I opened a bottle for dinner, we were guests at one of my oldest wine friends, a guy I've known for nearly 35 years. He likes a less dry Rioja.
I have to say the Alta GR 1995 was asleep. We could not rouse it before bedtime, we sat down at about nine thirty or so, started the wine at 22:00 after one hour open, 30 minutes in the glass.
The wine had no real spice, vanilla was almost absent and the predominant cherry flavour was very linear, boringly so. Too soft on the palate and little real structure. No cut on the palate, No forest floor either. Great colour, still vivid cherry red all through, and kept in the dark by me for more than a decade. No complexity at all, nothing memorable, solid linear cherry was quite long though, but slightly medicinal on the nose.
Well, well. Not a dud, probably not a fake. I wonder why bottle development has been so constrained ? I was suspicious of the minimal sediment in this 19 year old rioja - almost like a very modern factory filtered wine ! A very fine ring of black dust is all it threw from being upright for 48 hours, nothing on the glass side from 10 years in the cellar.
A big letdown and such a disapointment actually. So as Chris, on his wine doctor website says below..... We wait for another 10 years "just that my palate would much prefer this in perhaps five years, but more probably ten (or more years)
Does this wine impress with potential ? I may report back in 2024 - - - - - - - - - it is a long haul, and CT reports appear to be seduced by the prestige attached to the bodega. Hmmmnnn.
By Chris Kissack
December 2010, (link) 17.5-18+ points(La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 904) A dense colour, its visual impact is one of youthfulness; it has some tones suggestive of maturity but for a gran reserva this still looks dark and red at the core. This character persists with the wine's aromatic and gustatory profiles; on the nose it remains sweet with rich, black fruits tinged with vanilla, highlighted by high toned, slightly gamey, green-black olive, plum-skin notes. The palate is full and rich, well endowed with dark fruits and a little raspberry too, with the spicy, coffee-tinged sandalwood of oak. Slightly dry tannins running through the core of it all, showing around the sweet almost chewy fruit with its pastille-like intensity. This is a wine that impresses with potential rather than pure pleasure, although that is not to say it isn't good for drinking now; just that my palate would much prefer this in perhaps five years, but more probably ten (or more).
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I always test the nose, even on those who do not take red wines, to see what they find. I do agree with Parker that the silkyness was remarkable.