2018 Rioja Vina Del Olivo
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Tasting notes
Mainly Tempranillo with c 10% Graciano. Deep cherry red. Deep, rich aroma that is more black-fruited than all the other Contino wines tasted today. Not sure if it is auto-suggestion that there is a sense of black olives here as well as the sweetness and chocolate of oak spice, both in the taste and the texture. Smooth, generous, refined even in youth. Dark and savoury aftertaste. Needs time. (JH)
Critic scores
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Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
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The 2018 Viña del Olivo comes from a plot planted in 1980 that has different soils from the rest of the property, which is mostly alluvial. Here, the soils are composed of clay and limestone. It's 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo, which fermented in 1,000-liter French oak vats followed by 16 months in barrel and a further three months in oak vats. This is raw and young, but it's already been released because the wine sells like hot cakes. It's marked by the toasted barrels and has all the baby fat it needs to be rendered invisible with time in bottle. It has very good freshness and round and sophisticated tannins with purity of fruit and finesse. 13,640 bottles and some larger formats. It was bottled in April 2020.