Tempranillo

In 1985 in Laguardia, a small town in the Alevesa region of Rioja, a group of local vineyard owners founded Artadi as a co-operative with the view of focussing on their vineyards. This project was taken over in 1992 by the Localle... Read More

The juicy velvety and aromatic red 2020 Pícaro del Águila Tinto is fine-boned and quite faithfully represents what they want to express with this cuvée; it's very tasty and has some chalkiness (perhaps through less ripeness... Read More

I tasted two vintages of the entry-level wine starting with the 2021 Pícaro del Águila Tinto. It's ripe and round with round tannins velvety and polished approachable and hedonistic. It's nicely built and serious very... Read More

I also tasted the 2017 Canta la Perdiz from the low-yielding and warm year marked by spring frost. The Tempranillo field blend clusters fermented in concrete vats with natural yeasts after being foot trodden. The wine went through... Read More

2017 was a low-yielding year so I also tasted the 2018 Reserva their flagship red wine that wants to be a representation of the village of La Aguilera—fine serious and elegant. It's 95% Tempranillo with the remaining grapes... Read More

As with La Canoca the 2022 El Bardallo changes from a single-vineyard to a paraje (lieu-dit) wine and includes more plots in the same place to increase the volume of wine produced. It's Tempranillo with some 10% white grapes... Read More

There is a change in the 2022 La Canoca as this year it's no longer a single-vineyard wine but a paraje or lieu-dit wine that includes more plots from the same place. Therefore volumes have grown from 500 bottles in the previous... Read More

I tasted again the 2012 Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial as the wine was not produced in 2013 2014 or 2015 and the 2016 will not be released until 2027. The next vintages will be 2017 2019 and 2021. The 2012 was produced with... Read More

A barrel selection of the most age-worthy wines from the vintage make the 2016 Gran Reserva Limited Edition this year a blend of 82% Tempranillo 10% Graciano and 8% Mazuelo selected from their 300 hectares of vineyards. The grapes... Read More

The 2003 Numanthia was fashioned from yields of one ton of fruit per acre (from a clone of Tempranillo that often has the highest polyphenols of any Tempranillo clone). This cuvee is made from 70- to 100-year-old vines planted... Read More

The showy 2020 Malpuesto from the zone of the same name in Villabuena de Álava comes in a huge Burgundy bottle but the wine feels more proportioned than ever with much better integrated oak and contained ripeness and extraction.... Read More

A whopper in the making the 2001 Tinto possesses extraordinarily sweet fruit purity and richness. A deep ruby/purple color is followed by loads of chocolatey black currant cherry raspberry and licorice characteristics full body... Read More