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Benjamin Romeo Contador 2014 750ml

size
750ml
country
Spain
region
La Rioja
appellation
Rioja
DC
97
WA
97
VM
96
Additional vintages
DC
97
Rated 97 by Decanter
‘You can’t spit this,’ Benjamín Romeo told me when I tasted it from barrel. It wasn’t the finished blend, but after a gap in production in 2013, Contador is back with a swagger. Rosemary, violets and dense plum and blackberry fruit, ripe tannins and a fresh flourish. This is a big wine, but it doesn’t lack subtlety. Drinking Window 2019 - 2030. ... More details
Image of bottle
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Benjamin Romeo Contador 2014 750ml

SKU 920241
Case Only Purchase
Long-term Pre-Arrival
$1772.04
/case
$295.34
/750ml bottle
Quantity
min order 6 bottles
* This is a Long-term Pre-arrival item and is available for online ordering only. This item will ship on a future date after a 4-8 months transfer time. For additional details about Pre-arrival Items please visit our FAQ page.
Professional Ratings
DC
97
WA
97
VM
96
DC
97
Rated 97 by Decanter
‘You can’t spit this,’ Benjamín Romeo told me when I tasted it from barrel. It wasn’t the finished blend, but after a gap in production in 2013, Contador is back with a swagger. Rosemary, violets and dense plum and blackberry fruit, ripe tannins and a fresh flourish. This is a big wine, but it doesn’t lack subtlety. Drinking Window 2019 - 2030.
WA
97
Rated 97 by Wine Advocate
There was no 2013 produced, so I tasted the current 2014 Contador, the vintage that follows the 2012. Tasting a new vintage of Contador is always a very intense moment. I had previewed the 2014 when I visited the winery in the summer of 2016, when the wine was very obviously young but showed very promising. All those promises seem to have made it intact into the bottle. It's intense, pungent, ripe without excess, with aromas of spices, exotic woods, balsam, earth, wild flowers and berries. The palate is medium to full-bodied, with fine-grained tannins, a nice texture and pungent and persistent flavors. It has the balance and stuffing to develop nicely in bottle, and it will surely be better in a couple of years. 5,900 bottles were filled in May 2016.
VM
96
Rated 96 by Vinous Media
Inky ruby. An explosively perfumed bouquet evokes red and blue fruit liqueur, incense, exotic spices, cola and floral oils. Stains the palate with sweet, oak-spiced black raspberry, blueberry, fruitcake and vanilla flavors that stretch out and pick up a smoky mineral element with aeration. Shows a remarkable interplay of richness and energy, revealing no rough edges and conveying a spherical quality to its texture. Rounded, velvety tannins build slowly on an endless spice- and floral-driven finish that leaves a sappy red berry preserve note behind.
Product Details
size
750ml
country
Spain
region
La Rioja
appellation
Rioja
Additional vintages
Overview
‘You can’t spit this,’ Benjamín Romeo told me when I tasted it from barrel. It wasn’t the finished blend, but after a gap in production in 2013, Contador is back with a swagger. Rosemary, violets and dense plum and blackberry fruit, ripe tannins and a fresh flourish. This is a big wine, but it doesn’t lack subtlety. Drinking Window 2019 - 2030.
green grapes

Varietal: Tempranillo

The Tempranillo grape varietal is often referred to as Spain's 'noble grape', and has over the past century been planted in several countries around the world. Tempranillo grapes produce beautiful ruby red wines, packed full of fascinating flavors which range from intensely fruity, to deep, dark and spicy, holding notes of vanilla, tobacco and leather. Their black skins hold plenty of tannins, and as such, they are often blended with other more rounded or brighter wines, to balance out the character and produce some truly exceptional examples. Tempranillo grapes often fall to a wide range of diseases, and are greatly effected by climatic conditions. They tend to grow best, however, in areas with a mixture of heat and bright sunshine, and brisk breezes which can cool the vines.
barrel

Region: La Rioja

La Rioja is by far the most famous wine region of Spain, and remains one of the world's great wine producing regions, consistently offering deep, complex red wines of character and distinction, partly due to the fact that La Rioja benefits from excellent soils, rich in minerals and nutrients, and plenty of sunshine. The climatic conditions allow the fine grape varietals to reach full ripeness and express plenty of the best features of their terroir, making La Rioja wines some of the most interesting to have ever come out of Europe. The Cantabrian mountains to the north provide the perfect shelter from the colder, wetter influences of the Atlantic oceans, and in the beloved vineyards of La Rioja, wineries have been cultivating exceedingly flavorful Tempranillo grapes for generations for the inclusion in their fine single variety and blended wines.
fields

Country: Spain

Ever since the Phoenicians and Romans brought their knowledge of vine cultivation to Spanish soils, the country's culture has grown alongside wine production, with wine being a vital part of Spanish identity and Spanish traditions. Each region of Spain has a wine quite distinct from the others, and it is produced by smallholders and families as much as it is by large companies and established wineries. From the relatively mild and lush regions of La Rioja to the arid plateaus that surround Madrid, grapes are grown in abundance for the now booming Spanish wine industry, and new laws and regulations have recently been put in place to keep the country's standards high. By combining traditional practices with modern technology, Spanish wineries are continuing to produce distinctive wines of great character, flavor and aroma, with the focus shifting in recent decades to quality over quantity.

Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews

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More Details
green grapes

Varietal: Tempranillo

The Tempranillo grape varietal is often referred to as Spain's 'noble grape', and has over the past century been planted in several countries around the world. Tempranillo grapes produce beautiful ruby red wines, packed full of fascinating flavors which range from intensely fruity, to deep, dark and spicy, holding notes of vanilla, tobacco and leather. Their black skins hold plenty of tannins, and as such, they are often blended with other more rounded or brighter wines, to balance out the character and produce some truly exceptional examples. Tempranillo grapes often fall to a wide range of diseases, and are greatly effected by climatic conditions. They tend to grow best, however, in areas with a mixture of heat and bright sunshine, and brisk breezes which can cool the vines.
barrel

Region: La Rioja

La Rioja is by far the most famous wine region of Spain, and remains one of the world's great wine producing regions, consistently offering deep, complex red wines of character and distinction, partly due to the fact that La Rioja benefits from excellent soils, rich in minerals and nutrients, and plenty of sunshine. The climatic conditions allow the fine grape varietals to reach full ripeness and express plenty of the best features of their terroir, making La Rioja wines some of the most interesting to have ever come out of Europe. The Cantabrian mountains to the north provide the perfect shelter from the colder, wetter influences of the Atlantic oceans, and in the beloved vineyards of La Rioja, wineries have been cultivating exceedingly flavorful Tempranillo grapes for generations for the inclusion in their fine single variety and blended wines.
fields

Country: Spain

Ever since the Phoenicians and Romans brought their knowledge of vine cultivation to Spanish soils, the country's culture has grown alongside wine production, with wine being a vital part of Spanish identity and Spanish traditions. Each region of Spain has a wine quite distinct from the others, and it is produced by smallholders and families as much as it is by large companies and established wineries. From the relatively mild and lush regions of La Rioja to the arid plateaus that surround Madrid, grapes are grown in abundance for the now booming Spanish wine industry, and new laws and regulations have recently been put in place to keep the country's standards high. By combining traditional practices with modern technology, Spanish wineries are continuing to produce distinctive wines of great character, flavor and aroma, with the focus shifting in recent decades to quality over quantity.