(Rioja; 100% Tempranillo; pH 3.69; 13.86% alcohol; aged for 12 months in French oak barrels, 50% of them new; tasted with Emma Thienpont at Wine Paris; 2880 bottles and 100 magnums). A wine of considerable grace and charm. There’s a subtle and delicate warm spice – cinnamon, a scratch of nutmeg – and dark plums, damsons, mulberries and bramble. Indeed, this is a wine composed of shades of dark red. It’s amply framed, but not excessively so and that gives this a sense of shape and calmness. It feels very natural and undemonstrative. It’s also very crystalline in texture for pure Tempranillo with a luminous mid-palate that helps one focus in on those delightful cedar and graphite notes. A wine that exudes harmony, this is deep and dark at its spherical core, with a lovely grip and pinch just before the lifted finish. Rioja with a Bordeaux sensibility.

The nose reveals dark fruits, crunchy blackberries and violets. The palate is well knitted, medium- to full-bodied with polished, velvety tannins that focus toward the finish. Fresh dark fruit is very well delineated throughout. The wine is cohesive, as well as a polished expression of the Contino vineyard. It is already drinkable but will certainly age gracefully. It has vivacity and elegance, along with a clear sense of structure and a long, persistent trail of fruit on the finish. This is a collaboration between Contino and Vieux Château Certan’s Guillaume Thienpont from Pomerol. It is pure tempranillo chosen from three different parcels within the Contino vineyard. Drink or hold.

The 2024 Chorus (100% Tempranillo) marksthe estate’s first wine of its kind, crafted underthe direction of Guillaume Thienpont (ChâteauLe Pin). Twelve months in French oak, 50% new,shaped its élevage. Fresh plum, delicate floralsand pomegranate lead the nose, with a refinedsmoky nuance. On the palate, it is dry, plushand ample, moving with enveloping flow andlayered red fruit intensity. Finely integratedoak and the precision of the 2024 vintage lendextra definition to the fruit profile. Amodernized interpretation

Blood orange, red cherry, roses and peony floral aromatics, enveloping with grip and tension, reflecting the al dente character of the vintage, and the layered complexity of the old vines at Contino. Fragrant and finessed, expands in the glass over 30 minutes, maintaining its sculpted side but deepening to show richer spiced plum, campfire and liquorice. Aged in 70% new oak, 3.7ph, just 3,000 bottles. Celebrating 50 years of Contino ownership by CVNE, this wine is a collaberation between Víctor Urrutia and Guillaume Thienpont of Vieux Château Certan, alongside Contino winemaker Jorge Navascués. The fruit is drawn from three blocks of the 55ha vineyard, which are then vinified and aged separately.

The 2024 Chorus was produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first wine from 1974. They decided to bring someone from outside to do a different interpretation of their vineyards and selected Guillaume Thienpont, from Vieux Château Certan fame. With the help of the Jorge Navascués technical team, they crafted an ethereal, fluid, brilliant Contino from 2024, different from any other ever produced here. The secret is to control the natural power of the place and to find the essence with finesse. It's pure Tempranillo that comes from three plots in the San Rafael estate, Viña del Olivo, San Gregorio Encina and Don Vicente, with different soils and orientations. The bunches were selected by hand and the grapes were sorted by an optical machine and fermented in oak vats with constant tasting to adjust the length and intensity of the pump-overs. It went through malolactic fermentation and 12 months of élevage in Seguin Moreau, Sylvain and Taransaud barriques, 50% of them new, 50% used. It is super young and showy, extroverted and expressive, a little lactic and creamy, with ripe fruit and a forward personality. It comes in at a moderate 13.86%, with a pH of 3.69 and 5.37 grams of acidity, parameters of balance and freshness, super elegant and sleek, velvety and with a dry fin(more...)