Marqués de
Riscal Gran Reserva 1952-2015

BY NEAL MARTIN | OCTOBER 07, 2019It was a
pleasure to take a break during a period of alternating between Bordeaux and
Burgundy and attend a tasting of one of my favorite Rioja producers: Marqués de
Riscal. When I visited the winery several years ago, it was not just Frank
Gehry’s startling architecture that stuck in my mind, but also the showing of
ancient vintages that I tasted both there and at a dinner at Christie’s around
the same time. On this more recent occasion, four wines were shown in London,
presented by renowned author Andrew Caillard MW and winemaker Luis Hurtado de
Amézega.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1570456828188-marques+de+riscal+luis.jpg"> 

Winemaker Luis Hurtado de Amézega, whose
family has made the wines at Riscal for generations.

The
product of a hot June and August but a cool July, the 1952 Rioja Gran Reserva
is a blend of 60% Tempranillo and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in American oak for
50 months. It has a deep mahogany color with a thin tawny rim. The bouquet is
not the most intense I have encountered from an aged Riscal, but it is
certainly well defined and fresh, offering scents of mulberry, leather and
antique bureau, reminiscent of a timeworn Médoc. The palate is medium-bodied
and maybe a little dry on the entry. Faded rustic red fruit ebbs away with
aeration, leaving a slightly austere Gran Reserva with quite an acidic, brusque
finish. This wine is often compared to Left Bank Bordeaux, and the 1952 certainly
bears similarities. That said, bottles need to be consumed in the next five or
six years. (12.1% alcohol) 89/Drink
2019-2024. The 1964 Rioja Gran Reserva was the last vintage made by Luis
Hurtado de Amézega’s grandfather. It is a blend of 75% Tempranillo and 25%
Cabernet Sauvignon, aged in American oak for 48 months. This vintage, which I
have tasted twice before, is considered to be a benchmark Rioja, perhaps the
last bona fide great Riscal Gran
Reserva until the late 1980s. It has a darker, more lucid color than the 1952
tasted alongside, and there is more fruit intensity on the nose of blackberry,
mulberry, clove, cocoa nibs and thyme, all complex and engaging and nicely defined.
The beautiful palate features black cherries, cassis and hints of spice and bay
leaf. But what is most arresting is the slightly viscous texture. The 1964 comes
across precocious after 55 years, undimmed since I first encountered it a
decade ago and still cruising at high altitude. A formidable and quite
brilliant Rioja. 95/Drink 2019-2035. The 2012 Rioja Gran Reserva has a refulgent magenta color. Copious
blueberry, blackberry and iodine aromas unfurl on the nose, all very intense
and, of course, youthful. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained,
silky-smooth tannins, beautifully enmeshed with black fruit laced with charcoal
and tobacco. This is a classically-styled Gran Reserva that still manages to
deliver a lot of fruit, though that does not seem obvious due to the fine bead
of acidity and the very elegant, balsamic-tinged finish, which will stand this
wine in good stead for long-term aging. 94/Drink
2025-2055. The 2015 Rioja Reserva, which comes mainly from Rioja
Alavesa, has a tightly wound bouquet of broody black fruit, Cuban cigar and
black olive. It is not intense, but it is very elegant. The medium-bodied
palate is off-dry, marked by fine acidity and plenty of soy-tinged black fruit.
With aeration, it develops more depth and cohesion. A sprinkling of white
pepper appears toward a beautifully proportioned finish framed by fine tannins.
Superb. 93/Drink 2025-2045.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1570456852723-marques_de_riscal_1952_1964.jpg"> 

Allow me
to add two more notes. The first originates from a Marqués de Riscal dinner
held at Christie’s several years ago, and I am compelled to include it after
reading Andrew Caillard MW’s recently published book on Marqués de Riscal,
which includes tasting notes from a vertical held last year and assigns a desultory
single star to the 1900. My own experience was completely different. The 1900 Gran Reserva had lain unmoved in the
estate’s cellar since it was first placed there. It comes from pre-phylloxera
vines; though the vineyard was mostly replanted from 1898, these vines were
located on an isolated, low-yielding, high slope that remained ungrafted until
1904. Since American oak was difficult and expensive to source at the time, it
would have been matured in third-, fourth- or fifth-fill barrels for 50 months.
This super-centenarian zooms around on silver rollerblades. It is imbued with a
constantly evolving bouquet of sous-bois,
rose petals and maraschino cherries. Meanwhile, the palate is surfeit with vivacity,
boasting wondrous balance and symmetry. Oxidation? After at least an hour, it was
still going strong. This is a jaw-dropping Rioja that refuses to acknowledge the
passing of time and offers as much pleasure at the dawn of the 21st century as
it did at the dawn of the 20th. 98/Drink
2019-2030. Unlike Bordeaux, Rioja did not experience a fecund growing season in
1945. There was significant mildew that year (30% more than average) and
consequently much of the crop had to be deselected, leaving surviving bunches to
become extremely concentrated. The resulting 1945 Gran Reserva Cuvée R M (Reserve Médoc) consists of 70%
Cabernet Sauvignon and shows a pH level between 3.1 and 3.3. It is blessed with
an entrancing bouquet of black cherries, cedar, Dorset plum and pine needles, fast
developing a quasi-Bordeaux character, similar to an old Pauillac. However, the
palate is quintessential Rioja: pliant in structure, offering touches of
mulberry, dark chocolate and honey, then a feral, garrigue-like element toward the svelte, harmonious finish. This breathtaking
elixir ranks alongside some of the great clarets of the vintage, albeit with more
corpulence and exuberance. 98/Drink
2019-2030.

Content

Engage

Vinous

Social