Hi Everyone,

Marc is back with more (stickered) Rioja.

For those of you who know Marc, it is a bit of an understatement to say that sometimes he will make deals on spot loads only to forget about them, and last week his assistant pointed out that a semi-truck of 2017 Casa Primicia Rioja Reserva was sitting at Western Carriers Warehouse racking up storage fees. Apparently it was routed to Western Carriers California instead of Western Carriers New Jersey, thus the confusion, or so went his excuse. “Could you please do something with it” was her ask…

Having just sent over a semi-truck of another Rioja (Mixtarro) last month – Marc thought of you all, and shipped a sample to our office. Tasted this morning in a lineup of both modern and traditional Rioja releases, this 2017 stood out with a lively core of complex fruit, plenty of the tertiary aromatics we expect, and with a traditional Rioja Reserva oak regimen framing the whole thing in exactly the way we all seek when booking the category. The below notes from WE are spot on with the exception of the $48 review tag which seems like a huge stretch and should be disregarded:

“This wine has complex aromas of brown baking spices, ripe red fruits, and black currant. In the mouth it has velvety soft tannins with ripe fruit flavors, layers of clove and eucalyptus notes and a touch of saddle leather in the enduring finish.  94 points (reviewed at $48)”— Mike DeSimone, Wine Enthusiast 10/23

…despite the garish sticker on the label, does this look like something we can all get into passing out with huge volume?

At a $11.85 cost-basis today we sure think so!

This should be fun…