While certain amounts of prettiness is possible to collect while drinking this wine, all general data points to GONE. Whether it is provenance or the wine itself is difficult to ascertain with one bottle, but not enough magic shows through to merit purchasing its brothers and sisters on the shelf where I found it. The cork was a bit stained but the extreme bricking and tarnished fruit allege original issues. Still, wine of this stature should show better. A rusty nail in color AND bouquet, mossy, peaty rusticity glow over brightness polished to pruney nothingness.

Tasting it is moderately enjoyable–provided you are a sucker for oxidation and maderization. The fruit is a deep black cherry, but borne on gritty wings of acidic imbalance and lackluster strength. Beautiful middle-to-finish, where–squinting REALLY hard–one can find cherubic chunks of hope and satisfaction. But you gotta love old wines. Wines past prime. Wines maybe even stored improperly. Who knows. Large-production hair-nets intended for early consumption? The slight churn of tannin in the finish is also rather fruitless–all sharp acidity and vague definition.

2013 CAMPO VIEJO ‘Gran Reserva’ Rioja DOC Spain 13.5

www.campoviejo.com/