Original price was: £22.99.£19.95Current price is: £19.95.
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| Country | Spain |
|---|---|
| Region | DOCa Rioja |
| Grape | 95% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano |
| ABV | 14.0% |
| Awards/Accolades | 92 Points Decanter Silver Medal at DWWA 2022;, 2018 vintage: 91 Points Tim Atkin MW Rioja Report 2025 |
| Good to know | Organic practices, Vegan |
Luis Cañas Reserva is always an intensely flavoured and elegant wine from one of the top Rioja Bodegas. Welcoming aromas of leather, rich blackberry and blackcurrant fruits mingle with oak and hints of balsam, liquorice and spice. The flavours are concentrated and display rich dark berry fruits together with savoury layers of cocoa, liquorice and toasty oak hints. It is mouth-filling, smooth and savoury. It has very good structure, balance and potential for ageing. This is a full bodied Reserva with excellent length and finesse. Luis Cañas Reserva is consistent in style terms where it sits between the lighter Urbina Gran/Reserva Especial wines and the full-bodied Muga Reserva Selección Especial; it is big step up on the very good Luis Cañas Crianza 2021/22.
“Still made in the Luis Cañas style of old, where the French and American oak influence was more marked, this is a firmish, well-structured cuvée of Tempranillo and 5% Graciano from a cooler, more Atlantic vintage. Smoky and chewy with blackberry and wood smoke flavours and supporting acidity.” 91 Points Tim Atkin MW Special Rioja Report 2025: Drink 2025-32
“The Luis Cañas Reserva is a well-judged half way house between the modern and traditional styles. Marrying Tempranillo with 5% Graciano, mostly from vineyards on slopes, it sees a 60/40 mix of French and American oak and has bramble, sweet spice and balsamic flavours.” 91 Points: Tim Atkin MW Special Rioja Report 2023: Drink 2023 – 29.
“Savoury nose; dark, earthy palate with bright fruit and a tasty layer of spicy oak. Long finish. An ideal partner for roasted meats.” 92 Points Decanter Silver: Decanter World Wine Awards 2022
“Lower yields from older vines are the key to the intensity of this Rioja Alavesa blend of Tempranillo with 5% Graciano, sourced from six different villages. Inky, savoury and fresh, with classic chalky minerality, aniseed, black cherry and fig flavours and spicy, scented oak.” Drink 2021-27. 91 Points; Tim Atkin MW Special Rioja Report 2021 & 2022.
“Combining second use French and American oak, this blend of Tempranillo with 5% Graciano is unapologetically modern, with plenty of dark, chewy fruit, savoury tannins and supporting acidity.” Drink: 2021 – 2024. 91 Points; Tim Atkin MW Special Rioja Report 2020 (published Jan 2020)
Luis Cañas hand-pick and hand-select all the grapes in their wines and for their Reserva they use grapes from specific vineyard plots. They use Mistral Tables for a double selection process, cutting through the bunches to ensure only the best grapes go into the fermentation process. The grapes are de-stemmed and crushed before fermentation in stainless steel, and macerated on the grape skins for 21 days, obtaining better colour extraction as well as much more complexity and structure, suitable for prolonged ageing. The wine undergoes a malolactic fermentation and is then aged for 18 months in 60% French and 40% American oak barriques (225 litre) with an average of two years in age. It then spends a further year or so in bottle, ageing at the Bodega, before release.
Tim Atkin MW has commented that Juan Luis Cañas grows some of the best grapes in Villabuena, which is praise indeed as this is an area known for its very high quality of grapes. The grapes in this Reserva come from vines over 40 years old; older vines produce less yield but the grapes have greater intensity and the potential to produce more complex flavours in the final wine. The inclusion of 5% Graciano grapes in this blend, provides both structure and finesse.
Luis Cańas are a family-run Bodega, whose vineyards are situated in the best part of Rioja Alavesa; the care and attention from their sustainably farmed vineyards to their meticulous wine-making and barrel ageing processes mark them out as one of the top Rioja Bodegas, producing wines that consistently win acclaim internationally.
2016 was rated as a Very Good Vintage by the Rioja Concejo Regulador; it has been described as bordering Excellent and probably as good as 2010. The wines, especially the good quality Reservas/Gran Reservas, will be characterised by freshness, silky tannins, great depth and persistence.
2018 was rated as a Good Vintage by the Rioja Concejo Regulador; in many ways it was similar to 2016 but the wines were fresher. Picking started in late August and continued through to 15 November. This was considered to be more of an “Atlantic cooler vintage” and the Reds tend to be vibrant and aromatic with good balance.
Luis Cañas Reserva 2016 and 2018 have great aromatic quality and stand out for their balance, finesse, great depth, and elegance. 2016 and 2018 have potential for ageing (with careful cellaring); we note Tim Atkin MW suggests this wine will be drinking through to 2029 and 2032 respectively, if you could leave them that long!
Check out our competitive price: sells in Independent Wine Merchants £23.50 – £26.95
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