Anza, Diego Magana spotlight
Wine News TV Puerto Rico tastes Diego Magana's Anza wines with Fine Wine Imports, the same Rioja house behind this 2021 CDVIN Garnacha from Cordovin and Badaran.
2021 Anza CDVIN Rioja DOCa, Spain
Diego Magana's old-vine Garnacha from Cordovin and Badaran, Wine Advocate 95, a floral 2021 you can open at eighty-eight dollars.
The 2021 CDVIN is Garnacha with some Viura from old vines in Cordovin and Badaran: the best floral Garnacha nuances, velvety chalky tannin, and a long lingering close after used 500-liter barrels, now $88.
Old-vine Garnacha from Cordovin, not a generic Rioja oak costume
Diego Magana, son of Juan Magana of Vina Magana in Navarra, built Anza as his Rioja project after a first Bierzo chapter as Dominio de Anza. CDVIN is the Garnacha cuvee: destemmed fruit from an old vineyard in Cordovin and another in Badaran, stainless ferment, then used 500-liter barrels. Wine Advocate 95: the best floral nuances you can expect from Garnacha, clean, elegant, complex, velvety tannin with a fine chalky texture, 1,200 bottles, bottled September 2022. This is the bottle that argues Alto Najerilla Garnacha can sit with the new Rioja names at eighty-eight dollars.
The house
Diego Magana left the Navarra family cellar to buy old Rioja vines, starting with San Gines in Laguardia, then these Alto Najerilla Garnacha rows.
The wine
Garnacha and a little Viura. Destemmed. Stainless ferment. Used 500-liter barrels. Bottled September 2022.
The score
Wine Advocate 95, Luis Gutierrez. Floral, chalky, already delicious, built to improve.
The drinker
Floral Garnacha first. Decant 30 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Lamb or ribeye.
Floral Garnacha, then chalk and a long close
Gutierrez found the best floral nuances you can expect from Garnacha, clean, elegant, and complex, then velvety tannins with a very fine chalky texture, pristine flavors, and a long lingering finish. He called it delicious already, with more to come in bottle.
The Consejo called 2021 Muy Buena, a structured year with aromatic complexity. Magana kept this Garnacha floral and chalky instead of turning it into a warm-year jam. 1,200 bottles.
Floral Garnacha, wild berry, clean red fruit, lift from a little Viura.
Velvety tannin, fine chalk, used 500 L barrels, destemmed steel ferment.
Long, lingering, elegant. Decant 30 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
Destemmed Garnacha, steel, then used 500-liter barrels
Wine Advocate records destemmed fruit fermented in stainless steel, then matured in used 500-liter barrels. Magana skips the Crianza and Reserva oak clock. Each vineyard and vintage sets the elevage. CDVIN is built so floral Garnacha and chalk stay in front of new-oak speech. A little Viura in the old mixed planting keeps the line lifted.
Old vines in Cordovin and Badaran. 1,200 bottles. Bottled September 2022.
Decant 30 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Lamb and a hard-seared steak.
A Navarra son who bought Rioja vines to bottle what he believes
Anza is named with Diego Magana's house. The dream, he has said, was always Rioja.
He still helps at Vina Magana. Anza is his own: high limestone in Alavesa for the village wine, old Garnacha in the Najerilla for CDVIN.
He farms by hand, sometimes with horses, ferments parcel by parcel, and ages as the vineyard asks.
The 2021 CDVIN is that idea in 1,200 bottles: floral Garnacha, chalk, Wine Advocate 95.
Lamb, char, and floral Garnacha
This Rioja wants herb-crusted lamb and a browned steak. Rosemary keeps the floral line. Fat cushions the chalky tannin.
Two plates. One rosemary lamb chop. One butter-basted ribeye. Both can take CDVIN's floral Garnacha and chalk.
Decant 30 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Wide bowls. Air is for flower, berry, and chalk.
Rosemary Garlic Lamb Chops
Herb-crusted lamb for Garnacha's floral line and chalky close.
Why it works: Lamb fat rounds the tannin. Rosemary and garlic echo the wine's savory herbal lift.
View Recipe for rosemary garlic lamb chops (opens in a new tab)
Butter-Basted Ribeye
A hard crust, butter, and thyme. CDVIN's steakhouse landing.
Why it works: Fat and char cushion chalky tannin while browned beef pulls wild berry and flower through the glass.
View Recipe for butter-basted ribeye (opens in a new tab)Put this Anza CDVIN in the cart
Diego Magana, Wine Advocate 95, 1,200 bottles. Eighty-eight dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is the Anza Garnacha for a table that wants old vines and flower, not a Reserva slogan.
