1976 C.V.N.E. Imperial & 1976 Viña Real - Rioja Gran Reserva - 2 Bottles

Wine bought to a retired wine distributor of Haro, La Rioja, in 2017. Stored in a private cellar until the present day. Bottle in outstanding condition: excellent filling level, cork, color, capsule, label, no leakage. While it has reached full maturity and is drinking beautifully now, its exceptional structure ensures further cellaring potential for the next 20–25 years. - Viña Real 1976 Gran Reserva: 18.5/20 Jancis Robinson (Luis Gutiérrez 95/100): "A short vegetative cycle of 180 days. Fermented in cement and bottled in March 1982. Bright ruby colour - if it were modern, it could be a rosé. Flowery, expressive. Sweet on the nose and in the mouth in a southern-Rhône style, maraschino cherries and blond tobacco, a little spirity on the finish. Less power but more complex than the 1981. Superb". The CVNE winery was one of the great cornerstones of classic Rioja and the magnificent legacy left by the previous generation is reflected like never before in the 1976 Viña Real, which is undoubtedly among its main achievements. This is a great vintage from Viña Real that could still need a few more years of bottle aging to fully bloom and should prove to have decades more life ahead of it. - Imperial 1976 Gran Reserva: 19/20 Jancis Robinson: "Dark crimson. There still seems to be some oak on the nose here! But not in a bad way. Very firm and confident and beautifully balanced in savoury mode. Spreads right across the palate. Great delicacy. Majestic wine in the St-Julien idiom of beautiful balance. Masses of ripe fruit but all contained in a great corset. Seems indomitable". 19+/20 Chriss Kissack (The Wine Doctor): "I get the immediate impression that, no matter how well developed, this is a wine that could go on and on in the cellar for many years yet, if not decades. There is a well defined texture to it, quite fine and savoury, linear and firm, and towards the finish it shows an almost sour fruit on top of these characteristics, and the length! It goes on and on…..this is just divine stuff. Long may the believers in real Rioja prosper!". Imperial was first produced in the 1920s. It is always bottled in a Bordeaux-shaped bottle and is named after the Imperial pint bottles it was once sold in. This wine is traditionally a majority of Tempranillo with a bit of Graciano, Mazuelo, and Viura largely from the Rioja Alta. Vinified in a big wooden vat from the founding time of the winery (1877) without temperature control, for 12 months and then racked to cask. Aged for 8 years, 96 months. Racked 12 times, once every 6 months in the first years, using the traditional cask-to-cask Riojan method. Hand bottled directly from the barrel, bottle by bottle. Not filtered. *** All international parcels are shipped to the highest professional standards via premium UPS International Express, the courier’s fastest signature-required service. Each shipment is prepared in a specialist wine box officially certified by UPS / DHL, with every bottle packed individually and protected in three layers of bubble wrap. Given the nature of fine wine and the value of the consignments, all lots are shipped with full insurance coverage. ***

Estimate:$3.36

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