Bodegas Berceo "Les Dominios de Berceo" tinto Reserva 2000, D.O.Ca . Rioja.

Color: intense, dark red, with a touch of brown.
Nose: quite expressive, dominated by lots of wood, some spices and balsamic nuances and a touch of distant fruit, warm, earthy, with impressions of smoke, serious style, many nuances and depth, not elegant and refined, but quite complex.
Taste: intense, powerful, rich and round with ripe tannins, good fresh acidity, lots of earthy and spicy nuances, minerals, a touch of fruit, lots of wood, impressions of smoke, excellent concentration and good intense core,  complexity, not elegant, but strong and very well balanced. Modern, opulent and expressive style, serious aromatic style, very well integrated wood.
Finish: powerful, long, rich and beautiful freshness, clean, with a lot of wood and minerals.

* A very good, intense and rich, internationally styled prestige Rioja: power, wood and earthy nuances dominate in an attractive way, excellent structure, ripe and round style, excellent balance with great refreshing acidity, technically a perfect wine, made to measure to the modern and discerning (American) palate.



- Drink this wine from now on, it may keep until 2012 - 2015. Has the structure to withstand the time: quite a bit of stuffing and a good acidity so I expect good aging potential, aroma wise I doubt if there will be a lot of development. Only time will tell.

- Decades ago Rioja was famous for its soft and elegant reserva's, both red and white. With the trend towards more power and extraction a new style (red Rioja) appeared: impressive wines with less elegance and greater intensity. The use of new (French!) wood also added a different type of tannins and aroma's to the wines. Much too often these prestige reds are over powered by the wood and extract and only show a faint regional character in  a all too strong "brew" made to gain high marks, points and stars in blind professional tastings. This wine from Bodegas Berceo is very well balanced and proof of the great skill of the team in the vineyard and cellar. Obviously made from excellent grapes. Unfortunately the unique Rioja terroir does not shine through very strongly as it might have done with a different wine makers approach. Nevertheless this is a very good wine, maybe lacking a bit in refinement, but making this up with an easy to appreciate character.

- lotnr.: L 41 

- tasted: 15-02-’07

- estimated retail price ca. 30  euro

- production: 18.000 bottles

- Bodegas Berceo export office, Mr. R. Bruijnzeels, Plaza Conde del Valle de Suchil 3, duplicado, 28015 Madrid, Spain.  tel.:  + 34-914 44 12 70 ; fax.: + 34-914 45 23 00 ; e-mail: export@gurpegui.es ; web site: www.gurpegui.es