The wine of the month
Grape varieties: Tempranillo y Graciano.
Elaboration: The grapes were harvested in boxes of 15 kilos, collected first thing in the morning to avoid high temperatures and reduce waiting times before going to the winery. The bunches were carefully selected as they arrived at the winery on a sorting table that allowed us to choose not only the best bunches but also the best individual grapes.
Fermentation was carried out in conical-bodied tanks “without planting” any commercial yeasts, in a quest to capture the typical character of the selected plots during the fermentation process, undertaken naturally with native yeasts.
Once the alcohol fermentation was over, the wine was macerated with the skins on for 25 days in order to achieve greater bouquet and chromatic complexity. MLF was carried out in new lightly toasted American oak barrels.
Aging: 85% of the barrels used to age this wine were made of new American oak whose wood had been dried for 4 years to reduce the amount of green tannins. The remaining 15% were very fine-grained, lightly dry-toasted French oak barrels. During the aging process, one of the main targets was to conserve the greatest amount of fruit. Every six months the barrels were racked, leaving the same wine in the barrel.
At the same time, our technical department took frequent tastings form the barrels to assess whether or not the aging process was complete. For that reason, aging times range between 18 months in the case of the French oak barrels and 24 months for the American oak barrels.
Tasting notes: Intense cherry red color with hues of terracotta. Very good, clean and shiny coat. A powerful bouquet of red berries harmonized with prune-type fruit. The aromas from the barrel, such as vanilla, chocolate, licorice and spices, stand out most prominently. Great structure and powerful entry with good acidity, elegant and well balanced. Lengthy persistence on the palate with hints of the bouquets on the nose, mainly licorice, chocolate and vanilla.
BODEGAS RIOJANAS
