2019 La Rioja Alta "Viña Ardanza" Reserva Rioja

Name: 2019 La Rioja Alta "Viña Ardanza" Reserva Rioja
SKU: 1867546
Price: 39.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 94.2 (7 reviews)

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Jeb Dunnuck

Reviewed July 2025

The 2019 Vina Ardanza is a highly impressive, full-bodied blend of 80% older-vine Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha from two different parts of Rioja grown at the same altitude. The producer’s own American oak was used to age the Tempranillo 36 months and the Garnacha 30 months, 20% new. The fruity nose of black cherry and plum complements beautifully against Garnacha’s seductively spicy texture and mouthfeel. It’s lively, complex, and lengthy, with melty tannins. Age 10-15 years. (VB)

Professional Reviews

Decanter

Review Date: 05/2025

A super-classic and great interpretation of Rioja reserva, this offers all the appealing sweet red berry fruit and American oak with serious struture and balance. Soft and inviting, this is surely a reference for reserva wines in the region. A blend of 80%Tempranillo – from two vineyards in Fuenmayor and Cenicero, northern Rioja Alta – and 20% Garnacha from Tudelilla in Rioja Oriental, a 17-day fermentation was followed by ageing in American oak barrels from the producer's own cooperage: 36 months for the Tempranillo and 30 months (in 20% new) for the Garnacha. (RW)

John Gilman

Review Date: 05/2025

La Rioja Alta’s 2019 Rioja “Viña Ardanza” Reserva is made from a blend of seventy percent tempranillo, from a thirty year-old vineyard in Rioja Alta, and thirty percent garnacha, from a vineyard in the Rioja Baja subsection. The wine is raised for fully three years in American oak barrels, but never sees any new wood, as these casks are four years of age before they are used for this bottling. The 2019 version tips the scales at 14.5 percent octane and offers up a deep, nicely black fruity bouquet of dark berries, cassis, Cuban cigar wrapper, dark soil tones, a nice touch of clove, woodsmoke and a lovely framing of American oak that will get a nice, toasted coconut aspect to it with further bottle aging. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a velvety attack, a beautiful core of fruit, a fine foundation of soil, suave tannins and a long, beautifully balanced finish. This carries its octane beautifully. As it did not see any new oak, it is already approachable, albeit, still with some buried backend tannins. It will be even better with another decade in the cellar. It is one of the finest recent vintages of Viña Ardanza that I can recall tasting!

Wine Advocate

Review Date: 02/2025

No 2018 was produced, so after the 2017 I tasted last year, we jumped to the 2019 Viña Ardanza Reserva, produced with a blend of 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha. It fermented destemmed in stainless steel and aged in American oak barrels, 36 months for the Tempranillo and 30 months for Garnacha, and was blended before bottling. 2019 is a very good year for them, a small crop of powerful and concentrated wines when they produced all their brands, an exception. This is spicy, structured, balanced and powerful in this warm year, reaching the customary 14.5% alcohol and keeping a pH of 3.54 and 5.5 grams of acidity. It's still very young and undeveloped, with the classical profile, generous in American oak aromas and flavors that should slowly integrate in the wine with years in bottle. For them, 2019 means a change in Ardanza, less spicy (but still quite spicy, with clove, vanilla and tobacco leaves) and with more fresh fruit from the Garnacha. But the year is a modern version of 2015. 500,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2023. (LG)

Staff Reviews

Rachael Ryan

K&L Buyer

Review Date: 08/2025

Rioja has seen massive changes over the past few decades, but La Rioja Alta has remained true to the course, known for their traditional style and reliably high level of quality. They are simply one of the most classic and iconic wineries of the region, releasing exceptional wines vintage after vintage. For most of Rioja’s history, wines were aged for several years in American oak barrels, leading to savory flavors and aromas such as saddle leather, dried dill, coconut husk and tobacco that are now considered by many to be the classic markers of the region. In recent decades, however, many wineries have chosen to make more internationally styled wines, swapping American oak for French oak or eschewing oak altogether. Additionally, some wineries have opted to leave the Crianza-Reserva-Gran Reserva system, instead opting for their wines to be labelled as simply Rioja. In the face of this change, La Rioja Alta has continued to release wines with extended aging in American oak barrel as well as bottle. In fact, the winery operates their own cooperage to ensure that their barrels are crafted exactly to their standards. The 2019 Viña Ardanza is a testament to this dedication and such a classic snapshot into the history of this storied region! Marching straight out of the glass with aromas of red plum, dried strawberry and a plentitude of dried green herbs (dill, oregano), this wine is a savory explosion of flavors on the palate, all framed by spicy cedar, porcini mushroom and tea leaf. Given the high level of complexity and almost umami-like character of the wine, this is an ideal pairing for barbeque or a simple grilled steak. It also calls to mind autumn and sweater weather, with its dried, fallen leaf undertones – perfect to open for those first, cool evenings of fall!

Aaron Hughes

Review Date: 07/2025

This has such a classic Rioja nose, there's a lot of black cherry and brambley fruits but also a lot of dill, cigar box, and that sweet touch of American oak on the finish. The palate is surprisingly bright, but still solidly medium bodied, with a great line of acidity rushing through the whole palate and helping to balance everything out in the end. Raspberry and pie cherry fruit give way to tannin and then a long and lingering barrel spice and toasty oak finish. This is such a tasty bottle of wine for the price, a really great wine for barbecue if you want something that will really cut through that fat and grease and compliment whatever you choose to have with it. I could also see this with a fatty cut of steak as an alternative if one was so inclined. While this could lay down, it really doesn't need to, it just needs someone to love it and have it with a little food.

Notes

La Rioja Alta, originally founded in 1890, is renowned for producing traditionally-styled wines that deliver consistency and age-worthiness, vintage after vintage. This historic bodega was formed in 1890 by five winegrowers eager to explore the export potential of “modern” wines from the region. At that time, French vineyards were ravaged by phylloxera and quality was inconsistent. Rioja, separated from France by the Pyrenees, boasted a favorable climate and phylloxera-free soils. Experiments with Bordeaux-style vinification and barrique-aging proved successful and a new style of wine, based upon indigenous Tempranillo, aged in barrique, was developed. Since then, many wineries in Rioja have continued to experiment, slowly moving away aging in American oak as has been the tradition, or even no oak at all. La Rioja Alta is adamant about preserving their historic style, however, and continues to mature their wines in American oak barriques, leading to the classic savory style the region is so well known for. This is not to say that La Rioja Alta is a rustic winery, however, as they now occupy a new ultra-modern winery near Haro. All the wines produced are aged for extended periods of time in barrel and bottle; they are ready for consumption but will continue to age for many more years. This release of wines with several years age is a rarity in today’s wine world, where most wine is released soon after production, and collectors must patiently wait for the wines to mature.

Details

Origin	Rioja, Spain
Type/Varietal	Tempranillo
Alcohol Content	14.5%
SKU	1867546