R. Parker (94/100)
The rather pricey 2011 Gran Selección Gran Reserva was cropped from very old, low-yielding Tempranillo matured in French barriques for 26 months. This Pérez Pascuas bottling is always sourced from the same vineyard, and it's not bottle in anything other than the most exceptional vintages: 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010 and will release 2012, 2014 and 2015. Think of this as a classical red from Bordeaux: serious, concentrated, ripe but with freshness and balance. It's earthy, balsamic and serious, with great concentration and balance. This is a wine that should develop forever in bottle. For comparison's sake, I tasted the 2004, and it felt young and primary, only starting to show some tertiary aromas. Here the average yields are 2,200 kilos of grapes per hectare, which results in some 18 hectoliters per hectare, from a vineyard that was planted some 84 years ago by the grandfather of José Manuel Pérez, the current winemaker.