Mile High's "Wine of the Week": December 8th
Bodegas Montecillo Rioja Reserva 2010
Regular Price:
$19.99
Sale Price:
$11.99
Sale End:
12/11/2016
Score:
90 Points Wine Spectator & 90 Points Robert Parker
If your holiday gift giving plans include treating your friends and family to some great red wine then you are in luck because this week we have a highly rated bottle of Rioja Reserva at a fantastic price. The 2010 Montecillo Reserva is a classically style red that harkens back to the good ole days of Rioja. In a world that is increasingly dominated by massive, hedonistic wines that, frankly, lack much real layered complexity, it’s gratifying to be able to offer you a medium bodied, terroir driven red with some real style! Engaging scents of cigar humidor, dried rose petals, candied cherries, and tar stand out as soon as you go in for that first swirl and sniff. Then, on the palate, the wines is polished, silky, and utterly refined. Lovely layers of cherries and red currants give way to hints of game, wood smoke, and granitic soil as the wine glides effortlessly from the entry to the finish. At twenty bucks a bottle the 2010 Montecillo Reserva is solid, but at twelve it’s stellar. Do not miss this one, folks! It may be the single best twelve dollar red we’ve tasted all year.
On to the Tasting Notes:
I love Rioja! You ought to love it too. Rioja, as a winegrowing region, is undergoing a renaissance as the producers there continue to define their identity in the face of a wine drinking public who places greater value on density and extraction and less value on tertiary flavor and terroir. But the fact remains that terroir in Rioja is as good for growing wine grapes as any of the most acclaimed regions in the wine world. So it’s really nice to see a winery like Montecillo, who makes quite a few cases of wine, taking the attitude that their reds ought to offer customers a window into their vineyards.
But enough about all that, let’s talk about flavor! This 2010 Rioja Reserva spent 2 years aging in oak barrels and another 4 years in bottle. It’s in a mighty good spot right now as a result. Any youthful edginess is gone and yet there’s still plenty of fruit left on the entry. I really like the way that it gives the initial impression of red fruit and then slowly offers up all these cool layers of non-fruit character to fill in the gaps. Appealing hints of cedar, Provencal herbs, crushed granite, dried berries, and even a touch of potpourri come wafting into and out of focus as I sip and swirl and sniff. I don’t know that this one is a candidate for very long term cellaring but it ought to continue to develop nicely through the next 3 to 5 years.
Food Pairing:
The 2010 Montecillo Reserva is a food friendly wine. There’s no doubting that fact. I think you’ll find that it is quite versatile since it has medium body and plenty of fruit. Whether you fancy ribeye, duck breast, elk loin, or even a center cut salmon steak this bottle of red is going to make you all sorts of happy. Shoot, it is so seamlessly built that you could even cocktail it up accompanied by nothing more than some cheese and a hunk of good bread.
You MUST mention this special or print it out to receive the price on the above wine.
This price expires 12/11/2016 at 6pm and is limited to in-store quantities.
No rain checks given. Call (303) 936-0272 to reserve bottles with a credit card.