2021 La Rioja Alta Vina Alberdi: 'Without a doubt, this is the finest Alberdi I can remember.'

2021 La Rioja Alta Viña Alberdi Reserva Selección Especial

La Rioja Alta is an old-school bodega. It was founded in the 1890s in the wake of the devastation wreaked on the French wine industry by the American vine louse phylloxera. Since then, La Rioja Alta has turned out wines of the highest quality, year after year. These wines are defined by their elegant, aromatic style and long ageing in American oak barrels, and they have come to be seen as the epitome of the traditional style of Rioja.

2021 was exceptionally good in Rioja. The combination of warm summer days and unusually cool nights was ideal, leading to wines that are balanced, complex and energetic. La Rioja Alta's 2021 Viña Alberdi excelled in 2021, and is considered so good that it has been labelled 'Selección Especial' ('special selection'). That has only happened once before, in the similarly great 2001 vintage.

Viña Alberdi is 100% Tempranillo, from La Rioja Alta's own vineyards. The 2021 was aged for two years in American oak barrels from the estate's own cooperage, new barrels in the first year and well-seasoned barrels in the second year. While it's great to go now, it will also reward some time in the cellar. And at its accessible price point, it's an almost unbeatably good-value fine wine proposition. /NT

Offered subject to remaining unsold. Wines available imminently.To place an order, click on the wines below or call 020 7638 5998