The El Coto 'Coto de Imaz' Rioja Gran Reserva is a mature and elegant red wine with a brilliant ruby-red hue and tinges of brick red. It has a rich aromatic complexity, featuring toasted oak nuances, coconut, leather, and damp earth notes. On the palate, the wine has silky, rounded tannins, fresh red berry flavours, dried raisins and spicy notes for a complex and exceptional concentration.

Critic Review

Decanter Magazine: 91Pts
Drinking Window: 2023 - 2031

"Deep crimson colour, with roasted plums, smoky, leathery and toasty characters with an almost minty freshness in the mouth."
Sarah Jane Evans MW, Pedro Ballestero Torres MW, Pierre Mansour

About the Producer

El Coto was founded in 1970 in Rioja Alavesa and has grown from modest beginnings into one of the best known of Rioja producers. Its first bottling was released in 1975.

Today, El Coto has over 700 hectares of vineyard in production across the three Rioja DOCa sub-zones of Rioja Alta, Rioja Baja and Rioja Alavesa. 

El Coto is the leading quality brand in Rioja and among the top-selling Spanish wines in Europe.

El Coto is the largest vineyard owner in the Rioja region which provides a tremendous ability to control the quality of the grapes which go into their wines.  Most of the fruit used is sourced from their own sites.  Their outstanding Red wines  are made with grapes picked primarily in the heart of Rioja Alta at their own estate at Cenicero.  An increased focus on sustainability, in both the winery and the vineyard, includes the use of cover crops and preventative pest management.  They are not just stopping at sustainable agriculture either, currently El Coto are in the process of converting around 40 hectares of vineyards in Los Almendros.

Vineyard and Winery

The ‘Coto de Imaz’ wines are made from a selection of the best Tempranillo grapes grown in El Coto’s vineyards in Cenicero, Rioja Alta. The soils here are limestone-rich clay and produce grapes of great flavour intensity and excellent levels of acidity, crucial for the making of Reserva and Gran Reserva wines which undergo extensive oak ageing. A small amount of Graciano is also included in the blend for the Gran Reserva, to add complexity.

Upon arrival at the winery, the grapes were sorted, destemmed and crushed. Fermentation took place in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks at 22-27°C and lasted for around 21 to 30 days. After malolactic fermentation in tank, the wines were transferred into a mixture of French and American oak (75% new) for a minimum of 24 months, followed by 36 months ageing in bottle prior to release.