Viñedos del Contino & Guillaume Thienpont, Chorus, 2024

"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 2024 Chorus (100% Tempranillo) marks the estate’s first wine of its kind, crafted under the direction of Guillaume Thienpont (Château Le Pin). Twelve months in French oak, 50% new, shaped its élevage. Fresh plum, delicate florals and pomegranate lead the nose, with a refined smoky nuance. On the palate, it is dry, plush and ample, moving with enveloping flow and layered red fruit intensity. Finely integrated oak and the precision of the 2024 vintage lend extra definition to the fruit profile. A modernized interpretation."

"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."