Alegre & Valganon Cardenas Rioja Garnacha 2020

Oscar and Eva select from Valdechuecas - a 100 year-old hilltop vineyard at over 600 metres in the Valle de Chuerca (within the Alto Najerilla Valley).

The 0.7 hectare north-facing vineyard is west of Cárdenas, sloping down towards Rio Cárdenas, a tributary of Rio Najerilla, which runs down from the ski-fields of Valdezcaray above Cárdenas to the south in Sierra de la Demanda.

25% of stems are retained, the rest are removed by hand. A low temperature fermentation by indigenous yeast in foudre, with 18 days of maceration followed by a soft vertical pressing and ageing in a pair of 500l French oak barrels.

Gravity-bottled, unfiltered and unfined. 3.2pH, 1,150 bottles produced.