Recently, right outside of Madrid, we found the..

Recently, right outside of Madrid, we found the holy grail of wines.  Straight from a private cellar, virtually untouched, and now brought upon our shores for your drinking pleasure.  If you missed our first email about these one of a kind finds, you can read it here.  We are offering very limited amounts of these rare wines to you directly via email before we list them on our website.
If you are interested, call us or send us an email ([email protected]).

CVNE Vina Real Reserva 1964

Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España (CVNE), founded in 1879, is one of the oldest Rioja producers. For nearly one century, CVNE has produced the top brands of Viña Real and Imperial.

This wine is 54 years old!  A rare feat for many bottles, let alone the access to them when stored in perfect conditions.  From a vintage classified as “excellent” – perhaps one of the very best in the 20th century noted for being exceptionally long-lived and energetic.  What a beautifully mature nose!  One of those vintage wines that you want to smell and breathe in again and again, almost being satiated by the aroma before you even get to the actual palate.  The drinking part is not a letdown.  A touch hard at the beginning – it doesn’t want to give it all away quickly.  You coax out all of that warm leather, cedar, spice, and hints of menthol, as well as so many other tertiary notes that make older wine such a joyous occasion.

Tannins are still here, this wine in every way delivers like a time-capsule from the past.  The finish has incredible length.  Be careful with the cork when opening – use a Durand or a special tool to extract it professionally.  A simple corkscrew will be a disaster.  If you opened this while you slid a pheasant into the oven to roast, that would be a rather nice accompaniment.  Try not to drink this all first, have just a glass, take an interlude of some Palo Cortado, and then come back when the oven timer chimes.  You won’t be disappointed with the result.

$599.99

Bodegas Bilbainas “Viña Zaco” Rioja 1970

The thing is, back in those days, wines labeled as ‘Crianza’ were aged and cellared similar to a modern-day Reserva or Gran Reserva.  Bodegas were charged more taxes for selling Reserve wines.  To get around this, many wines you see from this era are labeled simply ‘Cosecha’ or ‘Crianza.’  So really, you get an incredible value.

Let’s just get this out of the way first – this wine has so much of that delicious umami going on.  You get those earthen, aged aspects, yes, but with a taut muscle structure that comes at you almost slightly unexpected.  A wine at 48 years could be seen as too lean, but every bottle we have sampled has been incredibly well preserved and could even handle more time to age.  Velvety texture, even after being open for a few hours.  Incredible depth, and basically begs for roasted squab with porcini mushrooms and foie gras.

$149.99