of their most acclaimed wines. Today we're featuring a quartet of outstanding releases that offer the epitome of 2021 precision and sophistication, each one a stellar choice for discerning Rioja collectors and fans.
Marques de Riscal is widely known for their entire range, which spans ultimate value stars all the way up to the single-vineyard, 98-point 2021 Tapias de Marques de Riscal. The Tapias vineyard was planted in 1968 on ferrous and heavy clay soils, and only 2.5 hectares contribute to this wine in 2021, the result being "a modern, glossy and polished Rioja, showing depth and refinement."
Continuing our roster of Rioja icons, the legendary CVNE remains one of Rioja's largest and most important producers, with a dynamism rarely seen in an operation this size. The 2021 Real de Asúa Carromaza hails from a single plot of the same name in the village of Villalba, one of the hotbeds of Rioja's burgeoning single-vineyard movement. The vineyard's clay-calcareous soils and limestone bedrock combined to produce "a super-confident, single-vineyard wine without much adornment." In other words, it's a classic, cool-vintage Rioja for the cellar.
Bodegas Muga's status as an all-time Rioja reference-point is reaffirmed with this sterling trio of releases at razor-sharp pricing, highlighted by the newly arrived, 99-point 2021 Torre Muga, "a gorgeous wine from a gorgeous vintage that’s worth the price." Concentrated and robust yet also polished and refined, the 2021 expresses the character of its old-vine plots in Villalba de Rioja, Brinas, and Labastida. A host of impressive reviews from James Suckling, Vinous, and Wine Advocate further confirm the 2021 Torre Muga as a special achievement, worthy of the wine's lofty reputation among collectors.
Finally, Benjamin Romeo's Bodegas Contador has quickly evolved from upstart garagiste phenom to cult-collectible all-star in a few short decades. His wines routinely garner huge accolades from across the critical spectrum (and prices to match). While the flagship wine falls in the Vega Sicilia/Pingus price stratum, the 95-point 2021 Alma Contador is a superb glimpse at the artisan craftsmanship the ex-Artadi winemaker brings to his work. "very powerful and concentrated but with all the components in good balance," according to Gutiérrez, it's a razor-sharp buy for clued-in Rioja collectors.
The 2021 Alma Contador, produced with 91% Tempranillo and 9% Garnacha, feels very ripe, and the label states 15% alcohol. It has notes of stewed fruit, dark spices, smoke and toast. It has a full-bodied palate with abundant tannins and is very powerful and concentrated but with all the components in good balance. This is going to require a little more time in bottle and/or powerful food. 14,000 bottles produced. It was bottled after 20 months in new French oak barrels.
95 points, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Feb 2024)
Dark fruit register from the opening moments - a hum of bilberry, blackberry, cassis, with tobacco, sandalwood, vanilla bean, sweet and refined tannins, dried herb uplift through the finish. Oak is evident, but it works, and is part of the Rioja signature. Second vintage, Benjamin Romeo Hilera winemaker and owner from 5.5ha of 70-year-old vines set across three plots. Benjamin Romeo Hilera winemaker and director.
93 points, Jane Anson (Feb 2024)
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