Bodegas Altanza Lealtanza Crianza 2005
Winemaker Notes
Tempranillo is the only varietal planted in the Estate. Yields are low, green pruning and careful selection with no more than 8-10 bunches left in every plant combine to produce an average yield of only 3 lbs per plant, well below the the 6500 kg/Ha limit in Rioja. All grapes are handpicked in small cases and quickly taken to the winery.
Only native yeasts are used. Malolactic is done in large Allier oak vats, partiallyin oak for the wines up to Crianza and completely for the Reservas and Gran Reservas. Aging takes place in new or semi-new French (85%), American (10%) and Russian (5%) oak casks. The large Allier vats are also used to store the wine prior to bottling. The wine is only slightly filtered before being bottled, except the Lealtanza 2001 that sees no filtration.
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.