Bodegas Cosme Palacio: Glorioso and 1894

Six bottles in a row, and they tell three different stories. That is the most interesting thing about Bodegas Cosme Palacio: one house making the familiar supermarket Rioja, the classic middle ground and an artisanal top range all at once. Taste the whole lineup side by side and you get a cross-section of what Rioja is today.

The house sits in Laguardia, in the heart of Rioja Alavesa, and has been around since the nineteenth century. That date, 1894, graces the premium line for a reason. It points back to the founding and to a time when Rioja took on its modern shape.

Three faces

The first face is Glorioso, the approachable brand. The Reserva is the bottle you meet everywhere: classic on American oak, vanilla and coconut, built to be recognisable and reliable.

The second face carries the Cosme Palacio name itself, with a young Tinto from Laguardia, a Crianza and a fresh white Viura. This is the core of the house, the wines that do the daily work without shouting.

The third face is the 1894 line, with the handwritten label. Here the house reaches for depth: a structured red Tempranillo and a white Viura with texture and length. This is where Cosme Palacio shows it can do more than volume.

Where the house is strong, and where it’s weak

The strength is the breadth. Few houses let you taste the whole ladder of Rioja in one sitting, from simple thirst-quencher to serious food wine. For anyone learning the region, that’s a gift. The wines are skilfully made and consistent.

But that’s also the weakness. The wide range makes the identity diffuse. What is a Cosme Palacio wine, exactly? The Glorioso tastes of the past, the 1894 of ambition, and the core in between stays neatly within the norm. The house rarely chooses, and so it lacks the sharp signature that the new wave of terroir makers in Rioja does have.

The second caveat: in the premium segment, Cosme Palacio plays it safe. The 1894 bottles are good, but classic. If you want the most idiosyncratic, exciting Rioja, you’ll look to single-vineyard projects rather than this house. Cosme Palacio convinces through reliability, not risk.

Who Bodegas Cosme Palacio is for

As a starting point to understand Rioja in full, Cosme Palacio is excellent. Begin with the young Tinto, move up to the Crianza, finish with the 1894, and you’ve tasted the whole region in one evening. After that, the sharpest bottles take you deeper into the niche. But as a map of the Rioja landscape, this house is hard to beat.

Bottles received as a press sample from Cosme Palacio. No payment, independent assessment.

Sources

• Bodegas Cosme Palacio (DOCa Rioja profile): riojawine.com
• Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja: riojawine.com