1996 Senorio de San Vicente Rioja Tinto

Ambitious. This deeply colored, highly extracted red has a muscular structure, with mouthfilling tannins that dominate coffee and smoke flavors, which in turn dominate the core of ripe plum, tobacco, licorice and prune flavors. Give it time and watch it soar. 2,500 cases made.

Drink Dates: 2002+

Author: Thomas Matthews

Bright, deep ruby-red. Explosive, exhilarating, sharply delineated aromas of raspberry, blackberry, violet, espresso, and spicy, resiny oak. Thick and dense but remarkably light on its feet, with harmonious, lively acidity giving the flavors great vivacity. Really suffuses the mouth with perfume. Finishes very long, with firm but thoroughly suave tannins. From the lowest yield to date at this estate.

Author: Stephen Tanzer

Issue: November/December 2000

This continues to be one of the sexiest, most voluptuously-textured, exotic wines to emerge from Rioja. At times, it resembles a flashy Pomerol, and at other times, a hypothetical blend of the best of Spain with the finest of the New World. The dark ruby-colored 1996 (100% Tempranillo from a single vineyard called Peludo) displays a flamboyant nose of vanillin, jammy black cherries, Asian spices, licorice, and roasted meats and herbs. Big in the mouth, with medium to full body, outstanding richness, and plenty of sweet tannin, this opulently-textured, hedonistically-styled wine can be drunk now as well as over the next 10-12 years.

Drink Dates: 2000-2012

Author: Robert Parker