There was a bit of hoopla surrounding this wine after it received a score of “90” in the Wine Advocate. Fresh & Easy-generated hoopla, but hoopla nonetheless. Just to be clear, the “90” is a score from Jay Miller, who covers Spain for the Wine Advocate, not Robert Parker. More importantly, however, Reflexión was part of a massive tasting of over 1000 Spanish wines, hundreds of which received scores or 90 or higher. The fact that it received only a score and not a brief description as well leads me to discount the whole “90” thing. That said, this is still a worthwhile bottle.
The wine definitely benefited from a good deal of air; I poured the whole bottle into decanter about an hour before drinking. The nose is an inviting mix of sweet spice, vanilla, and oak. The palate features chocolate, cloves and cinnamon, and hints of strawberry. True to Tempranillo form, the fruit here is moderate and the acidity is fairly low. The wine has some length and finishes with pleasant oak and soft tannins.
It’s a pretty likeable wine and ~$10 is a very good price for a Rioja Reserva . Unfortunately the “Parker laurels” make it unlikely that this wine will go on sale.
Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 5/5
Total value: 13.5/15
Thanks for sharing the Rioja Reserva wine review. It is so economical in cost. Will put this bottle to test. Wish if it could replace Viogner from my cellar.
ReplyDeleteI loved this wine (I'm a sucker for vanilla). I would describe it as 'yummy'. If it ever does go on sale, I'm stocking up!
ReplyDeleteHi Hampers,
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy this Rioja, but I don't see it replacing Viogner!
Unless, of course, that's a truly bad cluster of viogner.
- jim
We agree that this is a really great wine for the price.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.justagrape.com/reflexion-tempranillo-spain-2003/
If you are talking about the 2003, it's on-sale for $7.99 at the Fresh and Easy in La Habra.
ReplyDelete