Decanter Mag article online this weekend reviewing Riojas under £25

top of the pops is the Baron De Ley Reserva 2010. This is currently on offer in Co-op stores for £7.99 (only seems to be 2009 vintage in my stores)
ive had this before on 2006 & 2008 vintages and rated it well - but not 95 pts well!
i bought 3 bottles of the 2009 to give it a go some time soon
Has anyone here tried this recently ?

http://www.decanter.com/wine/labels/346 ... #slideshow

Below £25 RRP is a pretty big choice . . . . . The Amazon supplied wine was the cheapest (cost the least to buy) in singles.

I like BdL Reserva, but have not drunk any since the 2008 vintage.

ViNA Pomal is also good. I picked up the steal offer from Tesco some time ago. Wish I'd grabbed more.

Vina Ardanza 2005 Alta, was scored quite a way back ? For me, I'd be very surprised if I judged that behind the BdL '10 Also El Coto GR 2004, a great vintage, is way behind, I only know the El Coto Reserva, widely available in Spain, and generally as nice (for me) as BdL.

1) We would need more than 3 judges to reasonably know (what is best anyway )
2) Comparing wines from the same vintage might help.
3) The wines should be drunk in the reverse or a random order by each judge.
4) Alta, Baja, Alavesa and mixes of each style will change things.

I suppose the Decanter argument is based on a range of what can be bought at a point in time. The Amazon supplied Rioja came 2nd. That score is a bit convenient for Amazon shoppers

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Duncan

Dropped into co-op today, they're selling the 2010 for £7.99, grabbed a bottle, looking forward to being impressed given the Decanter review. Wondering if I should have grabbed more, can easily pop back over the weekend.

How were the 2009's Shez?

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I think the cellar tracker reviews are probably more accurate for this wine GK
95 seems pretty generous based in the bottle of 2010 I tried. The wine is pretty big/bold at the moment in its (relative) youth. Should keep a good while so i'll be interested to see what happens to it going forward but probably a 90 pt score at best from me at the moment

My tasting note for the 2009 (from March last year) is as follows (I only tried the one and have held on to the remaining two):
3/13/2015 rated 89 points: cherry and strawberry fruit with a peppery note. Nice balance of fruit and oak but perhaps a little short on the finish.
Not had a glass of Rioja in a while so this was a pretty nice change. A good showing from a reliable producer, although I'm surprised to see the 2010 being awarded ~95pts in the recent Decanter mag taste panel for sub £25 Rioja, as I can't imagine there is too much difference across the 2 vintages

I opened a bottle over the weekend, it was closed at first (should have decanted for a few hours), next day it was something special, enjoyed it very much, its not often oak stands out as a positive for me but this had plenty of bite. Picked up another 3 bottles today.

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