Introducing ABEICA - new, EXCITING, great value Village Rioja
Welcome to Ábalos: TSA’s villages-of-Rioja collection is now 15 places strong!.
Abeica is a family estate in Ábalos, nestled up in the high slopes between Haro and Laguardia, below the Cantabrian mountains. We’ve been staking out this village for a few years now, and are delighted to finally welcome you here.
The wines of Abeica are characterful, easy and charming – you will love them!
NOW, just imagine if you could get old vine Morey-st-Denis village wine for $50?!
Abeica is currently lead by 4th and 5th generation winemakers: brothers-sisters Isabel (currently the titular winemaker), with Pachi and Raul; working with two of their nephews, cousins Ricardo and David.
Abeica were growers for the co-ops until 1982, then made corrientes until 1987 after building their own winery in 1986 (a nice underground concrete bunker cellar which gives constant ageing at 17 degrees celsius). They have a classical mix of old vines field blends up to 150yo, and 20yo plantings mixing at most 2 varieties. Overall, their varietal composition is roughly 80% Tempranillo, 10% Viura, Garnacha 8% and 2% Mazuelo, with scatterings of Garnacha Blanca, Torrontes, and others. About 60% of their holdings are bush vines, the rest trellised. Viticulture is organic, non-certified. All parcels are turned annually, using small hand-held ‘electric mules’. Up here in the north, the soils are shallow calcareous clays with as little as 20cm soil over sandstone bedrock.
Essentially, these are cold soil wines, from shallow, low nutrient limestone/sandstone enriched by a little clay. Sweet and sour, or agrodulce is a common thread. The wines ripple with acidic energy and feature the soft smell of sandstone. Fruit teas - think Russian Caravan and Bergamot are common flavour metaphors.
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