Viña Ardanza Reserva from La Rioja Alta is a remarkable wine for its consistency and its quality. Yet each year it feels like there is a gradual step forward in the detail and finesse from this great producer. The latest 2020 vintage is joyful, modern and not shy about its approachability; yet also reveals a core of dark cherry fruit, framed in sinewy tannins that suggests a broad drinking window.

The 2020 vintage is a growing season graded as ‘Very Good’ by the Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja. Spring was wet and with the rainfall there came mildew pressure early in the season, as well as some localised hailstorms; both of which had an impact on yields. Summer was dry but not too hot, a little rain here and there to refresh the vines. The resulting wines are well balanced, fresh and fruit forward yet with a solid structure and aromatic complexity from the long growing season. Julio Sáenz, winemaker at La Rioja Alta, compares 2020 with 2012 and 2016, three hot years that benefited from the cooling effect of the rain that fell at the end of September.

This is a classic blend of 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha from the estate’s own vineyards before ageing in American oak (around 20% first use) managed by the estate’s own cooperage.

The Ardanza 2020 scores a fabulous 94 points from Luis Gutiérrez of The Wine Advocate who writes that this is ‘a textbook example of the label, with the perfume and elegance of the Garnacha and the clout from Tempranillo’. He concludes: ‘it's balanced, seamless and well-built, and its tannins are mostly resolved. It should live long in bottle.’

This is the same Wine Advocate score as the 2019, but the 2020 is a very different wine. 2019 is structured and dense, spicy and powerful, whilst the 2020 is more lifted, perfumed, more open for business at this stage, but on the palate it is rich and complex, with, as Luis Gutierrez says: “the perfume and elegance of the Garnacha and the clout from Tempranillo.”

With notes of incense, tobacco and dried coconut on the nose, leading to glossy cherry and strawberry fruit on the palate, it is so approachable, with superbly integrated tannins that frame the palate but stay soft and silky, amplifying the fruit flavours, and it seems to keep developing long after swallowing.

When Ardanza was first made back in 1942, it was labelled as a ‘Burgundy style wine’ and put in the now iconic Burgundy bottle. The 2019 shows all the elegance and finesse for which Ardanza is renown, with lifted floral notes, classic spices and beautifully silky tannins. 

A blend of over 30 year old Tempranillo (80%) grown on steep high altitude clay-limestone soils in La Cuesta (Fuenmayor) and Montecillo (Cenicero), and 17 year old Garnacha (20%) grown at 550 metres above sea-level in deep pebble-rich terrains in La Pedriza (Tudelilla-Rioja Oriental). This Garnacha is the key to Ardanza’s structure, aromatics, and concentration: these vines are actually higher in altitude than most of the Rioja Alta subzone, and sit on barren, free-draining soils made up with large pudding-stones similar to Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The area is perfectly situated to grow the finest Garnacha. These two varieties are harvested and vinified separately, ageing around three years in American oak barrels which are produced in-house by La Rioja Alta S.A.’s own cooperage. Every berry that goes into Ardanza now goes through an optical selection process to ensure the highest quality product is made. The two grapes are then matured separately in American oak (Tempranillo 36 months, and the Garnacha for 30 months). During the maturation, the wine is racked by hand and by candlelight; La Rioja Alta S.A. are one of the handful of producers still to use this traditional technique in Rioja which ensure supple tannins and the savoury flavours that so defines their style.
 
It is interesting to note that the wine is aged long enough to qualify as a Gran Reserva, but as La Rioja Alta already have three Gran Reservas, and in order to keep the wine at this price point, it is labelled as a Reserva.
 
Josh Raynolds of Vinous.com wrote recently: “One of Rioja’s most famed bodegas, this 300-hectare estate was established in the heart of Haro in 1890. All of the vineyards are in Rioja Alta, unsurprising given the name. La Rioja Alta has a long-standing reputation for producing some of the region’s best, most traditionally made wines, across the range. Solid value is the rule here, from top to bottom. The entry-level wines are among Rioja’s best values. American oak is used exclusively, and its influence on the wines can be marked, even with age. While that style isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, Tempranillo fans of the old Rioja school, and there are plenty of them, are loyal followers of the estate with good reason.”

The wonderful thing about Rioja, of course, is that it has already been matured for us and is ready to drink on arrival, without the need for extended cellaring, though it still has the ability to age for many more years and it doesn’t shut down like Pinot Noir or Cabernet-based wines, so you can drink this now, or in 10 years, or more!

Shipping from Spain in July 2026