Imperial Gran Reserva 2018
Robert Parker 95+ Points

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve secured an allocation of the much-anticipated Imperial Gran Reserva 2018 Rioja from CVNE.  This rare wine is only produced in excellent vintages and even then, only in tiny quantities.  A wine that’s built for the long haul – we tasted the Imperial Gran Reserva 2009 last month and it was glorious – the cooler, fresher conditions of the 2018 Rioja vintage will allow the 2018 to be enjoyable young while still having the potential to age magnificently.

Leading critics have rated the Imperial Gran Reserva 2018 extremely highly, with The Wine Advocate awarding it 95+/100 and James Suckling 96.  You can read some of their notes below, and buy the 2018 Imperial Gran Reserva by clicking here or by contacting the Songbird Wines team.

Imperial Gran Reserva 2018 Rioja: The Critics’ Scores

“The 2018 Imperial Gran Reserva was cropped from a year with the weather from yesteryear, a cold winter with frost, snow and abundant rain, a cool spring and mild summer that resulted in a long vegetative cycle of 180 days and a late harvest between October 8th and 26th.  It has similar parameters to the 2017 I tasted next to it, with 14% alcohol, a pH of 3.55 and 6.03 grams of acidity, but it shows fresher.  It feels very complete, fresh and vibrant, with more depth and tannin. It’s still quite young and should develop nicely in bottle with that extra kick from the cooler year.  It was a smaller crop, and they produced 56,000 bottles. It was bottled in July 2021.” 95+, Luis Gutierrez, The Wine Advocate

“Fresh blackberries, plums, smoked spices, graphite and cocoa powder.  So juicy and firm, with fresh, abundant tannins coming from the fruit and spicy oak, but all woven in a fine-grained form, which clearly shows ageing potential. Medium-to-full-bodied with a very long finish.  Try after 2026.”  96, Zekun Shuai, James Suckling.com