Winemaker Notes
Artuke is a small family winery located in Baños de Ebro, a village in Rioja Alavesa on the banks of the Ebro river. In 1991, Roberto de Miguel made the decision to stop producing bulk wine and start bottled wine. Now his children Arturo and Kike, (whose names are the basis of the winery) are leading the project. Their grow is based on recuperating abandoned vineyards, and making new single vineyard wines. Impressive keeping in mind the age of the vineyard. It has a very lively palate that is effervescent with freshness and chalky minerality, leaving a dry sensation that is very tasty, almost salty. All of their plots are organic and head-pruned in the traditional way, but vines in Paso Las Mañas had to be trained because the wind, which blows relentlessly, ruined 300 plants in the second year.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Paso Las Mañas was produced with grapes from a vineyard in the village of Samaniego at 700 meters above sea level. The plot was planted in 1990 and 2013 on limestone and rocky soils. It fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in 3,500-liter oak foudre for 12 months. It has an explosive nose of raspberries, high pitched and showy, aromatic, open and expressive. It has a moderate 13.6% alcohol and a pH of 3.4, terrific balance and very fine tannins.
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.