Contino Reserva

In the glass

Aroma: red and black cherry, cedar, tobacco, dried herb, spice

Palate: dark fruit, fine tannin, savoury, mineral

Rioja's pioneering single-estate Reserva, from the Laserna property on a bend of the Ebro: balanced, savoury and ageworthy, a chateau-concept benchmark.

What it pairs with

• Cordero asado al sarmiento
  Vine-shoot-roasted suckling lamb is the canonical Rioja match; the wine's resolved tannins frame the sweet fat.
• Chuleton de buey a la brasa Find chuleton de buey a la brasa on TableJourney →
  A thick aged-beef chop over embers meets the wine's savoury oak and grip.
• Jamon iberico
  Cured Iberian ham echoes the wine's dried-cherry and leather register.
• Roast partridge
  Game and the estate red's tobacco depth align.

History

Contino was Rioja's first chateau-concept single-estate wine, drawing entirely on the Laserna property at a meander of the Ebro.

1. 1973 — Vinedos del Contino founded as Rioja's pioneering single estate
2. 1974 — First Contino Reserva vintage

Facts

Producer

Vinedos del Contino

Grapes

Tempranillo (85%), Graciano (10%), Mazuelo (5%)

Classification

DOCa Rioja

Oak

Around 18 to 20 months in French and American oak

ABV

14.0%

Price

EUR 25 to 40 at retail

Drinking window

6 to 22 from vintage

First vintage

1974

Scores

• Tim Atkin 93 (2017 vintage, reviewed 2022)

Tags