La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904 (2011) Wooden Box

Harvest

Despite water shortages during the first few months, our vines in the upper areas of Rioja managed to attain a balanced canopy thanks to accumulated reserves. The end of the growing cycle was marked by sunny days and cool nights, a temperature gap that benefited grape ripening up to harvest. Magnificent colour component, significant polyphenol load and an outstanding condition resulted in wines that were particularly suitable for long aging. This vintage was officially rated “Excellent”.

VINEYARD, GRAPES & AGEING

Tempranillo (89%) from vines over 60 years old planted in Briñas, Rodezno and Villalba, and Graciano (11%) from our Montecillo vineyard in the municipality of Fuenmayor. The grapes were collected in boxes and transported to the winery in refrigerated vehicles to preserve all their integrity. After destemming and light crushing, the grapes were put in tanks where they underwent alcoholic fermentation for 17 days. Batches were selected and allowed to complete malolactic fermentation naturally over 75 days. In June 2012, the wine was transferred to four-and-a-half-year-old American oak barrels (made in-house), where it stayed until March 2015. During aging, the wine was racked eight times using traditional barrel-tobarrel methods. The final blend was bottled in November 2016.

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