2010 Pagos Viejos, Artadi, Rioja, Spain
- Red
- Dry
- Full Bodied
- Tempranillo
Ready - youthful
Product: 20108019859
Description
Pagos Viejos is a continually evolving wine, its grapes sourced from the oldest and the best vines from this increasingly extensive estate. Grapes are also used from the single vineyards and one can detect their benevolent influence; ripeness from Poza, minerality from El Carretil and aromatics from the Valdeginés. The whole is more than the sum of the parts: a wine of incredible complexity and subtle nuance.
2010 was an unusual vintage for Artadi, its profile marked by seasonal variations which are, it seems, becoming increasingly familiar in Europe, namely a very warm spring and autumn and a relatively lacklustre early summer period. After the cold winter of 2009-2010, with above average rain following in the milder spring, the early flowering of 2010 was well nourished and watered, just as well as later on there were real risks of hydric stress in the dog days of late August.
The conditions resulted in a longer than usual ripening season with grapes that were relatively ripe, with higher sugar levels than normal, lower levels of acidity and higher tannins. The structural integrity of the wines is very impressive and they do not lack for definition, mid-palate weight and tension on the finish. These are, as ever, impeccable wines, which should drink earlier than the blockbuster 2009s.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer, October 2011)
2010 was an unusual vintage for Artadi, its profile marked by seasonal variations which are, it seems, becoming increasingly familiar in Europe, namely a very warm spring and autumn and a relatively lacklustre early summer period. After the cold winter of 2009-2010, with above average rain following in the milder spring, the early flowering of 2010 was well nourished and watered, just as well as later on there were real risks of hydric stress in the dog days of late August.
The conditions resulted in a longer than usual ripening season with grapes that were relatively ripe, with higher sugar levels than normal, lower levels of acidity and higher tannins. The structural integrity of the wines is very impressive and they do not lack for definition, mid-palate weight and tension on the finish. These are, as ever, impeccable wines, which should drink earlier than the blockbuster 2009s.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer, October 2011)
Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2010
Maturity Ready - youthful
Grape List Tempranillo
Body Full Bodied
Producer Artadi
About this wine
Tempranillo/Tinto Fino
A high quality red wine grape that is grown all over Spain except in the hot South - it is known as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero, Cencibel in La Mancha and Valdepenas and Ull de Llebre in Catalonia. Its spiritual home is in Rioja and Navarra where it constitutes around 70% of most red blends.
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Artadi
Juan Carlos López de Lacalle, owner and winemaker of Artadi, is recognised as one of the greatest names in the business in Spain. The winery was once a co-operative of 13 growers who owned well-sited vineyards around the town of Laguardia in the Alavesa wine region of Rioja. Juan Carlos saw the potential of these wonderful vineyards and purchased the Bodega, immediately amending the philosophy and style of winemaking. The winemaking is modern with an emphasis upon fruit driven wines, characterised by the terroir of individual vineyard sites – a far cry from the philosophy of traditional Rioja producers. French oak is used, not American, allowing the principle variety, Tempranillo, eloquent natural expression. From the 2 hectare El Pison vineyard, the vines of which were planted in 1945, all the way through to his properties in Alicante and Navarra, he is both a punctilious and gifted craftsman. Mastery of Monastrell and Garnacha has now been added to his acknowledged and alchemical gifts with Tempranillo; attention to detail is evidenced at all stages of the process, from the pruning in the vineyard to the six additional sorting trays in the winery, then a fermentation in especially designed vats to ensure an optimum extraction of fruit and tannin. The results are completely outstanding. Vinas De Gain comes from vines of over 25 years of age and it is a suberb quality wine, 100% Tempranillo from fruit grown at high altitude vineyards in Rioja Alavesa. It is the least expensive offering in Artadi's range, yet it displays impressive purity with layers of flavours reminiscent of Burgundian complexity. Artadi produces exemplary unoaked and oaked Riojas, including superb Reservas and single-vineyard wines such as the Viña El Pison. A deluxe cuvée Gran Reserva, Grandes Añadas, was produced for the first time in 1994. His Navarran Bodega is located in the village of Santa Cruz, using 100% Grenache from 100-year-old vines. As Navarra continues to emerge from the shadows of its illustrious neighbour Rioja, the wines of Artadi are helping us to understand its quality and identity.
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