GRAPE: 100% Graciano

APPELLATION: Rioja DOCa

VINIFICATION:  Sustainable farming. Hand harvested in 11kg baskets. Complete destemming and spontaneous fermentation with wild yeast. Cold maceration for 2-4 days and fermentation for 10-12 days with daily treading and hardly any pumping over. Aged for 7 months in 500 liters French oak casks.

TASTING NOTES: Perfumed and fine-grained, with a vibrant acidity and lively flavors. Aromatic and elegant, with the varietal touch of pepper.

FOOD PAIRING: Red meats, game, stews, spoon dishes. Ideal for some lamb chops.

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».