Faustino I Gran Reserva 2004
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Pair with roasted lamb, duck, pork and beef. Also great with ham croquettes, hard cheeses and sauteed vegetables.
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Wine Enthusiast
Reedy red-fruit aromas feature a note of green. This is tannic in feel, with a mix of red-leaning raspberry, currant and strawberry flavors. Tea, herb and other grassy notes make for a dry finish. Overall this is excellent, although it does have an herbal character. Drink through 2028.
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Wine Spectator
One of the most recognizable bottles of Rioja is the 2004 Faustino I Gran Reserva, mostly Tempranillo with 9% Graciano 9% and 5% Mazuelo (Cariñena), aged for 26 months in oak barrels. The nose is as classical as it gets, with tertiary aromas of bonfire, paprika, cured meat, leather and spices, highly recognizable as Rioja, clean and balanced, a big improvement over the 2001 I tasted last time. The palate is medium-bodied and polished with a fine texture, good acidity and persistence. This is subtle, with well-integrated oak. It is a textbook Rioja Gran Reserva. Half a million bottles of this wine are produced, and I'm sure there is more than one lot, but it's remarkable that they can make that quantity of a Gran Reserva.
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In the mid 1800s, Eleuterio Martinez Arzok took his first steps toward establishing himself as a producer and merchant of wines from the Rioja region of Spain. He started out by selling his wines in the Rioja and Basque regions, direct from the barrel. Much has changed since then and the winery he founded has since become known as one of the premier fine wine producers of the Rioja region.
In the late 1950s, his similarly adventurous descendant, Julio Faustino Martinez, launched the family-owned label in both national and international markets. Today, Bodegas Faustino is Rioja's largest exporter of Gran Reserva wines. The winner of numerous awards and gold medals in international competitions and tastings, Bodegas Faustino is a proud custodian of the Rioja region's growing international reputation as a source of truly world-class fine wines.
With 1600 acres of its own vineyards, Faustino is self-sufficient in producing its Reserva and Gran Reserva wines. The vineyards are located in the upper part of Rioja Alavesa at an altitude of between 1500 and 1800 feet. The climate is cool, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, and the vines thrive in the chalky soil. The state-of-the-art Faustino winery has a stock of 45,000 barriques, 80% of which are American oak. The winery maintains a permanent stock of 9 million bottles of Reserva and Gran Reserva wines.
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.