GRAPE: 60% Garnacha, 30% Mazuelo, 10% Others

APPELLATION: Rioja DOCa

VINIFICATION:  Sustainable farming. Hand harvested in 11kg baskets. Cluster selection. Vatting in open stainless steel tanks. Cold maceration for 2-4 days and fermentation for 15- 20 days with daily pushing downs and little pumping over. Aged for 18 months in 500 and 225L in French- oak barrels,

TASTING NOTES: Broad and deep nose, concentrated and full, with earthy intensity, lively acidity and layers of black plum, red plum, licorice and wild strawberry. Silky tannin and elegant finish.

FOOD PAIRING: Beef jambalaya, roasted chicken, pork tenderloin, Swedish meatballs.

PRODUCER:

After studying viticulture and oenology at the University of La Rioja and making several trips to national and international wine areas, in 2009, Javier Arizcuren  began to make a small amount of wine in the basement of the family house.

In 2016 Javier designed his “garage” cellar, an urban space converted into a place for winemaking and aging. The whole process is carried out by hand in a series of multi-purpose rooms.

With 19 hectares of vineyard, he only sells about 12,500 bottles. He seeks to reach 25,000, but «without subtracting time from work in the field», which, he says, represents 95 percent. «Because if you work well the land and the vineyard, little hand you have to put in cellar“.

Lacking innovative technologies («only mud jars can be considered innovation»), Arizcuren works in ecological, both, land and in cellar, with a minimal intervention «to get the purest expression of what comes from the field».