Rioja Reserva 2010

Finca La Emperatriz was acquired by brothers Eduardo and Víctor Hernáiz in 1996; the 101-hectare estate in Baños de Rioja, at 570 metres altitude on the northwestern edge of Rioja Alta, formerly belonged to Eugénie de Montijo, the last Empress of France and wife of Napoleon III, who entered a wine from these vines at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1878. Old vineyards from the 1950s grow on a unique layer of boulders over sandy-loam soils providing exceptional drainage, and the Hernáiz brothers began making their own wines in 2000. The 2010 vintage is widely regarded as one of the finest in Rioja in a generation. Josh Raynolds from Vinous gave it a rating of 91.