La Rioja Alta - Ardanza Reserva - Magnum 2017
La Rioja Alta, SA is located in the La Rioja region of Spain . The estate was established in 1890 by five Riojan and Basque families. The original La Rioja Alta winery is based in Haro , but there is a second site 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 sub-region of La Rioja, 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 naturally 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 aim 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 2017 is a blend of Tempranillo (80%) from the 30-year-old La Cuesta and Montecillo vineyards in Fuenmayor y Cenicero and Garnacha (20%) from the La Pedriza vineyard in Tudelilla, Rioja Oriental. The manual harvest was done in crates, with a rigorous selection of the bunches in the vineyard. The Garnacha was harvested 15 days later. The grapes are transported refrigerated to the cellar to preserve their quality. After a second selection table optical, alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation are carried out naturally. Aging takes place in American oak barrels : 36 months for Tempranillo and 30 months for Garnacha to avoid oxidation (20% in new oak and the rest in 3 wines). Five traditional rackings were carried out using candles to manually separate the sediment and avoid aggressive filtering.
Grape varieties: 80% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha
