2010 Amancio

Everything in the 2010 Amancio is spectacular and noteworthy, homage to the current Eguren generation’s grandfather after whom the wine is named. It’s 100% Tempranillo from the same La Veguilla vineyard as its siblings. Again, the bunches are hand destemmed and the grapes ferment with their own yeast in 10-hectoliter French oak vats where they are foot-trodden twice per day during the first six days. The wine ages for 24 months in French and American oak barrels and is racked every four months. The wine is still extremely young and closed with shy aromas of licorice, blackberries, damsons and spices and a great sense of harmony. It’s still in the making, but it has ultra-fine tannins, great, clean acidity and superb concentration of fruit. All signs point at to sublime evolution in bottle. This true Rioja is a world class wine, but you should hold on to your bottles for a couple of years (or four!) to really enjoy its true value. 4,000 bottles produced. Drink 2016-2032. I tasted through the portfolio of three wineries belonging to the Eguren family and realized they were constantly mentioning that the wines were fermented with “yeast coming from their own vineyard,” so I queried winemaker Marcos Eguren what that really meant. It turns out that they have been carrying out an extensive study of the natural yeasts in their vineyards and found that 99% of the existing yeasts were non-saccharomyces. They have isolated two or three of this non-saccharomyces yeasts and a saccharomyces from their own vineyards which are subsequently used for the fermentation of their wines. These yeasts are kept at -80º C at the Navarra University, which is part of this research to avoid changes and mutations from happening. The study has not yet concluded. These are the wines from the Sierra Cantabria winery in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, which were extremely impressive and pure. Imported by Fine Estates from Spain, Dedham, MA; tel. (781) 461-5767

Everything in the 2010 Amancio is spectacular and noteworthy, homage to the current Eguren generation’s grandfather after whom the wine is named. It’s 100% Tempranillo from the same La Veguilla vineyard as its siblings. Again, the bunches are hand destemmed and the grapes ferment with their own yeast in 10-hectoliter French oak vats where they are foot-trodden twice per day during the first six days. The wine ages for 24 months in French and American oak barrels and is racked every four months. The wine is still extremely young and closed with shy aromas of licorice, blackberries, damsons and spices and a great sense of harmony. It’s still in the making, but it has ultra-fine tannins, great, clean acidity and superb concentration of fruit. All signs point at to sublime evolution in bottle. This true Rioja is a world class wine, but you should hold on to your bottles for a couple of years (or four!) to really enjoy its true value. 4,000 bottles produced. Drink 2016-2032. ||I tasted through the portfolio of three wineries belonging to the Eguren family and realized they were constantly mentioning that the wines were fermented with “yeast coming from their own vineyard,” so I queried winemaker Marcos Eguren what that really meant. It turns out that they have been carrying out an extensive study of the natural yeasts in their vineyards and found that 99% of the existing yeasts were non-saccharomyces. They have isolated two or three of this non-saccharomyces yeasts and a saccharomyces from their own vineyards which are subsequently used for the fermentation of their wines. These yeasts are kept at -80º C at the Navarra University, which is part of this research to avoid changes and mutations from happening. The study has not yet concluded. These are the wines from the Sierra Cantabria winery in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, which were extremely impressive and pure.||Imported by Fine Estates from Spain, Dedham, MA; tel. (781) 461-5767 Wine Advocate.December, 2013