Bodegas Alvia has earned recognition for its efforts in making wines of the highest quality receiving awards at this year’s leading international competitions.
The Mileto crianza 2011 won a Gold Medal at the Berliner Wein Trophy 2014 in Germany. It is a classic wine, aged for 14 months in American and French oak barrels. Very intense, garnet-cherry red. Good fruit intensity, with cherries, strawberries, liquorice and hints of wood all well integrated into the wine. Well-structured with a balanced acidity and a long finish. This wine also received a Silver Medal at Mundusvini in Germany.
The Livius Tempranillo won a Gold Medal at Mundusvini in Germany. It is a single-varietal wine made with grapes from vines between 80 and 100 years old. Manual harvesting and ageing for 14 months in French oak barrels. A dark cherry-red, this wine is powerful, structured and elegant. Outstanding ripe fruit with subtle hints of toasted wood. Long, persistent finish.
Furthermore, the Livius Garnacha also obtained a Gold Medal at the Sélections Mondiales des Vins in Canada. It comes from vines that are over 65 years old, located in very cold areas of Rioja Alta which produce low yields. It is a cherry-red wine with a garnet-red rim. Aromas of fresh red fruit, alcohol with toasted notes, cocoa, cedar, spices and tobacco are set against a backdrop of raspberries. A subtle attack reveals a silky, velvety, pleasant wine.
Two ranges, two styles of wine
Bodegas Alvia, with its winemaker Alfredo Bernáldez, produces a top range of select Rioja wines under the brand name Livius, in honour of Titus Livius (a.k.a. Livy), a Roman philosopher and historian who took charge of the education of the future emperor Claudius. The grapes come from century-old vines which are manually harvested in 15 kg boxes. They are fermented using artisan methods and the wine is aged in French, Hungarian and American oak barrels from the most renowned coopers. The most classic range of Rioja wines is marketed under the brand name Mileto, chosen in honour of one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Thales of Miletus, who predicted a solar eclipse. Employing one of his maxims, ‘all things have life’, they offer this wine for what it is, a living being.
The grape varieties used are Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo for reds and Viura and Malvasía for whites. The vineyards are located in the Rioja Alta area. The grapes come from century-old vines planted at the beginning of the 20th century in low-yield, chalky-clay soils. The terrain has a south-west orientation taking full advantage of available sunlight. Behind its wines stand renowned professionals with extensive experience in the wine sector, creating wines in artisan style from native Riojan grape varieties.
These distinctions are yet another recognition of the work of maintaining the century-old Rioja vines, offering a high level of quality through painstaking care at the vineyard, finely crafted vinification and ageing in barrels made by the world’s foremost coopers.
