2016 CVNE (Cune) Vina Real Rioja Gran Reserva Especial 750 ml

The 2016 Rioja Gran Reserva Especial shows exactly why you should NEVER pass up the chance at a cellared Rioja from the iconic Viña Real. 

We flipped for this triple 95-point wine, which was crafted by a legendary producer in what might be the greatest Rioja vintage ever—Wine Advocate has never rated one higher. It's classic Rioja at its absolute best.

The Compañia Vinícola del Norte de España—also known as “CVNE,” or the more pronounceable “CUNE”—is a pioneer in Rioja. They produced the first Spanish wine to earn the #1 spot on Wine Spectator’s Top 100, 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.” Of Viña Real, he wrote: “Any old vintage of Viña Real I come across, I buy.” MICHELIN three-star restaurants like The French Laundry and SingleThread Farms feature multiple CVNE wines on their lists.

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