2015 Remelluri Rioja Reserva 750 ml

Remelluri’s mountain vineyards are so imposing, so sweetly sea-kissed, so spellbinding, they all but demanded that founder Jaime Rodríguez Salís buck decades of winemaking tradition.

Rioja has long built its identity on wines sourced from multiple sites then barrel-aged and cellared for years. But when Salís spotted this rugged terroir at some of the region’s highest elevations, he knew it would yield a profound single-vineyard expression—and in 1971, Remelluri released one of the earliest single-vineyard Riojas of the modern era.

The wine made waves and kicked off a long line of estate bottlings that established Remelluri as what Wine Advocate called “one of Rioja’s reference points.” Their dual-94-point 2015 Reserva carries that torch with generous ripeness and layered complexity.

Salís’s son—renowned winemaker Telmo Rodríguez—has transformed the fruit from organically farmed vines up to 104 years old into a full-bodied yet elegant and well-defined blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, and Graciano. It bursts with dark-fruit aromas and notes of violet, spice, and tobacco. On the palate, it delivers winter spices that ride rustic tannins to a long finish.

On the slopes of the Sierra de Toloño mountains, Remelluri’s vineyards sit up to 2,600 feet high in terraced amphitheaters that follow the mountain’s contours, sheltering the vines from the leeward side’s harsh weather but catching cooling Atlantic breezes. The resulting wines boast a phenomenal balance of richness and fresh acidity.
Telmo and his sister, viticulturist Amaia Rodríguez Hernandorena, vinify the estate’s 100+ plots separately and then masterfully blend them. They rested their 2015 Reserva for 21 months in foudres and barrels, and it now has the power and finesse of a pure mountain-Rioja.