2015 Cune Rioja Gran Reserva 750 ml

CVNE is as close to a sure thing as you get in Rioja.

Decanter once said as much, calling the esteemed winery “reliable, year in and year out” and among Rioja’s “best producers.” Jancis Robinson included it in what she called “The Rioja Aristocracy,” and Spanish-wine expert Luis Gutierrez of Wine Advocate declared them “one of the great bodegas not only of Rioja, but of the whole of Spain.”

With their 2015 Rioja Gran Reserva, CVNE has thrown down a bottle that reminds the world why that stellar reputation is well deserved. With 95 points, this bottling was Wine Enthusiast’s #1 Gran Reserva Rioja of 2015—and it even outscored CVNE's own Imperial Gran Reserva.

The Compañia Vinícola del Norte de España—also known as “CVNE,” or the more pronounceable “CUNE”—is a pioneer in Rioja, and they produced the first Spanish wine to earn the #1 spot on Wine Spectator’s Top 100.

CVNE’s 2015 Gran Reserva comes primarily from south- and east-facing vineyards in Torremontalbo, where the vines average 45 years of age. That’s even older than the vineyards that go into the winery’s Imperial Gran Reserva and Viña Real Gran Reserva! Moreover, the Rioja Regulatory Council rated the 2015 vintage “Very Good,” and both Wine Advocate and Vinous gave the year 94 points.

In Rioja Alta’s rugged soils, vines have to earn everything they get. The tiny Tempranillo grapes comprising the core of this CUNE Gran Reserva were harvested by hand from low-yielding, bush-like plants averaging over four decades of age. The wine spent two years in French and American oak, followed by another five years in bottle, resulting in a complex, elegant, and deeply intense Rioja.