"Sexy aromas of redcurrant, cherry-vanilla, pipe tobacco and dried flowers. Fresh, spicy, impressively delineated red fruit flavors show very good depth, with the tobacco and vanilla elements carrying through in the mouth. Elegantly styled Rioja, finishing with a fine dusting of tannins and excellent spice-driven persistence. Shows more vivacity than the powerful 2004 version, which is of equal quality but in a different style."

"The 2001 Imperial Gran Reserva has a more complex, better defined nose than the 2000, with black cherries, spice and Seville orange marmalade. The palate is medium-bodied, with fine tannins cloaked in sweet dark cherry, bitter orange and strawberry fruit. It is lighter on its feet than the 2000, with less persistence, yet it shows greater harmony and tension. This is a fabulous Gran Reserva with enormous weight and dimension."