Gomez Cruzado Cerro Las Cuevas 2021

Cellar for 15 years or more. Decant for up to an hour before serving.

This is a powerful red wine, with attractive scents of ripe, dark berries, chocolate, liquorice and warm spice. It is made of grapes harvested from a very particular part of Rioja: Ollauri, where vines grow on extremely steep slopes composed of sand and limestone. Cerro Las Cuevas is a blend of red grapes. It is 80% Tempranillo and 12% Graciano, with smaller amounts of Mazuela and Garnacha.

Gómez Cruzado is a boutique winery in the Haro neighborhood of La Rioja. Its history is a continuous thread of wine production, dating all the way back to 1886. The winery has passed through different owners in that time but is now in the steady hands of the Baños family, natives of the Rioja town Badarán, who pay their dues to tradition by keeping the name of the previous owners, the Gómez Cruzado family, on the winery.

Cerro Las Cuevas is complex and fruity on the palate. Flavours of plum and dried fig mingle with spicy hints of black pepper and vanilla. There are also underlying earthy tones of liquorice, dark cocoa and tobacco smoke to be discovered. Despite its boldness and complexity, it is also undeniably fresh. Each sip brings a vibrant burst of acidity and fine, silky tannins. By focusing on a sliver of Rioja, Gómez Cruzado Winery has created an excellent representation of the entire region. Consider pairing this wine with meaty tapas, blood sausage or aged cheeses.