VINEYARDS

Today, approximately 380,000 kg of grapes are produced per year, nearly all of which are from the 65 hectares of vineyards belonging to the family, and around 10 hectares of vineyards cultivated by long-term suppliers to the winery, carefully managed to ensure the quality of the grapes. Every year an average of 240,000 litres of red wine and 30,000 litres of white wine are produced.

All our plots are situated within the boundaries of Villabuena, a short distance from the wine cellar, on sun-kissed slopes which descend from the Sierra de Cantabria, protecting them to the north, towards the banks of the River Ebro in the South- Southwest.

With the prime goal of preserving the character and quality of our wines, we still maintain very old, low-yielding vines, at the same time as new plantations start to bear fruit. The average age of the vines is over 40 years.

TEMPRANILLO: this is the black grape variety which forms the basis of any good Rioja wine. In this area of Rioja Alavesa the finest quality can be found. It makes up 80% of our vine plants and is the main variety used in all our red wines. It gives good alcoholic strength, colour, fruitiness and a round character. And it is highly suited to cask ageing.

In order to give our wines “distinctive characteristics”, we grow significant percentages of other less widely cultivated Rioja varieties, blended in the various “coupages” for Crianza, Reserva or Gran Reserva and which in Excellent Vintages are bottled as 100% monovarietal wines.

MAZUELO: Similar to the French Carignan grape, it produces musts with good colour and acidity, rich in tannins and with characteristic aromas of hay and aromatic herbs.

GARNACHA: This is the most “Mediterranean” of the varieties grown in Rioja. It provides freshness and characteristic red-berry aromas.

GRACIANO: An indigenous Rioja grape, low-yielding, highly aromatic and very well suited to long ageing processes thanks to its high acidity and stable colour.

VIURA: A white grape only grown in the highest and poorest soils of our vineyards, exclusively to be used to make our cask-fermented, cask-aged white wines.

In pursuit of our goal of continuing to provide new ideas to differentiate our wines and to experiment with new varieties, we have recently planted a vineyard with Maturana Red and another with Chardonnay, we will have to wait a few years to see how these minority varieties perform in the Rioja Alavesa.