2012 Roda I Reserva Rioja

This is rich, complex and assertively oaked with a ripe thread of dark and red-cherry and plum aromas that follow to the palate with a smooth, polished-tannin quality. Drink or hold.

Even if 2012 was extremely dry and somewhat warm, the 2012 Roda I feels fresher than the 2011 I tasted next to it. 2012 was also an early harvest, up to 15 to 20 days earlier than 2010. This is more or less the same blend, mostly Tempranillo with some 4% Graciano, fermented with indigenous yeasts. The élevage was in new and second use French oak barrels and lasted for 16 months. It has a more developed and classical nose, with some hints of leather and graphite, black fruit and spices. The palate is medium to full-bodied and ripe without excess, with abundant, slightly dusty tannins. A powerful Roda I. 78,218 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2014.

Powerful, vivid Rioja: well-structured with firm tannins, notes of tobacco interleaved with redcurrant, blackberry and balsamic notes, lifted by the small seasoning of Graciano that typically adds freshness to the Tempranillo in Roda I. 2012 was a drought year, but eased by rain in September. Roda is the baby of Haro's seven Station Quarter with its first release in 2002. Twenty years on, it's clear the baby is fully grown.