Alegre y Valgañón

Rioja (Sajazarra, Cardenas)

Tempranillo-Garnacha 2021

Size

This Tinto reflects Oscar and Eva’s interest in the deep history of Rioja. The idea is to blend villages, some which suit Tempranillo and some which yield great Garnacha; blending the cold limestone of the northern hills with warmer iron-stone soils from foothills in the south. This is a hand-made, high care Rioja Generico. It specifically references the significance of Garnacha in historical Riojas: varietal Tempranillo wines being a fad since the 1980s. It’s inspired by the legendary Gran Reservas of Viña Real: back in the 1950s, the key fruit for such came from the parcels Oscar and Eva now work.

Pure cherry fruit in a fleshy-vegetal register, open and round with great texture and line. Lifted by purple floral, it’s herbal, brambly, chalky thanks to the Garnacha, along with the cherry-tobacco expected of Riojan Tempranillo. Delicate tannin and earth linger in spicy acid ...