Paul Hoffert

8.9

First impression upon opening is cherry licorice and a touch of fresh cut wood. It drinks well with a Medium finish and mild tannins. For the price point I like this wine. Great for a Saturday afternoon with nothing special to do. — 8 days ago

Peter van den Besselaar

9.1

Vintage 2006 - cedar and red fruit explosion. smooth taste, quite velvety. — 4 days ago

Severn Goodwin

9.3

Tasty and dusty, late season ripe raspberry, blueberry and chocolate; finish runs about 2 minutes.

48hr Update: Nose is intense mocha cherry, palate is still beautiful. Suggest a 24 hour decant on future bottles, much better experience. — 5 days ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.5

Ooo-LaLa! Found another 2001! Deep Ruby with sweet black and red fruit aromas with a pleasant gentle oak notes. A 100% Tempranillo, from 100-Year Old vines, aged for 24 months in French oak barrels. The palate puts forth flavors of ripe red cherries, dried fruit, cacao and tobacco. The wine showed plenty of acidity and round tannins, giving the wine good structure. This full-bodied wine had a long finish leaving with some oak and earthy mineral ending. A Pleasure! — 12 days ago

John Howard

Harvest production at Hirsch and Cobb Wineries

9.4

Unblelieveably delicious. Cooked black cherries, red currant, salted smoked meat, sasparilla, bitter chocolate, fennel, licorice, soy sauce, balsamic, wet dog. Structure, Umami. — 9 days ago

Matt Lasater

9.4

This is crushing it right now, perfect time to open. Harmonious, balanced, beautifully expressive and classic. A great example of how a humble wine from a great producer can shine in the right setting. Further confirmation that 10-15 year age mark is a sweet spot for my palate. Ripe morello cherry, cooked red plum, strawberry confit, leather, hung meat, tobacco leaf, fresh cigar, ash, vanilla, sweet brown spices, Ceylon, licorice root, damp earth, dust, dill weed. The nose just keeps going. Juicy, alive, upfront on the palate, the acid is there to counterpoint the dusty tannin, the wine is lifted and well postured start to finish. Great length too. — 7 days ago

Alan Withers

8.9

I had the 2012 vintage. Drank May 2018. I thought it was very drinkable, but one more year in the bottle will improve it even more. Very fruit forward with little wood influence. Sour cherry on the finish. Good length. I liked it. We had it with grilled striploin steak which it was a good compliment to. — 3 days ago

Chris England

9.3

After popping the new 890 05 (see yesterday’s review) I had to try my last 904 05 @ a third of the price @ £33 & wow it still delivers old world Rioja porn that’s hard to beat on price 😍 A touch lighter in body than 890 but a much more aromatic nose as has opened more than the 890 😁

🏵 93-94 points

🍷 Garnet ruby w/ brick edge

👃 Soft char-smoked oaky vanilla infused spiced cherry w/ balsamic, light cocoa & aniseed, caramel, date & prune

👄 Med smooth body of creamy cherry bathed in touch tart balsamic w/ a cocoa hint in med acidity

🎯 Med+ balsamic cherry linger asking you to take another sip 😎 — 4 days ago

Chris England

9.5

I’ve been gagging to try the latest release of 890 @ £95+ scoring 98 points from all critics & whilst 5-10yrs will reward big time 😍 01 is best now 👍

🏵 95 points going 98+ in time 👍

🍇 95% Tempranillo, 3% Graciano & 2% Mazuelo

🍷Deep ruby

👃 A coconut chocolate bar, a balsamic jam & a cherry compote mixed in a blender w/ light smoked oak sprinkles & vanilla pods

👄 Med body of rich creamy cherry in balsamic goo w/ a cocoa tone

🎯 Long deep balsamic cherry & cocoa linger — 5 days ago

Chris England

9.6

Fab 05 top Rioja @ £70-90 in a great year - will keep improving to a sure 97-98 Great now 95-96 Awesome 2020-30 👍

🍇 89% Tempranillo & 11% Mazuelo

🍷 Deep ruby

👃 Soft oak through dark spiced berries, currants & cherry with creamy vanilla, light smoked tobacco, leather, mocha, coconut, mint & balsamic into choc cherry gateaux

👄 Med+ body of deluxe silky smooth creamy stewed rich dark cherry driven fruits all perfectly balanced w/ thick cocoa cream, vanilla & balsamic touch

🎯 Long seductive oak, cocoa, balsamic & dark fruit cherry boom linger — 11 days ago