2001 Roda 1

I prefer the aromatics on the 2001 Roda I Reserva compared to the Roda II. It shows a little more delineation and character with tightly wound aromas of raspberry coulis, crushed stone and a touch of lavender. The palate is medium-bodied with sweet red vanillary fruit on the entry. It has an attractive texture with candied orange peel, raspberry and maraschino towards the finish. Drink now-2020. The wines from Bodegas Roda should need no introduction. “We want to offer consistency,” winemaker Gonzalo Lainez told me. “We own and control 28 different vineyards and we choose the best seventeen every year. The Reserva is more red fruit character, more gastronomic. Other single vineyards that have a black fruit character are not so easy to find at an early stage and are blended into Roda I. So vineyards can end up in either, or be sold off. We work under three tenets. We like acidity in our wines, the oak must play a secondary role and the most important, supple tannins.” I enjoyed the wines of Roda, but to be frank, I often found myself searching for a sense of personality, as if the wines were somehow pre-designed instead of working with what Mother Nature gifts. They are highly pleasurable, but in an age where high-end consumers are looking for wines that say something, I would like to see the wines from Roda opening their mouths. Moreover, I do detect the oak too often, analogous to a supporting actor reading the leading actor’s lines. These tasting notes derive from samples that were mostly tasted twice in the UK. Importer: Kobrand, New York, NY; www.kobrandwine.com