La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva Viña Arana 2017

Opens with balsamic wood, toffee and a thread of forest floor before the fruit, dried cherry, a little cranberry, gradually comes forward in the glass. This 95% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano from Rioja Alta is dry and firm in structure, with fine-grained tannins and a quietly persistent finish that shows real backbone. A mild tannic grip toward the close is the 2017 vintage speaking, a compressed growing season, cut short early by spring frost. Structured and a touch austere now, but the architecture is there.