This Crianza, crafted with 90% tempranillo and 10% graciano walks and talks Rioja. From the slightly warmer Rioja Oriental subregion, it is classic on the nose with coffee, dark chocolate and spice. The palate mirrors the nose, with the addition of juicy plums, caramel and cedar. A year in American oak gives the wine abundant, grippy tannin and toasty notes of vanilla. Still in a youthful phase, I see this wine mellowing in texture and gaining complexity over the next decade as fruit gives way to more herbaceous characteristics. Fans of old school Rioja will be very pleased with this wine.