Rioja Jarrarte Carbonica - Tempranillo & Graciano

Tempranillo | selctie uit Rioja Alavesa | joven type | de wijn rijpt voor een deel op eikenhout | enorme rijpe fruitbom | donkere kleur | veel sap, cassis en braam | juicy | zachte tannine | licht kruidig  

Abel&Maite Mendoza

 Een stel wat echt pioniers zijn in het Rioja gebied, al 25 jaar verbouwen zijn biodynamische druiven in verschillende regio’s van de Rioja, op 22 verschillende percelen. Zij hebben ervoor gekozen om alle kleine percelen apart te laten vergisten om zo een soort ‘Bourgogne systeem’ te introduceren, alleen is dit vrij lastig gebleken. In de kelder wordt er traditioneel gewerkt  en levert wijnen op die altijd hoge scores krijgen. Het is niet voor niets dat ze altijd bij de 15 beste producenten van de regio zitten!

Review

The carbonic maceration red 2018 Jarrarte Maceración Carbónica was produced by fermenting full clusters of Tempranillo in an open concrete lagar, and only the free run wine was bottled. This wine is more elegant and easier to drink, aromatic but without excess, and it has subtle notes of violets and blueberries, clean and focused. It's from a year of rain and higher yields, and the wines might have less dry extract but also, in the case of this young red, better balance. It feels very harmonious, tasty and juicy, with fine tannins. It's been a while since I've had a carbonic maceration red this good! 38,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2019. Luis Guttierez 91/100

I wanted to catch up with Abel and Maite Mendoza, some of the best true vignerons from Spain, in their small family winery in the village of San Vicente de la Sonsierra. So, I tasted two vintages of most of the wines, as I had not tasted anything from them in some 16 months. In 2017, he was not able to do Tempranillo Blanco, Garnacha Blanca or Torrontés, and he only saved a little to make the white blend 5V. As for the reds, he didn't make the Garnacha, and some wines had very little volume. He has experimented with the "new" old varieties, and he saw that Maturana Blanca goes from green to rotten in no time at all, so he discarded it. He's now trying another variety called Legiruela.