Bodegas Franco-Espanolas Rioja Excelso Gran Reserva 2012
95 POINT Rioja! 12 years young and STRUTTING! From a historic house that spans three centuries of Rioja wines…at an all-time Last Bottle deal of over 63% OFF!
Bodegas Franco-Españolas! This is one of Rioja's most legendary producers (ahem…any booze preferred by THE Ernest Hemingway is good enough for me!)! A simply JAW-DROPPING price on their coveted Excelso GRAN RESERVA – I said, 95 POINTS, right? For JUST $25!!! Man, what would Wayne and Garth say…?
Schwing!!! Not to be confused with their regular Reservas, which are more widely available, you can’t get this ultra-rare bottling ANYWHERE else in the USA!!! At OVER 63% OFF?! Time for me to reload up on these beauties! These Gran Reservas are known to age – almost forever – but that 2012 is FLYING right now. Get a case, open one bottle per year, and then, in 2036 scream out “DANG! Should’ve bought more!”
If you love cool, wine-geeky, delicious, and classic Gran Reserva Rioja, we’d liken this find to stumbling into your great aunt’s garage in Long Beach to discover a pristine classic 1956 Porsche 356 soft top with 5,000 miles on it (cherry red, with the wooden steering wheel, if we have any say in this fantasy), and she says “That old thing? It’s yours – just get it out of here...” Suh-weet!!!
This stuff just BLEW us away. It really is such a fantastic, savory, balanced wine – not heavy with the oak, tons of sweet, balsamic-y fruit (think: a ripe sweet cherry with a drop of 20-year-old balsamic — oh yeah!!), wonderful length and weight…for a price that is simply wacky. Black plums, some dustings of mocha spice, a bit of that meaty, cigar smoke profile, with a bright and dreamy maraschino cherry and browned butter sweetness on the finish…stellar stuff, indeed. A MUST for serious lovers of tempranillo!! Soft, approachable, glides silkily over the palate, and is just a straight-up delight to drink. Decades of life left...but not sure I’ll be able to hold out on this one...so fantastic RIGHT NOW! We haven’t had a drop of these wines come to the USA since the 2007 vintage, so lay a claim for yours NOW! 2012, my friends!
VIVA RIOJA!!!
** You can find bottles of the 1964 of this wine in Spanish auctions trading at ~$650…US DOLLARS! I’m seriously considering a bottle of the 1982 Excelso – a pretty special year – for the downright bargain price of $490!! **
Bodegas Franco-Españolas’ privileged location, on the banks of the Ebro River, has made this classic producer a witness to the history of Logroño. In the hands of the Eguizábal Family since 1984, it is considered a benchmark of La Rioja.
Technical Details
Country: SpainRegion: La Rioja
Appellation: Rioja
Blend: Tempranillo, Graciano and Mazuelo
Varietal: Red Blends
Alcohol: 14
About The Producer
Bodegas Franco-Españolas was born in 1890 as the union between France and Spain at a peak moment in Rioja when the French came to the region trying to replace their vineyards devastated by the phylloxera disease. It was the origin of the “fino wines of Rioja”.
All this led Frederick Anglade Saurat, a native of Bordeaux, to found Bodegas Franco-Españolas in 1890. The first harvest, a year later, results in the winery’s icon wines: Diamante and Estilo Borgoña. This was renamed Rioja Bordón in the 50s, and in 2017 it was redesigned as Bordón.
In 1920, fifteen years after Anglade’s death, the French sold their shares and the winery became wholly Spanish. King Alfonso XIII visited the winery in 1903 and in 1925. Ernest Hemingway did so in 1956. In 1984, the businessman Marcos Eguizábal (1919 – 2009) bought Bodegas Franco-Españolas, and in 1990 the first centenary of the Bodega was celebrated.
Pairing Suggestions
Cochinillo
Don't miss out on up to
Off Great Wines
Your daily purveyor of fine wines.
We’re wine drinkers, collectors, and part of the global wine trade. Mostly, we are totally stoked to bring you incredible juice at the best prices we can possibly obtain, every day.
Sign Up for FREE