Description
Bodega Contador is a modern wine producer in Rioja, Spain. Its flagship wine, Contador, is one of Spain’s most consistently high-priced wines, on par with Pingus and Vega Sicilia. Made predominantly from Tempranillo and aged in French oak, Contador is known for being full-bodied, fruit-driven and rich. The estate was established in 1995 when Artadi winemaker Benjamin Romeo purchased a cellar under the Castle of San Vicente de la Sonsierra in Rioja, some 35km (21 miles) northwest of Logroño. Romeo began to buy vineyards in the area, making the wines in his parents’ garage and aging his wines in barrel in the cellar. Now, there are 80 plots of older vines dotted around Rioja providing fruit for Contador wines. Grapes are sorted by hand in the winery, and after vinification in oak, are aged for 18-20 months in 100 percent new French oak. This makes for a wine with plenty of spice and vanilla characters, but Contador is best known for its fruit intensity.
Tasting Note
Sour plums and baked cherries on the nose with spiced vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, leather and strawberries. Sour on the palate too, sharp and direct with a tangy, metallic edge to the red berry fruit. Almost too severe in its purity, thrilling and racy, but not yet expanding to give weight and definition. Needs time but it has the lively, very perfumed and nuanced red fruit and a lingering edge of caramelised toast which gives a different element but it almost goes from start to finish without stopping for breath. Bright and energetic. A new wine to the Place de Bordeaux this year made by Bodega Contador. Winemaker and director Benjamin Romeo Hilera.
[92/100 Points – Georgina Hindle – February 2023 – www.decanter.com]
