Bodegas Roda Roda Reserva 2019

Making the most of what Agustín Santolaya considers the best vintage since 2001, the regular Roda release marries Tempranillo with 5% Graciano and 4% Garnacha from the Rioja Alta and Oriental sub-regions. Full-bodied but not overpoweringly so, this is layered and well structured, with scented 40% new wood, serious dark berry fruit and a balsamic lift. Modern yet traditional at the same time.

Fruity and primary with rich black cherries, red plums and damsons, adorned by some coffee, black pepper and chocolate. A pretty modern, juicy expression of Rioja with a medium to full body, rounded by assertive and fine-grained tannins. Long, with some dark chocolate in the finish.

The wines are quite transparent of the vintage conditions, with the 2019 Roda being round, lush and velvety, with polished and sleek tannins and more volume and concentration, reflecting a low-yielding, warm and dry year. This is a cuvée with more red than black fruit produced with 91% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano and 4% Garnacha from 30-year-old vines fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in French barriques, 50% of them new, the other 50% second-use for 14 months. It's a red with 14.5% alcohol, ripe fruit, measured oak and integrated acidity. (LG)