CVNE 'Vina Real' Gran Reserva Rioja 1987 (750ML)

94 pts Wine Advocate
1987 was a very dry year in Rioja, with only 286 liters of rain compared with the average 450. It is the first Rioja vintage I remember well; I drank a lot of it in the early 1990s. At the time Ronald Reagan was President of the United States and Aretha Franklin was the first woman to be admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a good harvest for tennis, as both Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic were born then. If you were around, chances are you went to see the film, "Good Morning, Vietnam". The 1987 Viña Real Gran Reserva is a gentle wine with plenty of animal aromas, developing iodine already over a core of red fruit and underbrush. The palate is a bit serious and austere, bright and round, a very complete Rioja. This is drinking beautifully today, but will surely keep well. It was fermented in cement tanks in the winery at Elciego (as was the case between the mid-1940s and the late 1990s) and aged in barrel until bottling in June 1992. The year saw a cold summer and a warm winter, and there was great diversity in music hits, such as: "Walk Like an Egyptian" (The Bangles), "Livin' on a Prayer" (Bon Jovi), "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (Starship), "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (U2), "Alone" (Heart), "La Bamba" (Los Lobos), "Who's That Girl" (Madonna), "Didn't We Almost Have It All" (Whitney Houston), "Here I Go Again" (Whitesnake), "Bad" (Michael Jackson), "Mony Mony" (Billy Idol), "Faith" (George Michael). Can we agree that the 1980s were better for music than the 90s? Anticipated maturity: 2015-2022.