Reserva Especial
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed 8 to 20 years from the vintage release, though exceptional vintages can cellar beautifully for several decades.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Classic roasted lamb, slow-cooked beef stews, and aged Manchego cheese.
✨ Technical Specifications
CVNE, founded in 1879 by the Real de Asúa brothers in Haro's legendary Barrio de la Estación, is a cornerstone of Rioja's winemaking history. The Reserva Especial designation represents a historic, traditional approach to Rioja blending and extended aging. Historically crafted from select parcels of Tempranillo, complemented by Graciano, Mazuelo, and Garnacha, this wine undergoes meticulous aging in oak casks—traditionally a mix of American and French oak—followed by extensive bottle refinement. The story of CVNE is rich with lore, including the famous typographical error where a scribe wrote CUNE instead of CVNE, a name that stuck. The wine itself showcases the classic Rioja Alta terroir: iron-rich clay soils under a climate moderated by the Cantabrian mountains, yielding a red of remarkable elegance, bright acidity, and complex tertiary notes of dried red fruits, leather, sweet spices, and tobacco leaf.
🍾 About the Producer
Founded in 1879 by brothers Raimundo and Eusebio Real de Asúa, the Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España (CVNE) is one of Rioja's foundational and most prestigious historic bodegas, headquartered in the iconic Barrio de la Estación in Haro, Spain. Still under the stewardship of the founding family's descendants, CVNE harmoniously bridges traditional winemaking heritage with pioneering technical innovation across its distinct estates and cellars. The estate is celebrated for crafting world-renowned, age-worthy wines characterized by elegance, structure, and balance, predominantly driven by Tempranillo and native Riojan varieties. Among its celebrated portfolio are legendary classic benchmarks such as Imperial, Viña Real, and the single-estate icon Viñedos del Contino.
🍇 Grape Varieties
Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano, Mazuelo