2015 Cerro Anon Gran Reserva Rioja 750 ml

Every cellar should have some beautifully aged Rioja Gran Reserva, and our Master Somm’s go-to bottle is the 2015 Cerro Añón Rioja Gran Reserva.

This gorgeous Gran Reserva, boasting nearly a decade of age, carries a 95-point score from the Decanter World Wine Awards—where it outscored 1,147 other Spanish reds. Grown in a warm, ripe vintage, it’s now drinking in perfect form, offering the beautiful integration and depth we expect to find in $50-$80 bottles.

Bodegas Olarra reserves the Cerro Añón label for wines with a modern touch and polished style—rather than Rioja’s classic (and occasionally dried-out) profile. It’s an estate known as “the Cathedral of Rioja” for its central place in the Spanish wine canon and for the grandeur of its buildings. That spot in the canon is thanks to Ezequiel García.

Ezequiel García—AKA El Brujo, “The Wizard”—made some of CVNE’s unforgettable Imperial and Viña Real Gran Reserva Riojas of the 1960s and early 1970s. Poached away from CVNE to become the founding winemaker of Bodegas Olarra, he was so obsessed with quality that he continued working in the cellar until his passing in 2017. He’s still spoken of as an absolute legend in Rioja.

This bottling represents one of the last Grand Reservas El Brujo touched in his 70-year career. Of the five days we spent in Rioja this last April, this stood out because of the quality for value in this bottle compared to every other wine we tasted.