I Gran Reserva
⏳ wine.drinking_window
Typically best enjoyed 10 to 25 years from the vintage release, though exceptional vintages can cellar beautifully for decades.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
Roasted lamb, cured Manchego cheese, wild mushroom risotto
✨ wine.spec_sheet
Faustino I Gran Reserva is an undisputed icon of Rioja, instantly recognizable worldwide by its frosted bottle wrapped in gold wire mesh and adorned with Rembrandt's 1641 portrait of the merchant Nicolaes van Bambeeck—a design originally conceived to deter counterfeiters and shield the wine from light. Sourced from the estate's premium parcels in Rioja Alavesa, where chalky-clay soils and Atlantic influences yield grapes of outstanding structural elegance, this wine is a traditional blend dominated by Tempranillo, alongside Graciano and Mazuelo. It undergoes rigorous aging, spending at least 26 months in a combination of American and French oak casks followed by several years of refinement in the estate's dark cellars. This patient process yields a complex, savory profile defined by notes of stewed plums, leather, sweet spices, and tobacco, framed by silky tannins.
🍾 wine.about_producer
Founded in 1861 by Eleuterio Martínez Arzok, Bodegas Faustino is a historic estate located in Oyón, within the prestigious Rioja Alavesa region of Spain. Now managed by the fourth generation of the Martínez Zabala family, the winery has become globally synonymous with premium Rioja, particularly renowned for its iconic frosted bottles and long-aged Gran Reserva wines. Faustino's winemaking philosophy combines traditional Rioja aging in American and French oak casks with modern techniques, utilizing estate-grown Tempranillo, Graciano, and Mazuelo. Beyond their legendary red reservoirs like Faustino I, the estate also crafts elegant whites, rosés, and traditional-method Cava sparkling wines.