2009 Bodega Contador La Vina de Andres Romeo 750mL

The 2009 La Vina de Andres Romeo is a pure Tempranillo cropped at 1kg per vine from the La Liende vineyard. It is aged for 17 months in 300-liter and 500-liter new French oak. The nose is very intense, with ripe, ebullient blueberry and cassis fruit, interlaced with kirsch and blood orange. The palate is full-bodied with ripe, sturdy tannins and a very controlled yet powerful finish of blackberry, bilberry, cedar and dark plum. This is a wine you experience rather than drink, and needs at least three years cellaring. Drink 2015-2028. One of the most memorable days in Rioja was spending an afternoon in the company of the inimitable Benjamin Romeo, the tour de force behind Bodega Contador. We flitted from one patch of twisted ancient vines to another, mainly around the medieval village of San Vincente, Romeo again and again propounding his mantra that terroir creates great wine. This involved one perilous drive through vegetation as thick as the Amazon until the 4x4 exited into a parcel of century-old, gnarly Tempranillo vines (upon which he mentioned that they were far more accessible on foot). Since leaving Artadi in 2000, he has gradually acquired around 80 parcels of old vine material, vinifying the fruit in a simple, modern, efficient winery, inaugurated in 2007, a facility that places functionality over aesthetic charms. Benjamin himself comes across as an intense, passionate, uncompromising winemaker, a little distant and apprehensive at first, but warming to someone who is patently interested in terroir. Bodega Contador is certainly a slick operation, fastidious down to the last detail, resulting in a set of sumptuous, silky smooth, curvaceous Rioja wines that are seductive, yet deserve considerable cellaring. Moving on to the 2010s, readers should note that these were bottled a week prior to my tasting them. Although Romeos name is synonymous with modern Rioja, he told me that he wished to make a classical wine for his mother, whom he described as a classical woman and fancied a change of scene. NM-08/2012