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Villota Blanco DO Rioja 2021
$44.95
Vino Villota
- Country: Spain
- Region: Rioja D.O.
- Varietal: 85% Viura, 11% White Garnacha, 2% Malvasia, 2% White Tempranillo
- Alc/vol: 14.0%
- Sweetness: Dry
- Cellaring Potential: Drink now, or hold until 2030
Pale gold in colour, this Viura expresses aromas of pineapple, lemon zest, wild flowers, vanilla and nutmeg on the nose. It spends 6 months in French oak aging on lees which creates a rich and creamy mouthfeel. Bursting with flavours of candied pineapple, apricot, peach and hazelnut, there is also a hint of anise and underlying minerality that keeps the palate refreshing.
Full bodied, this wine can be paired with roasted chicken or pork, cured Spanish ham, herbacious soups or rice dishes like paella made with saffron.
In stock
The Villota wines are a representation of their entire landscape at the San Rafael estate. As fourth generation owner-winemaker, Carmen, believes these wines “define the personality of the estate: the sum of its soils and environments, the influence of the mountain, the balanced ripening, [and] the mix of varieties.” Through constant observation of the vineyards, with strict selection of only the best grapes and without the use of herbicides, Carmen is able to create harmonious wines that are honest reflections of the all the different micro-environments exisiting on their estate.
Villota Blanco is a rich, creamy white wine that’s been hand harvested from 45+ year old Viura vines, trained in bush formation. Fermented in small stainless steel tanks, then aged for 6 months in French oak barrels where the wine is in contact with the lees, batonnage occured weekly.
Highly rated by several reputable wine critics from around the world, this is a wine that is made in the vineyard.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
92 points Tim Atkin, MW
91 points James Suckling
“Creamy toasted almond and marzipan with background notes of white fruit. Spicy and textured on the palate with a hint of wood tannins, that are more supportive than intrusive. Medium- to fullbodied. Fresh and well-balanced. Drink now.” James Suckling
Since the 1930s, the San Rafael estate has been cultivated by the Pérez Villota family in the Alavesa region of La Rioja. The family are heirs to a saga of growers and viticulturalists who have historically been grape suppliers for decades. Their previous winery, Contino, was co-created in partnership with a larger winery collective called CVNE (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) back in 1973. For 50 years, the Pérez Villota family supplied grapes to CVNE until 2013 when they decided to separate and create their own family-named winery Villota. At this time, there was a strong movement that took hold of growers in the Rioja region to bottle their vineyards and heritage under their own names rather than continue selling to co-operatives. Villota is a part of this movement. Today, Vinos Villota is under the management of their fourth generation winemaker, Carmen Pérez Garrigues, who tells their vineyard history through their superlative, limited production and terroir-driven wines. The Villota estate, just outside of Laguardia, is a special part of Rioja Alavesa that sits along the banks of the Ebro where the river takes a bend (see image below). Carmen chooses to produce Villota wines with the ethos of 85% terroir influence and only 15% of cellar influence. Meaning, she does not use the traditional classifications crianza, reserva or gran reserva on her labels because she believes that oak regimes should vary each year based on the harvest that occured. Villota wines are pure examples of how old vines left alone on the right plot of land can produce full, interesting, and ageworthy wines without much cellar influence. The vineyard land has a 100 meter grade difference from the top of the hill (pictured below as the green unplanted land), down to to the Ebro River meander. The buildings and rocky land at the top block the wind, sheltering the vineyards from cool air that comes from the north. The Ebro river provides extra humidity to the area, creating a warm “mediterranean influence” in the vineyards in the middle of a landlocked region of Spain. Scattered with olive trees, rosemary shrubs and one big oak at the bottom of the vineyard, these 97 hectares are truly a unique place making iconic wines. Over 90 years of history on this land have left behind a beautiful mosaic of native Riojan grape varieties
Read More About
9 Decades of Riojan Winemaking
Wines From a Remarkable Location
that only require minimal intervention to produce timeless and harmonious wines.
| Colour | White |
|---|---|
| Country | Spain |
| Region | Rioja |
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