Jesús Barquín: Pale gold. The nose reflects an interesting duel between austerity and oxidative exuberance. Sharp palate, remarkably vertical, with a spicy and ripe finish. Very long, with plenty of bottle age still ahead. A wine to buy by the case and store. 92

Andrew Jefford: Deep mid-gold. An attractively buttery, smiling, warm-muscled wine. The classic tradition in Rioja delivers both white and red wines that you just want to fall into, and relax, like a huge soft sofa, and the scent of this wine perfectly incarnates that. On the palate, the wine surprises with its sharp elbows of acidity to poke the lush oaky generosity into life. Maybe there is a slight lack of middle-palate fullness here, nonetheless this is still a very successful wine where presumably top-quality vineyards have helped give those elbows a sculpted, rounded quality, and where the oak has been very carefully scrutinized in order to maximize the pectoral appeal of those warm muscles. It works supremely well, and congratulations to whoever shepherded it into this final bottle incarnation. 90

Richard Mayson: Deep golden butterscotch color; open, very expressive, rich, slightly smoky aromas, singedfruit; similarly rich and expressive on the palateoffset by crisp acidity which keeps the wine aliveall the way through to the finish. Not as profoundas some of the wines here, but this wine has agedgracefully. 88