TN: 07 Finca Nueva 'Reserva' [Rioja]

07 Finca Nueva ‘Reserva’ [Rioja] 13% abv. This is a side project from the Finca Allende team. Its a modern, 2 years of French oak kind of Rioja. It’s a good wine, but I only really pick up a few Rioja cues of olive and balsalmic after really concentrating and knowing its DOC. Fairly dark even at age ten, but its soaked up the wood, and is balanced with or without food. The back of the bottle states that its a Jorge Ordonez selection, and the style fits in with the wines I associate from his portfolio – kind of Parkerized Spain. But its also wearing the TW importer tags, and I’m not sure if this is available outside their stores, at least in the US. Still, its a good wine – most of the proprietary direct imports they have don’t seem interesting to me – and this is solid. Supposedly only a small amount of the reserva level was bottled. Probably wouldn’t buy again in future vintages, I remember getting tired of its big brother too as these anonymous to me. B or B+ but a fair value at $15-20ish. The label has an interesting embossed kind of bird which feels neat tactile wise.