1968 | Bodegas Faustino | I Gran Reserva

Detailed Description

The palate is powerful and complex. A wine of great finesse and an impressive length in the mouth.

Producer Information

Bodegas Faustino is one of the most internationally recognized Rioja producers in the world. Its Tempranillo-based wines are distributed to over 70 countries and Faustino makes up more than a third of total Rioja Reserva and Gran Reserva exports each year. The historic bodegas was founded by Eleuterio Martínez Arzok in 1861. Arzok settled in Oyon in Álava in northeastern Spain and bought vineyards. The bodegas became well-known and widely distributed within Spain, but it wasn’t until the late 1950s that Julio Faustino Martinez began exporting the wine internationally. In the early 1960s Julio released the Faustino range of wines that continues to be the flagship of the winery today. Faustino makes a range of Rioja wines at various levels of quality, from Crianza up to Gran Reserva from both red and white grape varieties. The estate also makes several Cavas and a couple of rosado wines. Bodegas Faustino wines are especially recognizable for their Burgundy-shaped bottles which are frosted to look like stone. Each label has a baroque portrait that is specific to the wine: the flagship Faustino I Gran Reserva carries the portrait of Nicolaes Van Bambeeck as painted by Rembrandt van Rijn. The Faustinos have recently expanded to establish the Grupo Faustino. Along with Bodegas Faustino, the group owns multiple wineries spread between Rioja, Navarra, La Mancha, Ribera del Duero, including a label that produces wine under the Vino de la Tierra designation.