- Colour Red
- Producer Contino
- Region Rioja
- Drinking 2024 - 2040
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available Now
2018 - Contino Viña Del Olivo Rioja CVNE - 6x75cl
- Colour Red
- Producer Contino
- Region Rioja
- Drinking 2024 - 2040
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available Now
Select pricing type
Need help? Call +44 (0)20 7793 7900 or email wine@goedhuiswaddesdon.com.
-
Goedhuis, March 2021
Only made in special vintages, this 2018 Olivo already has an intoxicating personality. Delicious fruit and floral aromatics on the nose combine with a heady note of warm scented Mediterranean air. The palate is elegant and restrained. Fresh sweet blue and red fruits lead into a tightly coiled powerful and complex core. This is still young and has so much yet to reveal. With its incredible texture and seamless tannins the finish displays warm minerals and fine spices with an irresistible bite of fresh balsamic. It is poised, smooth and full of class. 85% Tempranillo 10% Graciano 5% Mazuela.
-
Wine Advocate, March 2021, Score: 95
The 2018 Viña del Olivo comes from a plot planted in 1980 that has different soils from the rest of the property, which is mostly alluvial. Here, the soils are composed of clay and limestone. It’s 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo, which fermented in 1,000-liter French oak vats followed by 16 months in barrel and a further three months in oak vats. This is raw and young, but it’s already been released because the wine sells like hot cakes. It’s marked by the toasted barrels and has all the baby fat it needs to be rendered invisible with time in bottle. It has very good freshness and round and sophisticated tannins with purity of fruit and finesse.
-
Tim Atkin, March 2021, Score: 95
The top wine from the Contino estate comes from a parcel surrounding a 700-year-old olive tree and was planted in 1980. Made from a mix of Tempranillo with 15% Graciano and Mazuelo, it’s perfumed, herbal, succulent and rich, with a combination of intensity and underlying balance, appealingly framed by oak. Still young, but this has the focus and density to age well in bottle.
Producer
Contino
CVNE’s Contino is one of Rioja’s flagship wineries and is widely regarded as one of the greatest. Founded in the 16th Century it sits on one of the best terroirs in Rioja Alavesa and since 1973 it has been pioneering single estate Riojas from specific plots on the property. This innovation has produced some outstanding results, the wines have received top awards and glowing reviews from the critics.
Region
Rioja
By far the best known of Spain's wine regions is Rioja, which takes its name from the rio(river) Oja, a tributary of the river Ebro. Lying in the north of the country, along the Ebro valley, the area is sheltered from rain-bearing Atlantic winds by the dramatic Sierra de Cantabria to the north and west. The hilly vineyards are interspersed with orchards, poplars and eucalyptus trees. Rioja is further divided into three sub-regions - Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Baja. The first two are best regarded, with vines planted on cool slopes with clay and limestone soils. The permitted grape varieties for Rioja are tempranillo, which is grown extensively in Rioja Alta and Alavesa and will form the backbone of all the best wines, garnacha, widespread in Rioja Baja and used to add body to the blend, and mazuelo (carignan) and graciano, both grown in miniscule proportions. The key to understanding Rioja is the technique used to mature the wine. Unlike most other areas of Europe, American oak barrels are used which give the wines their characteristic soft vanilla, almost coconuty flavour. Historically the wines were aged for periods far longer than legally required, until all the fruit character had died down and the end result was a light, tawny-coloured wine dominated by oak flavours. Although there are still supporters of this classic style, far more producers are making wines in a more modern way, allowing the dark berry fruit flavours to burst through balanced by a more judicious use of oak ageing and often opting for French oak now.
