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Rated 99/100 by James Suckling (top 3% of their reviews).
Wine Enthusiast Wine Vintage Chart 2026 Edition rates Rioja Reds for 2010.
A vintage grade rates the growing season in this wine’s region — not this specific bottle. Source.
Researched by our team from producer and independent sources — not supplied by the seller.
Gran Reserva 890 is a red of La Rioja Alta, S.A. The blend is led by Tempranillo at around 95%, with Mazuelo at about 2% from the bodega's own vineyards in Brinas, Labastida and Villalba, and roughly 3% Graciano from its Montecillo vineyard in Fuenmayor. Fruit is hand-harvested into 20 kg boxes and carried to the winery in refrigerated vehicles.
After gentle destemming and crushing, the must ferments in tank for around eighteen days; the Tempranillo and Mazuelo are blended in the vineyard and fermented together, while Graciano is handled separately. Malolactic fermentation occurs naturally and runs about four months.
After stabilisation, the selected batches rest six years in barrels with ten traditional rackings. A second selection of the best lots then spends a further six years in barrel with ten more rackings, with regular tasting and analysis guiding the choice of casks that go into the final blend.
The wine is bottled unfiltered to preserve its aromas, in standard bottles, magnums and double magnums. The result is a classically styled Rioja.
Five Riojan and Basque families founded the Sociedad Vinicola de La Rioja Alta in 1890, in the Station District of Haro. Its first president was Dona Saturnina Garcia Cid y Garate, and its first winemaker was a Frenchman, Monsieur Vigier, whose Reserva 1890 is the direct ancestor of today's Gran Reserva 890.
In 1904 Don Alfredo Ardanza, a founder of La Rioja Alta and owner of the Ardanza Winery, proposed merging the two companies; the Reserva 1904 was made to mark the merger and became the Gran Reserva 904. The company took its present name, La Rioja Alta, S.A., in 1941, and registered the Vina Ardanza brand in 1942.
Vina Arana followed in 1974 and Vina Alberdi in 1978. The house expanded beyond Rioja, acquiring a Galician property in O Rosal in 1988 that became Lagar de Fornelos, planting in Ribera del Duero for Aster from 1990, and buying Torre de Ona in Rioja Alavesa in 1995. A new cellar was built in Labastida in 1996.
Lamb and herb stew with rosemary and bay
The producer specifically recommends meat stews with aromatic herbs. Slow-cooked lamb gives soft, gelatinous texture that mirrors the wine's resolved tannins, and the herbs echo its tobacco and spice character.
Massaman beef curry, mild (มัสมั่นเนื้อ)
Massaman is the gentlest of the Thai curries, built on cinnamon, cardamom and star anise rather than chilli heat, and those warm sweet spices meet the cinnamon and vanilla that six years in barrel leaves in the wine. Slow-braised beef supplies the richness a long-aged Gran Reserva wants; ask for it mild so the modest chilli does not overrun the wine's delicacy.
Dark chocolate tart
The producer lists desserts with chocolate and recommends the wine as an after-dinner drink. The cocoa bitterness meets the chocolate powder note the long oak ageing develops, and the wine's soft tannins avoid the clash a firmer red would create.
Product information compiled from producer, importer and reference sources.
The 2010 Gran Reserva 890 stands out for its medium garnet red color, with an incipient iodine tinge on the rim of the glass. The nose reveals the characteristic notes of Rioja classicism: cherry jam, black plum compote, tobacco leaf, cinnamon, vanilla, pepper and chocolate powder.
The refinement of its tannins and its gentle freshness lend this wine an elegant and pleasant mouthfeel. Classic Rioja bouquet, broad, complex, round and with an elegant finish. This wine has a long life ahead of it.
Produced by La Rioja Alta S.A., one of the most historic and respected wineries in Rioja, the Gran Reserva 890 is considered the estate’s flagship wine and one of the most widely known traditional Riojas.
The name “890” commemorates the year 1890, when the winery was founded in Haro, Rioja Alta. This wine is only produced in select vintages and is aged extensively in American oak barrels followed by many years in bottle before release.
Rioja Alta’s cooler climate and clay-limestone soils provide ideal conditions for producing wines with structure, freshness, and remarkable longevity. The extended aging process creates the hallmark style of classic Rioja Gran Reserva—silky texture, refined tannins, and deep aromatic complexity.
The result is a wine that combines tradition, patience, and precision, making it highly prized by collectors and lovers of aged Spanish wines.
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