2009 Cune Imperial Gran Reserva 750 ml

Gran Reserva from One of Rioja’s Best Producers

If you’re looking to buy Rioja that will perform well on your table or in your cellar, of course CVNE will be part of your survey. Dating back to 1879 with a cellar built in 1909 by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (yes, that Eiffel), the winery boasts an unparalleled history. So no one was surprised when CVNE’s 2004 Gran Reserva became the first-ever Spanish wine to be named Wine Spectator’s #1 wine of the year in 2013. Fast-forward five vintages later to Rioja’s exceptional 2009 harvest — which had Jancis Robinson MW praising its “very good quality” and El Mundo’s Victor de la Serna calling it “a top-notch vintage in qualitative terms” — CVNE once again set the bar for quality with its 2009 CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva. Matching 93-point raves from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator only hint at the rapturous balance between ripe black fruits and savory brown spices. Tasted last week, this wine is really hitting its stride and will continue to gain depth and volume for years to come.

CVNE is as close as you get to a sure thing in Rioja; Decanter noted as much in its 2009 vintage roundup, calling the esteemed winery “reliable, year in and year out” among Rioja’s “best producers.” Its pioneering placement atop Wine Spectator’s Top 100 was just one among many firsts for Spain; CVNE was the nation’s first winery to employ gravity in its vinification process.

Victor de la Serna, a Spanish wine expert and editor at Spain’s pre-eminent newspaper, El Mundo, implored wine lovers searching for the best Spanish wine from 2009 to “Look to the Rioja Alta and the Rioja Baja for the best wines,” where the “year’s vintage is generous in quantity and good in quality.” If you look long enough, one winery will begin to emerge from the pack, and it’s the one spread out over 1,350 acres in Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa. It’s CVNE. Savor this 2009 Imperial Gran Reserva, and you’ll understand why.

In Rioja Alta’s cracked and rugged soils, vines earn every inch. The tiny Tempranillo grapes comprising the core of this Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España Imperial Gran Reserva was harvested by hand from low-yielding, bush-pruned plants dating back at least two decades in the area around Villalba and Haro in Rioja Alta. The wine spent 3 years in new and second-passage French and American oak, followed by another 4 years in bottle, resulting in a complex, elegant and deeply intense Rioja.

Sur Lucero MS
Master Sommelier