spain2012 Bosconia Reserva 93WA
La Rioja, Spain

$37.99 on 6+ (code: 6saves2)
$39.99 reg

Tempranillo 80%
Garnacho 15%
Graciano and Mazuelo 10%

93 pts Wine Advocate
The 2012 Viña Bosconia Reserva is perhaps a little too young (María José López de Heredia likes more polished wines, and for her this wine was too tough), with some tannins and the chalky texture from the limestone soils. This blend of Tempranillo with 15% Garnacho and 5% between Graciano and Mazuelo matured in used American oak barrels for five years. 80,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2019.

I tasted up to three vintages of the same wine as it has been some time since I tasted them, and I also sampled the forthcoming vintages to be released in early 2023. The next vintage of Gran Reserva will be 2004, when they produced all three wines (the rosé was not produced, of course, it was a year in the hiatus between 2000 and 2008). 2005, 2007, 2010, 2011 and perhaps 2013 (for a sentimental reason, when their father died) will also be Gran Reserva vintages. What I tasted made sense with the character of each vintage—brilliant 2010s; a warm and more evolved 2011; a very good 2012; an atypical and challenging 2013; a cool and balanced 2014; and a warmer and riper 2015. As a bonus track, I tasted (and swallowed) the 2004 Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva, and I can tell you I cannot wait for the wine to be released in 2024.

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If the bottle shape does not give it away, this is the Burgundy-inspired wine from Lopez de Heredia. With more refinement in the structure, fine tannins, this wine is pure and traditional Rioja, with a nod to the more polished and finer structured wines of Burgundy.

The 15 hectare El Bosque vineyard is situated next to the Ebro river at an altitude of 465m, 1km away from the winery in Haro. Vines are planted on the south-facing foothills of the Sierra Cantabria range, providing them with ideal conditions for ripening. The soil is a mixture of clay and limestone. The average age of the vines is 40 years.