Polished and structured with firm, very fine tannins. Lots going on here, with layers of black fruit, dried spices, graphite, coconut and cracked pepper. Full-bodied and so intense. Keeps going. Long. The tannins are so fine and so numerous. One of the greatest modern gran reservas. 85% tempranillo, 10% graciano and 5% mazuelo. Try in 2025.

Deep red-violet in the glass, this wine has a bouquet of cherry, black currant and juniper. Durable tannins coat the palate, bearing flavors of cassis, dark plums, dark chocolate and violet that lead into the spice-filled finish. — Mike DeSimone

CVNE reinvented their Imperial wines several times. This new version is probably one of my favourites, because it puts together lots of ripe fruit intensity, French oak influence and shorter oak ageing periods with classic balance and Rioja's sumptuosity, built with excellent Tempranillo and Graciano fruit. Powerful, marked by oak ageing but not oxidative, juicy, open. Very serious, I am certain that it will continue to develop positively bet for its positive development over many years in bottle.

The classical 2016 Imperial Gran Reserva was produced with a blend of 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo from grapes that were picked between October 10 and 25 with good ripeness, delivering a wine with 14.5% alcohol after fermenting in small oak vats followed by malolactic in concrete and two years in barrel and three in bottle. I was quite surprised, because the wine was quite closed and needed energetic swirling and time in the glass to reveal its true colors. It has more stuffing and finesse than the reserva. 2016 was a very good vintage, with freshness and balance to develop nicely in bottle. The tannins are very fine, and the wine is tasty and long. 50,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2019. - Luis Gutierrez

This dense, concentrated red maintains a sense of grace and style throughout, with sculpted tannins married to a generous, finely knit range of black currant and plum fruit, showing hints of cedar, Earl Grey tea leaf, smoke and spice that echo on the finish. Tempranillo, Graciano and Mazuelo. Drink now through 2036. 42,000 cases made, 1,000 cases imported.