Rioja Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta, 1997 Bottle or case?:6X75CL with enough freshness to avoid

with enough freshness to avoid heaviness - a confident

meaty notes

Their Brunello di Montalcinos are aged in Slavonian oak for three years and then six months in French oak before spending up to 8 months in bottle

The wines of San Leonardo are more akin to Bordeaux than Bolgheri with their balance and purity and (said the late and greatly respected Italian specialist Nicolas Belfrage) "can have an elegance-cum-depth capable of taking on the best clarets of the world"

but Floris and Victoria chose to preserve it - a decision that’s clearly paid off

Rioja Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta, 1997 Bottle or case?:6X75CL with enough freshness to avoid904 is La Rioja Alta's icon, a Gran Reserva made only in the finest years and aged with a patience that most modern producers would find frankly alarming. The 1997 spent six years in American oak and several more in bottle before release, which means what arrives in your glass is a wine already deep into its secondary life: dried cherry, tobacco leaf, old leather, and that particular Riojan quality of cedar inflected calm. At nearly 30 years old, this