Winemaker Notes
Blend: 61% Viura, 11% Maturana Blanca, 10% Tempranillo Blanco, 8% Garnacha Blanca, 5% Malvasía, 5% Turruntés
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
With white floral aromas and a touch of white pepper spice, this is a lively and complex white Rioja that speaks of old vines or higher climbs. It is vibrant on the palate, with lemon peel and salinity driving the wine. Elegant and refined but immediately appealing, this is a delicious 'young' wine that has developed with some time in bottle.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The white 2023 Selección Blanco was produced with a blend of the six local whites—61%, Viura, 11% Maturana Blanca, 10% Tempranillo Blanco, 8% Garnacha Blanca, 5% Malvasía and 5% Turruntés—from different villages and vineyards, fermented in barrel, stainless steel and concrete and matured in 225- and 500-liter barrels for five months. Their whites never go through malolactic fermentation. The heat waves of August made them pick the grapes very early, 10 days earlier than in the already very warm and dry 2022. It's pale, serious and austere and has contained ripeness and a moderate 12.5% alcohol, keeping very good freshness and acidity. It's clean, balanced and fresh, with pristine flavors. 51,259 bottles and 150 magnums produced. It was bottled in March 2024. Part of this wine was kept with the lees in concrete for a further eight months and will be released as a new label in one or two more years.
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James Suckling
Attractive nose full of minerals, chalk and crushed stones before the onset of green apples and stone fruit. Quite refreshing, with its bright streak of acidity on the palate. This is razor-sharp and linear, but textured at the same time. Drink or hold.
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Vinous
The 2023 Blanco Selección blends 61% Viura, 11% Maturana Blanca, 10% Tempranillo Blanco, 8% Garnacha Blanca, 5% Malvasía and 5% Turruntés from Rioja Alavesa. Aged on lees, it's golden in hue with aromas of pastry, soft apple, dill, fennel and white flowers. Broad, textured and creamy on the palate, this is highly expressive and ends on a lingering finish.
With hundreds of white grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended white wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used in white wine blends, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a variety that creates a soft and full-bodied white wine blend, like Chardonnay, would do well combined with one that is more fragrant and naturally high in acidity. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
Highly regarded for distinctive and age-worthy red wines, Rioja is Spain’s most celebrated wine region. Made up of three different sub-regions of varying elevation: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental. Wines are typically a blend of fruit from all three, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta, at the highest elevation, is 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 and higher alcohol, which can add great body and richness to a blend.
Fresh and fruity Rioja wines labeled, Joven, (meaning young) see minimal aging before release, but more serious Rioja wines undergo multiple years in oak. Crianza and Reserva styles are aged for one year in oak, and Gran Reserva at least two, but in practice this maturation period is often quite a bit longer—up to about fifteen years.
Tempranillo provides the backbone of Rioja red wines, adding complex notes of red and black fruit, leather, toast and tobacco, while Garnacha supplies body. In smaller percentages, Graciano and Mazuelo (Carignan) often serve as “seasoning” with additional flavors and aromas. These same varieties are responsible for flavorful dry rosés.
White wines, typically balancing freshness with complexity, are made mostly from crisp, fresh Viura. Some whites are blends of Viura with aromatic Malvasia, and then barrel fermented and aged to make a more ample, richer style of white.