La Rioja Alta was founded in 1890 by five Riojan and Basque families in Haro's Barrio de la Estacion, the tight cluster of historic bodegas that still defines what traditional Rioja looks like at its best. More than 130 years later the estate is still family owned, still drawing fruit entirely from its own vineyards, and still ageing its wines in the same American oak that has been central to its house style since the beginning.

Winemaker Julio Saenz works with 588 hectares of estate vineyards and a cellar built entirely around patience. The 35,000 barrels are American oak, kept at an average age of four years, the same material and the same rhythm that has defined the house style for over a century. At any given moment the estate holds eight years of stock between barrel and bottle. The Gran Reservas 890 and 904 are the clearest expression of that discipline: structured, composed wines where everything has had the time it needs.

The range spans from the 2020 Vina Alberdi through to Gran Reserva 890s from 2011 and 2010, with the 904 and 890 sitting at the top of the hierarchy. The 2010 Gran Reserva 890 became the first wine in the estate's history to receive six perfect scores from specialist critics. At La Rioja Alta, that kind of patience is not exceptional. It is the standard.