2019 CVNE (Cune) Imperial Reserva Rioja 750 ml

Iconic producer. Outstanding vintage. And the critical praise to back it all up. 

The 2019 CVNE Imperial Reserva Rioja checks every box. 

CVNE only crafts Imperial bottlings in exceptional years—and 2019 was a near-perfect harvest, “a memorable year in the history of Rioja wine,” according to the technical director of the Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja.

Boasting a 95-point score from James Suckling, it’s classic Rioja at its best. Dark, saturated, rich, and polished, it shows exactly why you should NEVER pass up the chance at a CVNE’s Imperial. Make sure you have enough to cellar for decades.

CVNE is as close to a sure thing as you get in Rioja. Decanter said it’s 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.”

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 they were the nation’s first winery to employ gravity-flow technology in the cellar.

Their 2019 Reserva comes from vines 40+ years of age—located in Torremontalbo, Briones, and Villalba—planted in poor chalky clay soils. In Rioja Alta’s cracked and rugged earth, vines have to earn everything they get. The tiny Tempranillo grapes comprising the core of this wine were harvested by hand from largely bush-trained plants. The wine spent two years in French and American oak, followed by another year in bottle before release.