Akutain Reserva Rioja 2017

$80.00

One of the finest traditional Reservas on the market and incredible value. If this was Bordeaux or Burgundy, the price would be much higher. Blackcurrant, plum, cranberry, raspberry, aniseed, tobacco, vanilla, violets and cola. Medium to full bodied, incredibly fresh and vibrant, certainly firm and serious. Flecks of savoury spice, dried fruit and firm mineral tannins. I love the interplay between the fresh pure fruit and the tertiary notes. It’s as if you have the best of both worlds – a mature wine and a new vintage. Such a “European” wine, poised and restrained. Will be very long lived. Waters Wine Co

 

What’s unusual is that they exclusively use grapes from their 6.4 hectares of vineyards, all within five kilometers from the winery in the villages of Villalba, Haro, Anguciana, Cihuri and Sajazarra in Rioja Alta. They don’t use herbicides but are not yet entirely organic. Each vineyard ferments and matures separately, and they follow a tradition they have learned from people such as Basilio Izquierdo and Ezequiel García (both ex-CVNE), racking the wines three or four times before they go into barrel (“to have them as clean as possible”). The aging is mostly in old American oak, with 20% to 30% in French oak, hand-racking the barrels one by one, like in the old times, and always keeping each vineyard separate. The wines keep the traditional hierarchy: Cosecha, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva; and they even have a Gran Reserva Rosé! These are textbook traditional savory Rioja wines destined for the table. Luis Gutiérrez

 

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SKU: AKU001-17 Categories: , , , ,

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