Winemaker Notes
Ostatu Crianza is an outstanding value and introduction to the terruño-driven wines of village-designated Rioja Alavesa. All of the grapes for their Crianza come from exceptional, high-altitude, goblet-trained vineyards of organically-farmed Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano, and Mazuelo grapes coming from their mountain village of Samaniego at 580m. Samaniego is one of the most important villages in Rioja, providing fruit of the highest quality and structure, ideal for producing long-lived red and white wine. Ostatu Crianza is a fruit-driven and lively Crianza with a singular personality derived from the addition of 20-30% carbonic maceration wine in the blend, which is traditional to Rioja Alavesa.
Blend: 90% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, Mazuelo & Garnacha
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.