🌍 Rioja, Spain
🍇 100% Garnacha from old bush-trained vines planted in Badarán (upper Najerilla) with north orientation at 650m above the sea level.
Harvest: Grapes were handpicked in 200 kg crates and hand sorted at the winery.
Winemaking: Traditional elaboration. Fermented in stainless steel gently plunging the cap to extract the noble compounds from the skins. Malolactic fermentation 65% in new French oak and 35% in egg-shaped concrete tanks.
Soil: Red colored ferrous-clay soils in the rolling hills of Badarán.
Climatic Year: A mild winter with little rain. It was a rather cool and dry year until the month of August. The highest temperatures of the year were recorded in August, which was a completely dry month with no rainfall at all. Thus, some vineyards began to show the first signs of water stress.
Areas such as the Upper Najerilla had more favorable conditions due to their high altitude and soil with good water retention capacity. It was a highly fertile year so thinning clusters was essential.
Some rainfall in September allowed maturation to come to completion without any problems. Harvest took place during the last week of October. Given the wide thermal amplitude during the final days of maturation, the grapes had more anthocyanins than in previous years.