The wine of the month

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La Rioja Alta, Viña Ardanza, Reserva, 2019

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5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP

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June 2026: La Rioja Alta, Viña Ardanza, Reserva, 2019 (29 EUR/34 USD in Sweden) red dry blend wine, Rioja, Spain, 5,0 of 5,0 NJP (100 of 100 points) (14-06-2026 by Dr Nenad Jelisic)

 

This is the best Rioja-wine of the year 2026 so far. La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva 2019 is a big, complex, powerful, balanced, concentrated, flavourful, sweet spicy, fruity, dry and tannin-rich wine. In the aroma clearly stands out vanilla, jam of black sweet cherry, crème de cassis, milk chocolate, sweet tobacco, coffee and cloves. In the flavour clearly stands out coffee, ripe black sour cherries, vanilla, red currants, black pepper, cocoa-rich dark chocolate, tobacco, dried prunes and cloves. The aftertaste is complex, long, flavourful, dry and sweet spicy. The wine's prominent tannins, good tartaric acid, good fruitiness and good concentration paves the way for a really good aging potential. This means that, despite the fact that La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva 2019 is already a 7 years old wine, it can undoubtedly be aged for at least 10 more years, i.e. until at least 2036. But it can already be savoured with great pleasure.

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The wine will go perfectly with Coeur de filét Provencale with raw fried potatoes and bacon-wrapped green beans (haricots verts) or boiled veal in dill sauce with boiled potatoes or creamy pasta (fresh) with bacon, basil, sun-dried tomatoes and small pieces of chicken thigh fillets or wiener schnitzel (veal) with Austrian potato salad, two lemon wedges, anchovy fillets and drained capers or elk mince steaks with roasted root vegetables and red wine sauce or Pizza á la Jelisic (Pizza Vesuvio with beef fillet, black olives, red onion and Parmesan cheese) or roasted lamb steaks with potato gratin and red wine sauce or Beef Wellington with Hasselback Potatoes and funnel chanterelle sauce or Boeuf Bourguignon with mashed potatoes or with aged cheeses such as Comté, Edamer, Gouda, Gruyère, Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino and Västerbottenost (national cheese of Sweden). It should be drunk at 18°C from real Bordeaux glasses, if possible, from Orrefors, Kosta Boda, Spiegelau or Riedel. Another alternative is to serve it at 16°C (when room temperature is above 20°C or outdoor temperature is above 23°C) and then enjoy it as it starts to open/grow in the glass.

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La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva 2019 consists of 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha. Rioja is divided into three sub-regions: Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta and Rioja Oriental. The Tempranillo-grapes for this wine come from 30 year old vines from the La Cuesta and Montecillo vineyards, which are located in Rioja Alta. While the Garnacha-grapes come from 17 year old vines from the La Pedriza vineyard, which is located in Rioja Oriental. The soil in Rioja Alta consists of yellow calcareous clay, red ferrous clay and silt, while it in Rioja Oriental consists of red ferrous clay and river mud. The grapes for La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza are picked and sorted by hand, and then transported in refrigerated trucks to the winery. The yield is a low 35 hl/ha or even less. At the winery, the grapes are sorted again, but this time on the optical sorting table. Then the grapes are crushed and their grape mass, which consists of crushed grapes and grape juice, is macerated and fermented simultaneously in stainless steel tanks at a controlled temperature between 27 and 28 degrees. The maceration and fermentation lasts between 14 and 17 days. Only indigenous (wild; those which is found on the grapes) yeasts are used for fermentation. After the fermentation, Tempranillo-wines and Garnacha-wines undergo malolactic fermentation. Then the grape mass is gently pressed and the selected finest wines/lots are moved to 225 liters American oak barrels (20% new). The Tempranillo-wines are aged in 4 years old oak barrels for 36 months, with five manual rackings (a method in wine production in which wine is moved from one barrel to another using gravity rather than a pump), while the Garnacha-wines are aged in between 2 and 4 years old oak barrels for 30 months, with five manual rackings. Finally, the wines are blended. The finished blended wine is bottled and aged for a further (at least) 6 months before being released on the market. Note here, to be allowed to write Reserva on the label in Rioja, a red wine needs to have been aged for at least 36 months, of which at least 12 months in oak barrels and at least 6 months in bottle.

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La Rioja Alta's wines are imported to Sweden by Winepartners Nordic AB.

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​La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva 2019 can be ordered on the Spanish website Gourmet Hunters.