Alegre Valganon 2020 Rioja Tinto DOCa

Item Number: 18873

UPC: 0-843701643806

Country: Spain
Region: Rioja
Sub Region: Rioja Alta
Appellation/AVA: Rioja DOCa
Estate Grown Wine: Yes
Vintage: 2020
Grape(s): 75% Tempranillo / 25% Garnacha
Type: Wine - Red
Bottle Size: 750 ml
Pack: 12
Closure: Cork
Alc by Vol(%): 14.5
Viticulture: Practicing Organic
Soil Type: Limetone-rich clay with sand

Winemaking Notes: This is a blend of roughly 75% Tempranillo from Obarenes and 25% Garnacha from Cárdenas. The grapes are fermented primarily in wooden vats using indigenous yeast. While once the norm, whole-cluster winemaking is today nearly unheard-of in Rioja. Oscar and Eva are restoring that tradition, inspired by how the best Northern Rhône traditionalists routinely get greater purity and expressiveness by including ripe stems. This wine sees at least 25% whole bunches and is given a 30+ day maceration. The wine is then aged in a mix of used French barriques and demi-muid for 18 months. The result is a blend of vivid fruit and intense mouthfeel uncommon in Rioja today. 

Winemaker Notes from Oscar Alegre: "We are not trying to make the greatest wine in Rioja. We only want to make a true wine—a wine that shows off our land, and all the knowledge that we’ve inherited from earlier generations." 

Vineyard Notes: Oscar and Eva are blessed with superb sites—all lying just west of Haro, in the shadow of the Obarenes Mountains. These high-elevation sites are key to quality of their fruit, but the couple’s investment in serious, labor-intensive viticulture is what make their wines so special. Traditional/sustainable viticulture is employed, with only organic fertilizers and without herbicides.

Reviews

  • The Wine Advocate
    Rating: 93+ (7/14/2022)
    The house red 2020 Tinto showed superbly. It's a blend of Tempranillo from the Obarenes Mountains (Sajazarra and Fonzaleche) with 20% Garnacha from Cárdenas on clay and some 5% white that has 14.2% alcohol but feels perfectly balanced and integrated. It has a serious, harmonious nose with complexity and depth but also youth. It has a soft and juicy texture with focused and clean flavors, finishing with an almost salty twist. Super tasty and easy to drink! Great value too. It matured in a mixture of 1,000- and 3,000-liter oak foudres and 225- and 500-liter barrels. 22,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2022.