Our annual Spanish trip allowed us the chance to visit a newcomer to the world of Rioja. The bodega, constructed in 2002, is an exercise in clean functional design using gravity fed systems for fruit handling. French oak is used throughout along with quality hallmarks of green harvesting and careful selection at the sorting table to produce US friendly fruit forward wines with a hint of Cali Cabernet about them.
The winery is built underground, the top floor, a striking vacant glass cube just outside the traditional Riojan town of Elciego. As with many bodegas, they buy in the majority of their grapes and select from Rioja Alavesa and Alta.
They also serve a fine lunch if requested. We enjoyed Pate, a Tuna Salad, Chorizo and bean stew, Shin of Beef and an Ice Cream Cake. Happily we had the opportunity to taste the full range of wines with the lunch.
They produce a barrel fermented white, Rose and Crianza but the stars of the show were their 2005 Reserva and 2006 El Garaje.
The former benefits from an excellent vintage, offers leather and cigar box oak on the nose with a whack of deep cherry whilst the palate follows through with good structure and balance that makes it a modern but excellent match to the traditional hearty Riojan cuisine.
The latter is a premium cuvee which does not fall into the Crianza/Reserva/Gran Reserva classification. It offers smoky, overripe sweet cherry fruit, soft tannins and plenty of complexity and length. Both are well made excellent wines though my personal taste is for the reserva over the top wine in which I find the fruit a little confected. Whilst it is not sweet, perhaps this is why they recommend it as both a savoury and dessert wine.
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