Bodegas Riojanas, Monte Real Cuvée, Rioja, Spain, 2017

From a selection of best plots in the El Monte Vineyard, planted with 40-year-old Tempranillo and Graciano; aged for 18 months in new French and American oak. This is a traditional, serious style of Rioja. Dense, spicy black fruit aromas are enlivened with brighter red berry hints. Cedary oak threads through the palate providing a framework for the spicy black berry fruit, with firm tannins and a long, deep cassis finish.