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CVNE Imperial Rioja Gran Reserva 1994

With Bordeaux – specifically my reports on the 2023 vintage – dominating the Winedoctor home page at the moment, it seems only fair to look elsewhere for my latest Weekend Wine choice. With last week’s 2000 Chinon Les Picasses from Olga Raffault I was well within my comfort zone, safe in the Loire Valley. So this weekend I thought I should broaden my horizons a little, with something from further afield.

Pack your bags! We are off to Rioja, for the 1994 Rioja Gran Reserva Imperial from one of the most famous Rioja estates, CVNE.

CVNE (or Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España if you want its Sunday name – it’s quite easy to see why most people stick with CVNE) is surely one of the best-known estates in Rioja. Alongside Marqués de Murrieta, Muga, La Rioja Alta and the occasional bottle from López de Heredia, the wines of CVNE have been cellar staples chez Winedoctor for the past three decades. Established in 1879 in Haro in the Rioja Alta, by the Real de Asúa brothers (who I will mention again further down the page), the estate was at the forefront of developing Rioja as a serious wine region; this was a time when the region’s population was swelling with refugees from Bordeaux, winemakers who saw a new start in Rioja as the best way to escape the devastating consequences of phylloxera.

The CVNE cellars are located in the Barrio de la Estación, in other words the ‘station district’, a popular spot for warehouses during the 19th century, for exactly the same reason warehouses also line the quayside of Bordeaux (and Libourne for that matter). The wines of Bordeaux have for centuries been shipped out of the region (and this is still the case today), while those of Rioja increasingly left by the newly established rail network. CVNE were one of the earliest adopters of export via the railways, leading to a wide distribution of their wines, and broad renown.

CVNE Imperial Rioja Gran Reserva 1994

It was one such export order that led to the creation of the Imperial cuvée. The CVNE legendarium tells us that at the turn of the century a British wine merchant placed an order for some top-quality wines to be bottled in Imperial pint-sized bottles. CVNE fulfilled the order and the wines – allegedly drawn from the best barrels – were well-received. Presumably the order was placed again. And again. The end result was that Imperial became a brand name for the cuvée, and by the 1920s it was treated to its own label. Today it is recognised as the estate’s flagship cuvée, or at least one of them; it has competition from Viña Real, a different style of Rioja which no doubt also has its followers, as does the single-estate wine Viñedos Contino, and the vineyard-selection Real de Asúa (named for those two brothers). The 2022 vintage of the Real de Asúa cuvée knocked me for six when I tasted it in last year’s Beyond Bordeaux releases, even if it does need another three or four decades before it is ready.

Today the Imperial cuvée is mostly Tempranillo from old Rioja Alta vines, with a little Graciano and Mazuelo for seasoning. After hand-harvesting, fermentation in steel and an élevage lasting 24 months in French and American oak, the wine goes into Bordeaux-style bottles. All you have to do than is wait. I have managed to hold off pulling the cork on this one for thirty-plus years, not a bad effort!

Now a little over three decades old. the 1994 Rioja Grand Reserva Imperial from CVNE shows a great fill, well into the neck (it has, if you are interested, been slumbering in my cellar for much of the past three decades). The cork was soft, but easily removed with a Durand. A glorious colour in the glass, mature but fresh and lively, with a pink, delicately bricking rim, certainly not advanced considering its age. The aromatics develop into something quite gorgeous, suggesting sweetness and complexity, with bright raspberry fruit quickly yielding to more interesting layers of leather, liquorice, black tea and black olive, with a touch of roasted garrigue herbs. There is plenty of texture and substance on the palate, with delightfully silky upper layers over some fine and delicately chalk-rubbed tannins beneath. Finely integrated and harmonious, but with both substance and breadth, right through to the sweet, grained, peppery and long finish, this is a super old Rioja. Or perhaps not ‘old’, as I suspect this has several decades in it yet. Drink or hold, as you wish. The alcohol is 13% on the label. 96/100 (26/1/26)

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