D.O. Ca. Rioja (Alavesa)

ICONIC

COLOUR

Lovely deep dark cherry red colour.

NOSE

Ripe and concentrated fruit aromas, with mineral and spice traces, and notes of blackberry and blueberry jam wrapped in creamy oak and tones of toffee and café au lait.

PALATE

Concentrated and glycerine like in the center, well-balanced and fruit driven with fine tannins. Very long and expressive, leaving a clear impression of the character of the terroir.

FOOD PAIRING

Suggested for dishes such as marmitako, which is a traditional Basque stew prepared by fishermen and made with tuna, tomatoes and green peppers. It also goes well with lamb dishes, beef steak and grilled sea bream as well as with cheese.

TECHNICAL DATA

Varietals: 95% Tempranillo, 5% Garnacha.
Vine age: 40 years for Carranavaridas parcel (2ha.) and 25 years old for San Millan (0,7ha.)
Soil type: North-South orientation poor, calcareous-clay soils
Fermentation & Maceration Period: 26 days.

The harvest

It was a shorter vintage than usual in terms of quantity, but of a very high level of quality. Quantity wise, a 25-30% decrease in yield compared to a normal year’s harvest. Great concentration of colour and grade that will allow keeping back wines with great longevity and with lots of fruit. Very favourable year for the cultivation of the vine, with two shocks at the beginning and end of the cycle. It was a vintage that accumulated an advance of about 10 days compared to a normal year. The low production, the favourable climate during most of the year, the morphology of grains and clusters and the good work of the winemakers resulted in very high quality wines.

Vinification

Most parcels are located in the foothills of Sierra Cantabria. In open, French oak casks with temperature control and use of carbonic snow. The grapes are thus kept at a controlled temperature, with long cold maceration to enhance polyphenol extraction. Fermented with full stalked grapes, “pigeage” carried out by hand daily. After the alcoholic fermentation, extraction carried out with care using vertical pneumatic presses; use of semi-toasted Sylvain, Orion and Radoux casks.