Bodegas Akutain, Rioja Crianza, 2022

£26.50

plum
vanilla
dried herb
cedar

At a glance

Producer: Bodega Akutain
Region: Rioja
Appellation: Rioja DOCa
Grape: Tempranillo Garnacha Viura
Country: Spain
Wine type: Red
Farming: Organic — practising

Taste profile

Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Tannin: Medium
Sweetness: Dry

What to eat with it

Roast lamb with rosemary
Riojan chorizo with peppers
Grilled pork chops
Aged Manchego cheese

How to serve it

Serve: Cool room temperature (16–18°C)

Why Cave selected it

Tiny family estate near Haro working their own Rioja Alta vineyards with low-intervention farming; a benchmark, classically-aged Crianza that offers purity of fruit and finesse at a fair price.

About the wine

This is a blend from the four parcels of vines worked by Akutain, vinified in tank then transferred into 45% new to 6yo, and 55% 7yo and much older oak barrels which as per a long Rioja tradition come 75% from the Appalachian region of USA. Aged for 20 months in barrel (six months longer than the minimum 14 months prescribed) and racked barrel by barrel twice a year it was bottled without filtration, and then aged for a further eight months in their deep under-vineyard cellar.

About Bodega Akutain

Bodega Akutain is a 6.5ha family estate set up by Jon Peñagaricano’s father 40 years ago, 5km west of Haro’s epicentre. Here they spare no effort to produce wines that accurately reflect the wind-swept limestone clay higher hills of Rioja Alta (all their vineyards are in this zone) and are in the process of converting to organic viticulture. The winery and underground cave that they use to age their bottles are located next to their vineyards (split into four parcels that are all vinified separately), and they are consequently able to time their picking and transport the hand harvested grapes back to the winery in perfect condition, and much quicker than most bodegas who buy grapes from many widely scattered sources.

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