2016 La Rioja Alta Vina Ardanza Reserva, Rioja

Savory and complex with dried orange peel, cedar and plenty of sweet spices, walnuts, caramel, dried mushrooms and pine needles. Shows maturity here, with a medium body and superb freshness. Incredibly long finish with lots of truffle and walnut. Lasts over a minute. Very complete now, but you can still hold it.

95 points jamessuckling.com Nov 2022

Dark-red cherry, garnet rim. Ripe fruit, fruit preserve, aged wood nuances, tobacco, sweet spices, scrubland. Spicy, round tannins, long, flavourful, elegant

95 points guiapenin.wine

The 2016 Viña Ardanza Reserva was produced with 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha that matured in used American oak barrels for three years, where it was hand-racked from barrel to barrel six times in the case of Tempranillo and five times for the Garnacha, as it had a slightly shorter élevage of 30 months. Against all odds, I found the 2016 to be fresher than the 2015 and less developed, despite the fact that winemaker Julio Sáenz told me he considers it a warmer year. But I have found many wines I like in 2016, and the wine feels very clean and quite harmonious, younger and less developed, with more primary notes and a velvety mouthfeel. 600,000 bottles produced. The wine was bottled in June 2020

94+ points Luis Gutierrez robertparker.com

Ardanza is a traditional pan-regional Rioja that marries Tempranillo from Cenicero and Rodezno with 20% Garnacha from Tudelilla. Aged in lightly toasted American barrels, it's sweet, spicy and complex, with leather, wild strawberry and red pepper notes, fine, scented oak and the freshness of the vintage.

94 points Tim Aitken MW 

The Tempranillo (78%) comes from 30-year-old vines in our Cuesta (Cenicero) and Montecillo (Fuenmayor) vineyards. The Garnacha (22%) is from La Pedriza in Tudelilla, Rioja Oriental, a 40-hectare estate with unbeatable conditions for growing this variety.

Garnet red, medium-high depth, with an elegant palette. The nose stands out for its power, a highly-complex blend of spicy and balsamic aromas of sweet licorice, patisserie, vanilla, cinnamon, cocoa, coffee and nutmeg, and notes of stewed red fruits. Outstanding balance, pleasant freshness and great structure in the mouth, with supple, round tannins. Very pleasant mouthfeel. An ample aftertaste of spicy notes, sweet licorice and ripe fruit makes Viña Ardanza 2015 a timeless wine, with tremendous laying-down ability.