2001 La Rioja Alta Rioja Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial

This is especially good red Rioja which has won prizes and no wonder. The 2001 is ready for drinking now. We drank ours over lunch with family with some Kent lamb roasted until it was reasonably well done on the outside but rare in the middle.

This wine is a perfect example of a fine Rioja and its quality competes with the finest of the region. It is full of fruit flavour with a hint of vanilla from the oak maturation. The wine is of full body and is completely dry  and the tannin is beginning to soften. It has all of the complexity and concentration of a great wine. It is one of my favourites and worth every penny that you have to pay for it at around £25 a bottle in the UK.

Some other great red Rioja wines that I have tasted are:

Marques de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial

Marques de Riscal Gran Reserva

Bodegas Muga Reserva

R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva

Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial compares favourably with all of these great wines.