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october 2018 / the tasting panel / 53 Faustino VII 2016 Rioja White Viura ($10) Intensely fragrant and fresh with a nose of pure tropical fruit and melon; airy, light-medium body; silky, taut, and tart with beautifully integrated acid, finishing with an edgy dryness. Faustino VII 2017 Rioja Tempranillo Rosé ($10) Brick-tinged pink with strawberry perfume; medium-bodied, bone dry, zesty, and crisply balanced with persistent berry- tinged freshness. Faustino VII 2015 Rioja Tempranillo ($10) Forward, sweet-toned, red-berry nose with vanillin-oak embellishments; bright and zippy with acid; medium-full in body, feel, and overall intensity. Faustino 2014 Rioja Crianza ($13) Aged 15 months in American white oak until it's trans- ferred into French oak for another six months; plummy, pungent, fruit-forward cherry nose; well- rounded medium body, yet meaty, dense, and thickly textured with zippy acid and oak-enriched sensations. Faustino V 2013 Rioja Reserva ($18) A whole lotta bang for the buck; bright, red-fruited Tempranillo perfume with deftly-etched vanilla and a minty American- oak veneer. The fine-grained and exuberant red- berry qualities fill a medium- weight body revved up by laudable acidity. Tasting Notes: Current Bodegas Faustino Wines Additional Bodegas Faustino Releases Faustino 2008 Barrel Select Gran Reserva Rioja ($42) A 75th anniversary edition consisting of 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, and 5% Mazuelo; produced from 400 barrels and available in the U.S. to select on-premise accounts. Faustino Gran Reserva Rioja Library Selection Available in the 1964, 1970, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1995, as well as a limited inventory of the acclaimed 2001 vintage. Faustino maintains the largest library of Rioja Gran Reserva vintages in the industry. Faustino I 2005 Gran Reserva ($35-$38): A blend of Tempranillo, Graciano, and Mazuelo aged for 26 months in French and American oak barrels, followed by three years in bottle before release. structure and flavor. The Faustino V Reserva as well as our Rioja Crianza are aged only in American white oak, since barrel-aging is shorter for these wines. American oak gives these wines the intensity we are looking for with less complexity than what you find in the Gran Reserva. When and how often do you choose wines for Gran Reserva? We usually produce Gran Reserva five to seven out of every ten years, depending upon vintage qualifications set by the Rioja Control Board. There are some vineyards, particularly the oldest, that are often picked for Gran Reserva wines, but we also make our Gran Reserva selections before each harvest based upon grapes/plots sampling. We might also select wines after they are made. Our best wines receive a 20-day post-fermentation maceration; the process helps bring out additional phenolic matter, conferring more color and flavor suitable for subsequent barrel-aging. For the Gran Reserva reds, the Tempranillo, Graciano, and Mazuelo wines are usually blended before going into barrel, although in some vintages blends are mixed together during barrel-aging. Is the cloudy-looking opaque glass used for Faustino's Gran Reserva bottles utilized by other producers in Rioja? Our bottle, which helps protect the wine from light, is unique in the world of wines. Faustino is the only winery that uses it. Bodegas Faustino is the second-largest estate in the Rioja DOCa, with 4,015 acres in Rioja's Laguardia and Oyón areas.