La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 890 is the absolute flagship, most exclusive, and symbolic wine produced by the historic La Rioja Alta, S.A. winery. Widely recognized by critics as the ultimate epitome of the classic Rioja Gran Reserva style, it is celebrated for its incredible longevity, intense complexity, and painstaking traditional crafting process. I was given this as a gift by the distributor of La Rioja Alta perhaps 8 years ago now, and it has remained stored in a cold, dark, humidity controlled wine fridge ever since. Selling due to a space downsizing and in particular, a lack of space for magnums. La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 890 is crafted from 40- to 50-year-old bush-trained vines, blending roughly 95% Tempranillo with 5% Graciano and Mazuelo sourced from premium estate vineyards in Briñas, Labastida, and Villalba. The winemaking process is defined by an epic six-year aging period in custom, house-crafted American oak barrels, during which the wine is manually racked by candlelight every six months to gently aerate the liquid and separate sediment without filtration. This painstaking, traditional process takes place exclusively during "extraordinary vintages" (only two to four times per decade), culminating in extended bottle cellaring before release to ensure a highly evolved, structurally powerful, yet velvety final profile.