A silky smooth, richly flavoured Rioja Crianza from Haro in the north-west of La Rioja, Spain.
This red wine is full of plum and bramble aromas with savoury, lightly spicy hints. It's a smooth, approachable crianza with ripe dark fruits and supple tannins.
The wine is made from a blend of Tempranillo 80% and Garnacha 20%. The Tempranillo grapes are sourced from vineyards planted in the foothills of the Cantabrian mountains, and from the lower course of the Najerilla river (near Uruñuela and Torremontalbo). The Garnacha vines are planted near the higher course of the Najerilla (near Badarán).
Soil types are a combination of alluvial, sandstone-clay and ferrous-clay. The grapes are handpicked into 200kg crates and sorted by hand at the winery. After 3 days of pre-fermentative maceration at low temperature, the must undergoes daily remontage and delestage during temperature-controlled fermentation in cone-shaped stainless steel tanks.
This is followed by 12 months maturation in, mostly new, American oak barriques.
The Gómez Cruzado winery dates back to 1886 when Angel Gómez de Arteche started to produce and bottle his own wine in Haro, at the very heart of Rioja Alta.
This was in the day when the wine trade between Rioja and France passed along the Tudela-Bilbao line, and the key Rioja wineries were located around the station of Haro.
The winery sits just 100m from the station to this day. Subsequently bought by Angel and Jesus Gomez Cruzado in 1916, and more recently by the Baños family, David González (winemaker) and Juan Antonio Leza (viticulturalist) now head up the winemaking team.
They have been working with Gomez Cruzado for over 10 years, crafting wines from vineyards of old bush vines in the most elevated areas of Rioja Alta and Alavesa.
The leading Spanish winemaking region, both for its classically-styled wines, with their unique suitability for ageing, and for the new generation wines.
There are three distinct sub-regions (Rioja Alta, Rioja Oriental and Rioja Alavesa) and four classifications (Joven, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva), giving innovative winemakers endless possibilities to craft stunning wines.
Tempranillo has been grown on the Iberian Peninsula since the time of Phoenician settlements which date back to 500BC.
It is an early ripening variety that thrives on chalky soils. It is found predominantly in the Spanish regions of Ribera del Duero and Rioja. In Portugal it is known as Tinto Roriz. When vinified alone it has flavours of strawberries and plums.
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