With such a deep reserve of old vine Garnacha, our “artesanal” Rioja wines focus on this variety with judicious use of old vine Tempranillo. Eschewing the conventional ageing criteria in favour of a pursuit of place and purity, these are wines founded on fruit quality and low intervention winemaking in order to preserve their balance and provenance.
El Primero Rioja
Viticulture
El Primero is sourced from 2 different parcels of fruit: Quiñones is old low trellised garnacha close to the town of Aldeanueva ; Juan Bueno is old bush vine Tempranillo on an elevated site close to Azagra.
Winemaking
Our old vine parcels are hand harvested and transported to the winery close by. 25-30% whole bunches are included in the ferments which undergo 3-4 days cold soak prior to a spontaneous fermentation in small open vats. Gentle hand plunging twice daily ensures gentle extraction. A short maceration on skins follows the primary ferment before pressing to 2nd and 3rd year french barriques for almost 12 months. The individual component parts are skilfully blended to make one seamless whole.
Tasting
An unashamedly contemporary style of Rioja that relies not on oak or age but on quality of fruit and a subtle, nuanced approach to winemaking. The fruit is vibrant, lifted and energetic -there are hints of woodspice, wild cherry and thyme. The palate is succulent, juicy, multilayered but vibrant and textural. Savoury elements, hints of warm spice, liquorice and dark cherry fill the mouth, leading through to a clean, satisfying finish.
Press & Awards
93 pts - Wine Orbit
'Sweetly fruited with spicy nuances, the wine shows dark cherry, thyme, game, clove and toasted almond notes on the nose. The palate displays juicy fruit intensity together with polished tannins, making it splendidly balanced and lingering.' (2021)
90 pts - The Real Review
“Vibrant purple hue. Fragrant and lifted with plums, lavender, and dark spices. Good flow and textural as it glides quite full bodied to the finish. Showing a little development but it still works well” . (2020)
90 pts - The Real Review
“Deep ruby colour. Black cherry, dusty earth and vanillin aromas. Medium to full palate with intense dark fruits and herbal notes. Oak is a little obvious right now but not ponderously so. A hint of acidity gives a pleasing freshness and flows into a drying finish that carries reasonable length”.
(2019)
90 pts - The Wine Front
“Cherry, red berries, thyme, pine and dried mint, nutty too, with some toasted coconut and spice. Good flavour, all berries and wild herb, loose knit chamois-like tannin, some vanilla too, and a toasty and fresh finish of good length”. (2019)
" For many centuries, Rioja has been a staging post on the pilgrim's way, or the Camino de Santiago. A tradition long held was for the locals to fill drinking fountains with the fresh red wine from the new vintage. This first wine of the year, "El Primero" was a symbol of the vitality and generosity of the region - virtues that deAlto continues to this day"
La Planta Magica Garnacha Viñas Viejas Rioja
Viticulture
La Planta Magica is named after the Mistletoe to be found in the almond trees that surround this old, bush trained Garnacha Vineyard. Close to the town of Aldeanueva in the Rioja Oriental, this small vineyard has beautifully balanced vines that yield very small quantities of fruit. Tiny berries and almost perfect acid enable us to hand pick ripe fruit with an analysis that allows for very low intervention winemaking. A remarkable vineyard just waiting to be rediscovered as one of the jewels of Rioja.
Winemaking
After intensive sampling and tasting in the vineyard, the fruit is hand-picked into 12kg baskets to protect the bunches prior to arrival at the winery. Open, shallow, 5 ton fermenters are filled first by 25% whole bunches before the crushed fruit is added. 5 days of temperature controlled cold soak followed before the must was warmed and a spontaneous fermentation began. A brief maceration on skins postferments helped to balance tannins prior to pressing and then ageing in a mix of 225l and 500l French oak barrels for up to 12 months.
Tasting
An unashamedly contemporary style of rioja that relies not on oak or age but on quality of fruit and a subtle, nuanced approach to winemaking. What marks out this wine is the quiet, brooding intensity on the nose that gives way to a rich, yet lean palate of wild, dark cherry, warm spices, cranberry and liquorice. The spice from the french oak is integrated and supporting without dominating. Spectacular fruit with huge reserves of energy are the signature of this remarkable new expression of Rioja.
Press & Awards
95 pts - Wine Orbit
'Complex and engaging, the inviting bouquet shows dark berry, cedar, cured meat and warm spice aromas, followed by a wonderfully weighted palate offering plush texture combined with layers of fine tannins, finishing superbly long and structured.'
(2021)
93 pts - Decanter Magazine / March 2023
“Powerful with ripe red fruit aromas. Silky tannins and warm spice on the palate. A persistent finish” (2019)
92 pts - The Real Review
“Medium, intense ruby-red colour in the glass. The nose lifts with crushed raspberries, rosemary and woody spices. Medium-weighted palate, good intensity of dark fruits with spice and earth layered underneath. A hint of freshening acidity gives lift, and the tannin profile is soft but gives good length” (2019)
91 pts - The Wine Front
“Old bush vine Garnacha here. Cherries, spice, and quite a lot of dill... It’s fresh, all cherries and strawberry, some liquorice, again the vanilla coconut wood, dried mint, supple tannin and a fresh finish of good length, with some stickiness to the tannin as it goes." (2019)
91 pts - Tim Atkin/ The Rioja Report
“Appealingly fresh and floral for a Garnacha, with only 13% alcohol, this is a sappy, juicy, wild yeast-fermented red from a single parcel of bush-vine grapes in Aldeanueva de Ebro. With the emphasis on flavour rather than oak, this is spicy and appealing with raspberry, cherry and wild strawberry fruit and zesty acidity. 2022-25” (2019)
"I vividly remember the smell of rich, leathery tobacco as I took my first steps into the real Spain of the 1990s and I slowly but surely fell in love with the country and its wines.
That love for country, sparked by the warmth and generous hospitality of my hosts, was to become a defining part of a large part of my career in wine" Giles Cooke, Master of Wine
