The 2009 Imperial Gran Reserva, the textbook blend of Tempranillo with 15% Graciano and Mazuelo, is fermented in oak vats with malo in barrels (part did it in cement) where it matured for two years and the bottles rested in their caves for no less than three years before being released. In this ripe and approachable vintage the wine is soft and round, showing the classical aromas inherited for the American oak along with very balsamic notes of incense, cigar ash, old furniture and good, ripe black fruit in the background. The palate shows more abundant tannins, slightly grainy in nature and an ending that is quite dry. I would wait on this one, but it should develop nicely in bottle. 50,000 bottles produced.

2009 was another hot year and had a reputation for being alcoholic and powerful. Victor Urrutia says that it is still quite tannic by IGR standards and we should really taste it again in 20 years. Pursed. Tense, intense and then fragrant. It pushes against you and then suddenly relents, filling every corner with dark-red fruit and kohl-pencil contours. Dark flowers – peonies, I think. But then the wine flits away from me, taking it's flowers and fenny splash, leaving a trail of pebbles. Then it comes back, with kisses and urgency. Then it drifts into shadow. This is a beauty, but it resists. Indigo finish. I loved this much more than most people's favourite, the 2004. Despite, or perhaps because of, the heat of the year, it tastes to me as if it is a wine that has sought shadows, under-mountain caverns, deep-forest glades for its stories. (TC)