Wine Review – 2010 Anciano Gran Reserva Tempranillo 7 Years

If you want a more detailed wine review, read on…

Bottle Presentation

A distinctive label with a weathered paper look adorned with a gold wire. We love this Spanish Medieval or Renaissance-style label.

Appearance

Medium garnet.

Nose

Clean, pronounced intensity nose, with black licorice, red and black cherries, cinnamon, cloves, grilled meat, grilled peppers, and rhubarb notes. This is a developing wine.

Palate

Dry, light-bodied, medium acidity, high and grippy tannins, and medium alcohol. Medium(+) flavour intensity with notes of black licorice, cloves, allspice, red and black cherries, and iron. Raspberry notes also emerged as the wine opened.

Finish

A long finish.

Overall Impressions

A food-friendly Tempranillo that is drinking very well right now. We had thoroughly enjoyed the 2009 vintage and endeavoured to purchase a second bottle, only to (disappointingly) find the 2009 no longer available. Thus, we settled on the 2010, purchasing a pair of bottles. Our initial impressions of the 2010 were less than glowing, as it lacked the smoothness and complexity of the 2009. But now, a few months later, we’re glad we bought a second bottle, as this one seems to have come into its own. We’re not sure how to explain this other than bottle variation or the wine needing a little more time to develop…

This 2010 Tempranillo paired very well with our two different pizzas. The Calabrese pizza brought out the wine’s spices. In turn, the goat cheese and honey Margherita pizza – true, not your traditional Margherita – showcased the red fruit notes.

The range of flavours (mainly primary and secondary, although some tertiary notes are emerging) give this wine a level of complexity. It had excellent length and very good intensity in both the nose and palate. We could smell and feel the alcohol, so the integration and balance could be somewhat improved. Nonetheless, we’d consider this a good, versatile red wine of excellent value.

Ratings

Overall Rating: 88/10

E-Wine rating: 3/5. We would purchase another bottle of 2010 Anciano Gran Reserva 7 years as it is drinking well now.

Value: 5/5.