Text: Antonio Egido

Jesús Madrazo, a renowned Rioja winemaker, has presented his wine ‘Ermita de San Gregorio Ostiense’ at the hermitage of the San Gregorio Brotherhood in Logroño. This is a 2020 Rioja Blanco Reserva, made with Viura (95%) and Malvasía Rojal (5%). Of this wine, he will offer 1,604 bottles for sale. It boasts the Qualified Designation of Origin Rioja, specifically from the Rioja Alavesa sub-zone, and was bottled on January 30, 2022. However, it has only been available on the market since April 2023.

Jesús Madrazo crafted this wine using hand-harvested grapes from vineyards in the areas of Viñaspre towards the Villar de Álava, fresh and high zones of the Sierra de Cantabria mountains. The grapes underwent carbonic maceration with direct pressing. Alcoholic fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks, followed by a finishing period in new French oak barrels, along with 10% Acacia wood. The wine aged for 3 months on its fine lees and an additional 5 months in the barrels before being stabilized and bottled.

The winemaker himself states, “This is my first white wine since leaving Contino. The project will continue to improve as I acquire more grapes to achieve the blend I have in mind. In 2021, already bottled, the Malvasía percentage increased to 10%. The 2022 vintage, which I will soon release from the barrels, has 10% Malvasía and 5% Garnacha Blanca. And in 2023, I hope to be able to buy some Maturana Blanca as well.”

It is a "golden, clean and frank aromas yellow wine, with good aromatic intensity." It should not be served very cold and Madrazo indicates "that it must open half an hour before consumption. It is a warm wine, with some mature feeling (motivated by July's hail) and tasty in the mouth, fatty and long with very good acidity." He recommends that it is an ideal wine to accompany fleshy fish, such as monkfish or rodaballo, and also harmonizes well with white birds and meats.

Jesús Madrazo, was declared ‘Friend’ of the Brotherhood of San Gregorio as well as vine MEANDRO DEL EBRO IN THE TERM OF LASERNA THAT ARE DOMAINED FROM AN OLD SOLAR HOUSE. In that first event of the brotherhood, Taquio Uzqueda, delivered to Jesús Madrazo of the first title recalling that “this was the first visit that our brotherhood had to make since the saint is present in the farm and in the labels of all his bottles”, thanking one of the best winemakers in the world, the reception he offered to 16 brotherhoods.

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