" The 2011 Pago de Santa Cruz Gran Reserva was produced trying to break the stereotypes, and the wine has fruit and freshness in the most classical category, Gran Reserva. For that category, the wine had to mature in used 225-liter barrels, 70% of them French, the rest American, for 24 months, then six to eight months in 3,500-liter French oak vats and no less than three years in bottle before it was released. But they started using fruit from 80+-year-old vines, because not all grapes can take that treatment. The wine has a heady and ripe nose with a savory twist, candied fruit, licorice and graphite and is still generous on the oak notes. The palate shows abundant, fine-grained tannins; it's certainly polished but does not denote its age. It's evolving at a slow pace."

Luis Gutierrez (RP) - 06/25