CVNE and Contino

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS AN ARCHIVED ARTICLE. THE WINES BELOW ARE LIKELY TO BE SOLD OUT.
Click here for our current Contino selections.
Click here for our current CVNE selections.

The Compania Vinicola del Norte de España is, understandably, usually known by its acronym CVNE (pronounced  koo-nay and, hence, often spelled CUNE). CVNE is one of the oldest bodegas (it was founded in 1879) and one of the largest (it owns over 1200 acres of vines and makes about 9,000,000 bottles of wine a year) in Rioja.  Today it combines tradition (it is run by the fourth generation of its founding family) and modernity (a new all gravity-feed winery was completed in 1989) and is one of Spain's most respected wineries both nationally and internationally.

CVNE makes two prestige cuvees, Viña Real and Imperial. Both are made only in top years from the estate's best grapes as reservas and gran reservas. The two gran reservas, which both get a minimum of three years in barrel and three in bottle before release, are known for their great ability to age. However,

Contino's vineyards at sunset

demand for them in Spain and the small quantities produced (together these account for only 2-3% of CVNE's production) have prevented their qualities from becoming widely known in the United States. Both wines are made to develop complex, ethereal bouquets, a fruity, spicy attack, silky texture, and a long elegant finish with age.  The Imperial is typically slightly more full bodied and Viña Real slightly more velvety but both have the perfect harmony and balance of the greatest wines.

In 1974, CVNE established Contino, a separate estate with its own vineyards in Laserna to produce one of the first single vineyard, chateau bottled wines in Rioja.  Today, the wines of Contino have a reputation for quality and ageworthiness to rival those of its parent with top vintages like the '82 considered among the best wines of the last quarter century in Rioja. Contino makes only one wine, a reserva in good vintages and a crianza in lesser ones. In style, the wines are slightly darker and more extracted than those of CVNE but this fuller frame  carries same aromatic intensity, balance and smoothness.

We have been fortunate enough to be allocated a tiny quantity of older library wines from CVNE for select customers.  These wines have never moved from the CVNE cellars in Haro until they were shipped to New York this spring.  After a rest to allow the wines to recover from their journey, they are now ready for a lucky few to enjoy.  We have assembled these special wines into 12 bottle verticals which offer a unque snapshot of the wines of CVNE over the last half century. Only 16 are available: please reserve yours now to avoid disappointment.

· '76 Contino, Spanish Red, Reserva (Net) $119.99
· '81 Contino, Spanish Red, Reserva (Net) $93.99
· '82 Contino, Spanish Red, Reserva (limited, please call)
· '96 Contino, Spanish Red, Reserva (Net) $29.99
· '96 Contino, Spanish Red, Reserva "Viña del Olivo" $79.99
· '97 Contino, Spanish Red, Crianza $16.99
· '98 Contino, Spanish Red, Graciano $29.99

Click here for our current Contino selections.

In a vertical of all vintages of Contino back to the first ('74) held in 2001 at the Instituto Cervantes, three older vintages stood out. The '76 has a breathtaking bouquet that makes the thoery that tempranillo might have originated as a clone of pinot noir suddenly seem plausible. The '82 vintage was the best in Rioja between '64 and '94 and in the mid-80s the Contino was widely considered one of the top wines of the vintage.

Perhaps even more telling, at a recent blind tasting of top '82 Bordeaux (1st Growths and wines rated 100 points by Robert Parker) the '82 Contino ended up being ranked 5th favorite behind Latour, Leoville Las Cases, Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild. Slipped in as a mystery wine the Contino ended up ranking above such august wines as Chateau Margaux and Haut Brion.

When Contino winemaker Jesus Madrazo served a bottle of this at a CUNE/Contino tasting dinner in 1999, most of those present rated it the best older wine they had tasted that year. Jesus, however, insisted that the '81 was at least its equal and at the Cervantes vertical opinion was divided as to which of the two vintages was the more profound.  

Every one at that tasting did agree that the '96 was the outstanding recent vintage for Contino. The Reserva shows every promise of following in the footsteps of the '81 and '82 in another decade. The "Viña del Olivo", made from a tiny plot of very old vines surrounding a centenarian olive tree which Jesus has long felt produced the best fruit on the estate is even more dazzling. Even now its bouquet is strikingly complex and the only way to do justice to its texture is with the old burgundian trope: "It goes down like the infant Jesus in velvet pants".

Graciano is a variety which had traditionally been a minor component in many Riojas but had almost been abandoned because it is difficult to grow and is shy bearer. The best estates have kept some graciano vines for the reasons which led Jancis Robinson to call it "potentially the best Spanish grape": it has a profound color, flowery nuanced aromas and a spice and acidity which help add lifespan to other Rioja grapes. In 1994, Contino began to produce a tiny experimental lots (of 200-300 cases) of monovarietal graciano with the aim of better understanding the character and role of the grape. A few imitators have appeared since but the Contino Graciano remains the benchmark for the variety. The Contino Graciano has never been exported outside of Spain.  Most is sold directly to long time private clients but we managed to get a few bottles as part of this vertical.

Only 8 Rioja vintages in the entire 20th century received the top excelente rating from the Consejo Regulador. This is your chance to taste CVNE's top wines from 4 of these historic years ('94, '82, '70 and '52) going back half a century. To these vintages, we added the '73 which, although officially only muy buen, is considered by CVNE to be on a par with their best.  They are not alone in this opinion: no less an authority than Michael Broadbent cites the '73 as his personal favorite CVNE vintage for its ethereal perfection.  In fact, these were our picks from a range of top older vintages which we had the privilege of sampling with CVNE's importer this spring. The level of expression, complexity of bouquet and overall harmony of the wines makes, as one taster noted, "your knees tremble".

The '94 wines are, of course, infants, only just beginning to reveal the subleties of aromas and flavor they will offer decades from now at their peak, but with the characteristic CVNE balance and smoothness already evident. The '82 Viña Real is entering its plateau: fully formed but still vigorous and superbly balanced.  The '73 Viña Real is a filigree fully mature wine but retains the entrancing and intricate bouquet that charmed Broadbent (this was Dr I's personal favorite). The '70 Imperial is a shade less intense aromatically but is fuller a touch rounder.  The delicious '52 Viña Real has a depth of color and a vigor that are hard to credit in a wine a half-century old. The grandfather bears a striking resemblance to his children and grandchildren in the CVNE family.

· '52 CVNE, Viña Real Spanish Red, Gran Reserva (limited, please call)
· '70 CVNE, Imperial Spanish Red, Gran Reserva (Net) $169.99
· '73 CVNE, Viña Real Spanish Red, Gran Reserva (Net) $149.97
· '82 CVNE, Viña Real Spanish Red, Gran Reserva (Net) $139.99
· '94 CVNE, Imperial Spanish Red, Gran Reserva $32.99
· '94 CVNE, Viña Real Spanish Red, Gran Reserva $29.99

Click here for our current CVNE selections.