Notes: (2001 Vintage photo to be uploaded shortly)

Made mostly with Tempranillo (95%), this wine is aged for three years in the barrel and two years in the bottle. It has the typical style which gave the region, and especially the Haro area, its reputation: smooth, fine, elegant, balanced and complex.

This wine is soft, spicy and has real power that is delivered in a velvet glove. Mellow and dry on the finish, this shows why Rioja is so special.

Victoria Moore - The Guardian, Wine: There's more to Rioja than meets the eye - Sat 7 Nov 09 - "The odd thing about Vina Arana Reserva La Rioja Alta 2001 is that on first sip it isn't so much Rioja you think of as Red Burgundy. It reminded me of one of the most delicious wines I've ever been lucky enough to taste, a 2000 Clos des Lambrays... The similarity wasn't so much in the taste as in the texture – this is the smoothest, silkiest, most fluid of Riojas. It has the same racy flow, that flawless rush, you sometimes find in Riesling... and which people love to find, and all too rarely do, in a Pinot Noir... La Rioja Alta, the Bodega, has been around for almost 120 years and the wine has a certain old-fashioned quality – despite its fluency, it contains flavours that make me think of russet leaves, damp straw and strawberries left unpicked for so long they overripen. Look, I guess I'm saying I liked it."

Simon Field MW - "The Arana in 2001 was made from 95% Tempranillo and 5% Mazuelo and was aged for three years in third fill American oak casks, then allowed to rest and gather composure before release to a suspecting market. The wine has a distinctive almost crepuscular hue, then classic aromas of menthol, macerated cherry, dried fruit and forest floor. Less exuberant of persona than the Ardanza, this is, allegedly, the one that they love to drink everyday in the Bodega…no greater endorsement than that is required. The gentle sweetness and underlying citric acidity make it a perfect match for typical fat-soaked Spanish dishes."