“95 rating … 2005 is universally recognized as one of the finest recent vintages in Rioja, and the Monte Real Gran Reserva lives up to all of the expectations one might have when a great vintage meets and iconic bottling ... the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and just approaching its apogee of peak drinkability ... This is already very easy to drink, but I might be inclined to still tuck it away in the cellar for another five years or so and let it get even more complex and velvety, which it will continue to do for the coming two or three decades! Great juice. (Drink between 2021-2075)”

“95 rating ... one of the finest recent vintages in Rioja, and the Monte Real Gran Reserva lives up to all of the expectations one might have when a great vintage meets and iconic bottling! The bouquet is deep, pure and fairly black fruity in personality, offering up notes of black raspberries, black cherries, Cuban cigar wrapper, woodsmoke, spiced meats, a refined base of salty soil tones, cloves, brown spices and a lovely framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and just approaching its apogee of peak drinkability ... This is already very easy to drink, but I might be inclined to still tuck it away in the cellar for another five years or so and let it get even more complex and velvety, which it will continue to do for the coming two or three decades! Great juice. (Drink between 2021-2075)”