Bodegas Altanza Lealtanza Reserva 2014
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James
Suckling
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Lively garnet with ruby highlights. Complex and wellbalanced bouquet. Well-layered nose of red raspberry and liquorice accompanied by smoky and spicy notes. It is supple and rich on the palate with a meaty texture and lively fruit. A medium-bodied red wine with soft drying tannins and just enough acidity to make this wine very food friendly.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A round and soft red with berry and chocolate character, medium body and a flavorful finish. Delicious and inviting red. Drink now.
Other Vintages
2012- Decanter
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James
Suckling
Tempranillo is the only varietal planted in the Estate. Yields are low, green pruning and careful selection with no more than 8-10 bunches left in every plant combine to produce an average yield of only 3 lbs per plant, well below the the 6500 kg/Ha limit in Rioja. All grapes are handpicked in small cases and quickly taken to the winery.
Only native yeasts are used. Malolactic is done in large Allier oak vats, partiallyin oak for the wines up to Crianza and completely for the Reservas and Gran Reservas. Aging takes place in new or semi-new French (85%), American (10%) and Russian (5%) oak casks. The large Allier vats are also used to store the wine prior to bottling. The wine is only slightly filtered before being bottled, except the Lealtanza 2001 that sees no filtration.
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.