Selección 2000

5 generations of Urbinas have managed this property since the 1870s. Urbina make ‘classically styled’ Rioja (Gran Reservas and the like with regular racking and so forth) from their own vines and are a village-specific producer, with their best wines all from the cold limestone sand soils of Cuzcurrita del Rio Tiron, west of Haro in the Ojo-Tiron Valley under Montes Obarenes.

Gamey, elegant, spare, red berry wines of great longevity. Free-flowing and delicate, with fine, uncluttered lines. The fruit is in a juniper and red current spectrum laced with red thyme and a trace of sweet spice. Nestled in the acid line is an old, well-used teapot, smoked tin or the tang of a rainwater tank. Balsam smells of tobacco, herb, tea leaf and autumn forest (twigs, briars, wet earth and dried leaves) are scattered through developed red fruits which retain great freshness and a plushness...