2018 Artadi Tempranillo ‘Valdeginés’ Alava Rioja DOCa

WA94+ I had not tasted the 2018 Valdeginés unbottled, as I did with some of its siblings, but the east-facing plot that tends to deliver more Atlantic, cooler wines saw its character accentuated in the rainy and cooler 2018. The 4.1 hectares were planted between 1982 and 1989, partly on a slope that is quite shallow and with a base of sandstone and partly on some terraces where the soils are deeper and fresher. After a 24- to 48-hour cold soak, the wine fermented in open-top oak vats for some 10-12 days, during which time the grapes were foot trodden twice per day and there was a short pump-over. Malolactic was in barrique, where the wine matured for nine months. This is elegant and nuanced, subtle and insinuating, cool and harmonious. I like very much the character of this vineyard that in 2018 seems accentuated by the style of the year. It has very fine tannins and great harmony in the palate with a fine, velvety texture. This is my favorite vineyard in this price range. Elegant and fresh. 20,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2020.
Artadi’s vineyards and wines are certified organic, a characteristic that we now capture in our database. I tasted the 2018s in bottle and the most relevant single-vineyard 2019s still unbottled.
Estate Notes: Grown in the nutrient-poor, calcareous clay sub-soils that surround the ancient walled village of Laguardia, the 5-hectare Valdeginés vineyard is located at an altitude of 530 meters above sea-level. A densely-spaced, east-facing vineyard, Valdeginés, planted in 1989 consists of two micro-terroirs where vines lie either in the shallow soil of soft sandstone slopes or along the ancient rock terraces on cooler, deeper soils. The most ‘Atlantic’ in expression of all Artadi’s single-vineyard bottlings.