Make sure to try this wine
Viña Arana, Gran Reserva, 2015
4,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP
Viña Arana, Gran Reserva, 2015 (28 EUR/29 USD in Sweden), red dry blend wine, Rioja, Spain, 4,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (90 points of 100 points) (26-06-2022 by Nenad Jelisic)
This is one of the best Rioja-wines in a long time. Its aroma is wonderful and both complex and sweet spicy. Its flavour is slightly less complex and sweet spicy, but still wonderful. The aroma is characterized by dark cherries, cocoa, blue plums, vanilla, dill, blackberries, blueberries, cinnamon, tobacco, cedar and caramel. While the flavour is characterized by sweet dark cherries, blackberries, dill, blue plums, cocoa-rich dark chocolate, cinnamon, tobacco and vanilla. Silky tannins and very good acidity. Viña Arana Gran Reserva 2015 is well-balanced and has a very long, austere and sweet spicy aftertaste. It has a good aging potential, at least 7 years i.e. until at least the year 2029.
Viña Arana Gran Reserva 2015 should be served with boiled veal fillet in dill sauce and boiled potatoes or with creamy pasta (fresh) with bacon, basil, sun-dried tomatoes and small pieces of chicken thigh fillets or with Wiener schnitzel (veal) with fried potatoes, anchovy fillets and drained capers or with grilled chicken stuffed with smoked bacon with freshly baked ciabatta and mild ajvar or with pizza vesuvio or with pizza capricciosa or with pasta carbonara. It should be drunk at 16 to 18°C from real Bordeaux glasses, if possible, from Orrefors, Kosta Boda, Spiegelau or Riedel. It should not be decanted. Instead, enjoy the wine's wonderful aroma and flavour, and how they develop in your glass.
The wine consists of 95% Tempranillo and 5% Graciano. The Tempranillo-grapes in this wine come from three different vineyards in Rodezno: Las Cuevas, El Palo and Las Monjas. While the Graciano-grapes come from the Montecillo vineyard in Fuenmayor. All four are located in Rioja Alta in Rioja, where the soil consists of yellow calcareous clay, ferrous clay and river sludge. The grapes for the wine are harvested by hand. After careful selection in vineyards, all grape clusters are placed in small boxes and transported in refrigerated vehicles to the winery. There they are carefully destemmed, and their grapes undergo a selection again this time a mechanical (optical) one. After the very careful selections in both the vineyards and the winery, the grapes are crushed and their grape mass, which consists of crushed grapes and grape juice, is macerated/fermented at a temperature between 28 and 30°C in stainless steel tanks for 19 days. Then the grape mass is gently pressed, and the wine is moved to French 225 litres oak barrels (barrique), on average four and a half years old, where it undergoes malolactic fermentation and is aged for about 36 months. During this 36 months period, the wine is racked every six months. Finally, the wine is bottled and stored for another 24 months before it is released in the market.
