La Rioja Alta - Ardanza Reserva 2016
La Rioja Alta, SA is located in the La Rioja region, Spain . The estate was created in 1890 by five Riojan and Basque families. The original La Rioja Alta winery is based in Haro , but there is a second location in Labastida in Rioja Alavesa which was built in 1996. In 1904, the Ardanza winery, owned by Don Alfredo Ardanza, joined La Rioja Alta . To commemorate the event, the Gran Reserva 904 was produced for the first time. Grupo La Rioja Alta also owns the Torre de Oña estate in the Alavesa de la Rioja sub-region, Áster in Ribera del Duero and Lagar de Cervera in the Rias Baixas region of Galicia. The estate consists of approximately 660 hectares of vineyards around Rioja. The winery located in Haro includes a cooperage, where the barrels are made from American oak. The racking of each barrel is carried out by candlelight, to eliminate sediment in a natural way and also to allow the team to monitor each barrel individually.
La Rioja Alta, SA is ecologically committed: limited treatments in the vineyards, investments in clean energy, water reuse, solar farm, corks and boxes are also managed sustainably. Today, 16 hectares are certified in organic viticulture and the objective is to increase this proportion. Also, the board of directors launched the Viña Ardanza Solidario program; 1% of the annual net profit (and with a minimum of €100,000 per year) is allocated to humanitarian and philanthropic causes.
The Viña Ardanza Reserva 2016 is a blend of Tempranillo (80%) from the 30-year-old La Cuesta and Montecillo vineyards located in Fuenmayor y Cenicero, and Garnacha (20%) from the La Pedriza vineyard in Tudelilla, Rioja Oriental. Alcoholic fermentation took place naturally. Malolactic fermentation was completed at the end of the year. In February 2017, the selected wines were put into barrels to begin aging separately : the Tempranillo for 36 months with 6 manual rackings in 4-year-old American oak barrels of average age, and the Garnacha for 30 months with five manual rackings in American oak barrels of two and three wines. The final blending took place once barrel aging was completed. The wine was bottled in June 2020.
Grape varieties: 80% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha
