Montecillo GR 1998 question

To Joe Perry or any other Rioja afficianado. I am looking at a few bottles of the subject wine in a local retail store. I haven't kept up with spanish wines , and am wondering if this wine has kept pace with it's past, or if it has declined in recent years. Price wise it is tempting at $23 per and at that price for a GR seems inexpensive. Any advice before I spend my $$ will be appreciated.

[James Roscoe]

Both Joe and Manuel are pretty tough on the state of almost all Spanish wines. My memory of Joe's advice was that Montecillo went to "modernization" around 1994. My own memory is that I enjoyed the 1994 GR but was less impressed with the 1998 GR. Hopefully someone with a lot more expeience and information will chime in soon as I'm interested in this producer as well.
Cheers!
James R.

I didn't really enjoy it. All chocolate and sweetness and smoothness and quite dull if I may say so. But then again, I've never enjoyed young Riojas. Their 1982 GR Selección Especial is pretty nice now though

My words to Jenise on Montecillo in the other thread were:

"Montecillo is a big Bodega, along with M d Caceres and Faustino they are the most common Rioja I see. Currently, their wines are fair, but their older Gran Reserva (esp. Vina Monty) are very good. "

For low $20s the Gran Reserva is a nice wine, but it probably only needs 5 years to show best. I'm not sure when they switched to new French oak and 100% Tempranillo... Manuel might know if he is lurking. They did do a good deal of renovating in 1998. I actually buy their Cumbrero when I am in Maine and my options are limited. Again, old Vina Monty rules.

Best,
Joe