Artadi La Poza de Ballesteros 2021

A flagship for quality in the Rioja area (although it left the Rioja appellation in 2015), Artadi is one of the key wineries to understand the huge transformation Spanish winemaking has undertaken. Their pioneering project gives utmost importance to the age of the vines and the terroir, moves on from traditional crianza indicators, and produces wines plot by plot. The result — a catalogue of top quality wines affordable for all wine-lovers. Without doubt, this is an essential winery in the history of Spanish wine. A clear example of this is the Artadi La Poza de Ballesteros wine, one of the best parcel wines (made from unique plots) from Juan Carlos López de Lacalle's winery. It is made with carefully selected Tempranillo grapes from the La Poza de Ballesteros vineyard located on a gentle hillside of poor, deep and compact soils, grown using environmentally-friendly organic agriculture methods. Twelve months ageing in new French oak barrels results in an enveloping red wine which, as the Artadi winemakers say, offers us the rough expressiveness which characterizes wines from this plot. A wine with volume and clear tones of very ripe and seasoned fruit, it delights the drinker with wide, round and dense tannins and elaborate and mature retronasal aromas and aftertaste.