2011 Bodegas LAN Rioja Gran Reserva Spain 750 ml

When Bodegas LAN told us they’d be releasing the 2011 Gran Reserva after ten years in the estate cellars, we knew we had to grab as much as we could get our hands on. 

This wine has been aged in optimum conditions for twice as long as most Gran Reservas, and it boasts the power and depth that have earned Bodegas LAN the number one spot on Wine Spectator’s top Spanish wines list. James Suckling agrees, giving it 94 points and calling it “an impressive Gran Reserva.” 

The LAN estate straddles a unique microclimate, which produces wines of impressive concentration. Nestled at a 180-degree curve of the Ebro River and surrounded on three sides by meandering water, this is a winegrowing locale with no match in Spain, or anywhere really. In the pebble-strewn terrain, the vines exert a heroic effort, producing richly concentrated grapes. When skillfully combined with carefully selected sources in Rioja Alta, then given a decade in the cellar, the result is an exceptionally complex, polished Gran Reserva.

When we first tasted this bottle, It all came back to us—a stroll down the cavernously close streets of the seafaring town of San Sebastián. Another sip—a view of the bright orange Rioja Alta from high atop the Montes Obarenes-San Zadornil on the way to Bilbao. Finally, another taste, and there it was, the depth earned by meticulous cellaring, complex enough to reward those who want to enjoy a bottle over the next 20 years.