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RODA Reserva Tempranillo Garnacha 2006     The 2006 releases seem to me the finest young Rodas I have yet seen. They have the amazing detail and complexity expected from this high-value deluxe producer, and a singular degree of quietly composed sensual tautness. I recommend them without hesitation for drinking now all the way through a very long haul. Roda is a 10+ years in cellar wine, and will hold well into the 2020s; Roda 1 probably has a decade extra up its sleeve. That said, they drink amazingly well young and are tremendous value in context of their quality peers from Spain and elsewhere. 2006 Roda Reserva Typical Roda descriptors on the nose: red bean paste, forest mulch, tobacco, violets, nut husk … the palate is red+black fruits with great freshness and balance. It’s less creamy-glyceric than the very good 05s we’ve just worked with – a nice sense of crispness works into the back stretch where Roda’s trademark velvety fruit tannins, fine oak, natural acid, a long mineral flourish, and a boof of purple florals all feature in a quiet riot. Composed, sensual and taut, packed with complex flavour and textures, it’s a supremely delicate and deft wine. This year, Roda is 97% Tempranillo and a little Graciano. . Scott Wasely   These guys are not merely dedicated, they are detail-obsessed. Perhaps the most impressive (mahogany-scented) winery I’ve set foot in (see photo below). Everything is about the production and retention of grape quality – the modern approach to wine through viticulture is nowhere given more commitment. All fruit off vineyards in excess of 30 years (some up to 80 years old), from a mixture of sandstone and clay/limestone soils, grown biodynamically. Fermentation in Seguin Moreau foudre, and aged in French barrels, with a minimum of oxidative handling, and neither filtered nor fined. Their concern is to make plush, violet-velvet wines with rich fruit and full, soft tannins pushing to the margins of the fruit, but always contained within. The winery is built into a mountain, and is a gravity-fed free run operation (you take a freight elevator to travel down the hill from one stage of making to another). Significantly, each vintage is made "on its merits" - work levels, style, etc are responses to vintage realities - not applications of a recipe. Scott Wasely I have been eagerly awaiting the release of the 2002 Roda wines. Sure, 02 wasn't the best vintage in Rioja, but I've had some very handy wines from this vintage and it goes to show what good vineyard management and some wine making smarts can do to produce a good wine in even the poorest of vintages. The 02 Roda (formerly Roda II) is good example of how good these guys are, the wine is very good, excelent with wood in fact. If there was such a thing as a hardline viticultural movement, the chaps at Roda would be running it. Take my advice and repeat my pre-drinking chant: decant, decant, decant. I popped this in the decanter for 4 hours before drinking and drank it over 3 hours. It was still opening up during the last glass. The nose opens up with a good wack of complexity: raspberries, mulberries, earthy undergrowth, and coffee. Full bodied to start with, in time it comes down a notch to revel the classic Roda smoothness, balance and plush tannins. There is no doubting where this comes from, very Rioja in the mouth with a mix of raspberry, mulberry and the Rioja undergrowth character. Earth and spice appear with more airtime. The balance is impeccable: acid, tannin, wood and fruit are all in the right place. It needs time to settle down, in the cellar if you can or a couple of hours in the decanter. Perfect with lamb. Drink now, or cellar for 5 years for drinking over the following 5. 90+ Pts. Dave Worthington, Tinto y Blanco