Bodegas Roda Rioja Cirsion 2017

In 1995 we discovered that some vines produced grapes whose flavor was very different to the one of the vines around them. They produced a sensation of fullness, of volume, with notes that were more alike to a wine than to a grape. Two years later, we made our first CIRSION, which we did not commercialize, and we tested that with a short aging, the wine reached a level of incredible silkiness and a fruit complexity out of the ordinary. Each vintage we walk through the vineyards looking for this curious natural peculiarity, and thats how, one in a thousand, the CIRSION grapes are picked.

Very intense, enormous depth and almost impenetrable. Red flashes with icing tones are projected from the background. Very complex, formed by a thousand layers almost indecipherable, but all exciting. There is a light smoked veil, a slight aromatic smoke of the best oak and the finest spices. Blackness in fruits with redness glows. Wet land and rain on the earth. Ripe fruits return in full splendor. A box with fresh spices, cocoa, tobacco and a landscape of violets in the background. Enigmatic: smoke, moist earth. Small black fruits and some red, even flowers. Voluminous, fresh, long, endless.

Red fruits with very fresh red sparkles. Amazing tannin in such a young wine. Intensity and delicacy, endless freshness, silky and alive, full and caressing. Cocoa is seasoned with a delicate black fruit liqueur and notes of pink pepper. Great vintage of Cirsion, undoubtedly among the best.

Critical Acclaim

94 Robert Parker

The 2017 Cirsion has been produced since 1998 from specific plants that seem to have a different ripening profile, initially only Tempranillo, but since 2011, around 10% Graciano has been added (11% in 2017). It’s very dark and opaque, almost black and has a smoky nose with plenty of toast, wet graphite and earth aromas, ripe and heady with black fruit and dark spices. It’s ripe and round but less complex than other vintages, a little lighter and at this moment still marked by the levage. It matured in 100% new oak for eight months.

96 James Suckling

This is a very overt but amazingly balanced Cirsion that shows pure blackcurrant and dark-cherry compote. Licorice, oyster shell, tar and mulberries follow. Full-bodied with so much blackberry fruit, but a bedrock of sophisticated, steely tannins. The soft fruit just keeps giving. A bold but expertly delivered wine.