Vivanco Crianza Rioja Seleccion de Familia 2016
- Decanter
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Suckling
James
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Bright cherry-red. Intense aromas of fresh, ripe, red fruit, with spicy and licorice notes, accompanied by elegant toasty and smoky hints. Fresh and sweet in the mouth, with a very well-balanced, persistent and elegant mouthfeel.
Aged for 16 months in French and American oak barrels, with periodic rackings, followed by at least 6 months in the bottle-ageing hall.
Varietal Composition: 95% Tempranillo, 3% Graciano, 2% Maturana Tinta
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
"Packed with sweet red berry fruit, plums and vanilla spice with an underlying saltiness. Full, generous, persistent and defined."
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James Suckling
"Wild-lavender and purple-fruit aromas here with a fresh, purple-berry core. The palate is succulent, crunchy and firm."
Other Vintages
2012-
Suckling
James
Vivanco is dedicated to producing wines using only native grapes vinified using traditional techniques. Through extensive research and experimentation, Rafael has revived nearly extinct varietals and traditional wines that accurately reflect La Rioja’s history of winemaking.
Vivanco selects only the top 20-30% of the annual harvest exclusively cultivated by hand from their 440 hectares of estate-owned vineyards for their annual bottlings. Their holdings are located throughout Rioja Alta, thus the soils vary from ferrous clay to marl. Their portfolio of iconic wines, each with a distinct personality that reflects the land, is renowned for quality, boasting a “Top 100? accolade from Wine Spectator.
The estate is impressive showcasing both the original building and the modern facility. The new, state-of-the-art winery boasts a naturally temperature-controlled underground cellar that houses 3500 barrels. Atop sits the museum, educational center, tasting room, and restaurant frequented by thousands of visitors throughout the year.
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.