Artadi 2017 Valdegines

Artadi is now, almost without fear of contradiction, the leading producer of wines from Rioja Alavesa, a part of the larger Rioja region where the wines producers eschew the old traditions of Rioja such as the rigid ageing classification system of Crianza, Reserva etc, and prefer to use French oak rather than American.

Artadi was founded in 1985 as Cosecheros Alavesa, a co-operative, but since the early nineties has been run as a private winery by Juan Carlos Lopez de Lacaille. Juan Carlos has almost single handedly brought Rioja into the modern era, with wines that are supremely well polished, elegant and refined.

Valdegines is one of their many single vineyard expressions, this particular vineyard planted in 1989, only 7 hectares. It is a beautiful wine, and a great introduction to the Artadi top wines, before they start getting crazy in price.