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Buy any 12 bottles and save 10% (excludes wines on offer). Free UK delivery on orders over £100. Tel: 02922 337454
Buy any 12 bottles and save 10% (excludes wines on offer). Free UK delivery on orders over £100. Tel: 02922 337454
2016 Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta *Magnum*

2016 Gran Reserva 904, La Rioja Alta *Magnum*

Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain

Elegance, Aged to Perfection in Magnum

La Rioja Alta’s 2016 Gran Reserva 904 in magnum is Rioja with all the theatre of time, tradition and scale. This is one of Spain’s great classic reds, already beautifully expressive but still carrying the freshness and structure to go on for years. Expect wild red berries, black cherry, blueberry, dried strawberry, tobacco leaf, cedar, tea, vanilla, cinnamon, mocha and a cool balsamic lift.

On the palate, it is refined, silky and wonderfully composed, with polished tannins, bright acidity and a long, savoury finish. The magnum format gives the wine even more poise, slowing its evolution and preserving that graceful tension between mature complexity and youthful energy. This is a bottle for proper occasions, long dinners and the sort of table where people remember what was poured.

For when
The bottle needs to feel like an event before the cork is even pulled.

Pairs with
Roast lamb, beef Wellington, suckling pig, duck, grilled mushrooms, aged Manchego, slow-cooked pork, game birds, mushroom rice or dark chocolate desserts.

La Rioja Alta is one of Rioja’s true grand houses, founded in Haro in 1890 and revered for its patient, traditional approach to long-aged Tempranillo. Gran Reserva 904 is one of its defining wines, a benchmark for elegance, American oak polish, silky texture and extraordinary longevity. In magnum, the 2016 vintage feels especially complete: generous, complex, fresh and quietly majestic.

Whats in the bottle
Tempranillo 90% and Graciano 10%

Notable Awards
97/100 from Joaquín Hidalgo for Vinious & 96/100 from Luis Gutiérrez for Robert Parkers Wine Advocate

£172.00 - £172.00
£172.00
£172.00 - £172.00
£172.00
Availability:
In stock

Few names embody the soul of traditional Rioja quite like La Rioja Alta. Founded in 1890 by five families in Haro’s historic Barrio de la Estación, the bodega remains one of Spain’s most revered and steadfastly classical producers. Over more than 130 years, it has built a reputation for patience, precision, and unwavering respect for time, crafting wines that mature not just in oak, but in character.

The estate’s vineyards lie in the cool, high-altitude reaches of Rioja Alta, where clay-limestone soils and Atlantic influences yield Tempranillo of exceptional finesse and natural acidity. From these vines come wines that are born for ageing, vibrant in youth, transcendent with maturity. The grapes are vinified in a combination of tradition and control, then matured in American oak barrels made by La Rioja Alta’s own cooperage, ensuring absolute consistency of style and quality.

Their hierarchy of labels, Viña Alberdi, Viña Ardanza, Gran Reserva 904, and the legendary Gran Reserva 890, represents not just increasing age, but increasing depth and complexity. Each is released only when deemed ready, often more than a decade after harvest, offering drinkers a taste of Rioja’s past made freshly alive.

At La Rioja Alta, time isn’t just an ingredient, it’s the guiding philosophy. The result is wines that balance grace with gravitas, offering an ageless expression of what makes Rioja not merely a region, but a legacy.

The 2016 Gran Reserva 904 is a blend of 90% Tempranillo and 10% Graciano. The Tempranillo comes from estate vineyards in Villalba, Briñas and Rodezno, while the Graciano comes from the Montecillo vineyard in Fuenmayor. Soils in Villalba, Briñas and Rodezno are loamy with abundant limestone, while Montecillo is more alluvial, with gravel and small pebbles.

The grapes were hand-picked in small crates, with an initial selection in the vineyard before refrigerated transport to the winery. A second selection was carried out using optical sorting, followed by natural alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. The selected wines were then aged for four years in La Rioja Alta’s own American oak barrels, with an average barrel age of 4.5 years. Traditional rackings took place every six months, and the wine was bottled in May 2021.

The 2016 vintage was outstanding in both quality and quantity, with well-distributed rainfall, excellent acidity-alcohol balance, high aromatic intensity and ripe tannins. Winemaker Julio Sáenz described it as one of the freshest, most sophisticated and elegant Gran Reserva 904 wines in the estate’s history.