Remirez de Ganuza, a wine paradise in La Rioja
The vineyards comprise more than eighty hectares of Tempranillo, Graciano, Viura and Malvasía. They are spread across six towns in the Sierra Cantabria: Samaniego, Leza, Elciego, San Vicente de la Sonsierra, Laguardia and Ábalos, in Rioja Alavesa. In each location, habitat, microclimate, plot orientation, the low productivity of the vines and the age of the vineyard were all taken into account when selecting the sites; the average age of the vines is fifty years. This extensive area of land allows them to be self-sufficient in grapes of the highest quality.
Technical Sheet
Winery: Estate vineyards at Bodegas Fernando Remírez de Ganuza, Samaniego (Rioja Alavesa).
D.O.Ca. La Rioja
Alcohol: 14%
Variety: 70% Viura, 20% Malvasía, 10% white Garnacha
Tasting notes: Bright, deep yellow color.
On the nose: A nose showing abundant yellow plums, pollen, yeast, beeswax and honey with a citrus touch.
On the palate: A complex wine that feels light on the palate, with good acidity and framed by a spicy mineral finish.
Serving temperature: 8-12ºC
Winemaking: The vineyard, trained in a traditional supported bush-vine system with a southwest orientation, is located in San Vicente de la Sonsierra in a marginal growing area (600 meters).
The harvest is carried out by hand in 12-kilogram boxes.
The grapes are then placed in a cold room (between 4 and 6 ºC). They are selected on sorting tables and made with free-run must (from unpressed grapes) extracted using a rotor tank.
The wine has been kept on its lees for 11 months of aging in new French oak barrels with a capacity of 225 liters. Batonage (lees stirring) is practiced to achieve greater complexity by rotating the barrels.
The vineyards comprise more than eighty hectares of Tempranillo, Graciano, Viura and Malvasía. They are spread across six towns in the Sierra Cantabria: Samaniego, Leza, Elciego, San Vicente de la Sonsierra, Laguardia and Ábalos. In each location, habitat, microclimate, plot orientation, the low productivity of the vines and the age of the vineyard were all taken into account when selecting the sites; the average age of the vines is fifty years. This extensive area of land allows us to be self-sufficient in grapes of the highest quality.
Pairing: at Made in Spain Gourmet we recommend it with grilled vegetables and game birds. Highly recommended with baked fish, and also with 100% Iberian ham.
A traditional winery with avant-garde winemaking
You will find Remírez de Ganuza in the center of Samaniego, a beautiful medieval village at the foot of the Sierra de Toloño. Medieval in origin, it still preserves the appearance of a fortified town, visible in many of its buildings and especially in the 16th-century church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, built next to one of the four towers that defended the village.
The Remirez de Ganuza winery, as mentioned above, is located in the center of Samaniego, Álava. It is made up of a block of buildings, old village manor houses, and consists of modern reinforced-concrete structures clad in old ashlar stone, thus blending into the traditional local architecture.
Around a large central courtyard crossed by a natural water channel, the different buildings that make up the winery are dedicated to the different stages of winemaking, such as the barrel room, bottle storage areas, cold rooms and selection area.
The winery’s traditional architecture, in which the interior roof made from centuries-old oak beams stands out, contrasts with one of the most avant-garde and innovative winemaking methods of the moment.
Rioja Alavesa: the elite of La Rioja wines
Rioja Alavesa is classified as a subzone within the Rioja Qualified Designation of Origin. It has 13.500 hectares of vineyards and several hundred wineries, producing an annual average of around 40 million liters of wine.
The area produces mainly red wines with distinctive general characteristics, such as a bright, vivid color, a fine aroma, a fruity flavor and a pleasant palate. These traits are due to the area’s clay-limestone soils, which are excellent for allowing the vines to absorb the moisture they need. The quality is also enhanced by the climate and the location of the vineyards behind the Sierra de Toloño, which protects the vines from the cold northern winds and enables them to make better use of the warmth.
Red wines are the most representative wines of the region and are made from the Tempranillo varieties (around 79% of the total is produced from this grape), Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano.
Young wines, or reds of the year, are mostly made using the traditional carbonic maceration method, in which whole bunches are fermented in a “lake” for seven to ten days. Once free of skins and stems, they are transferred to vats where fermentation is completed.
Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva wines, on the other hand, are made using the Bordeaux or destemming method. This consists of crushing the grapes, removing the stems and incubating the must with the skins and pulp for seven days. After several fermentations, the wines are transferred to barrels for aging. The time spent in barrel and bottle is what marks the difference between Crianzas, Reservas and Gran Reservas.
Because rosé and white wines are increasingly appreciated both at home and abroad, winemakers and oenologists are working to produce quality wines from these varieties, in a commitment to reaching every market.