Komplex, kryddig, något utvecklad smak med tydlig fatkaraktär, inslag av plommon, tobak, mörka körsbär, kakao, kanel, fikon och vanilj.
PRODUCTION AREA
Own Vineyards in Laguardia. Rioja Alavesa
FINAL BLEND
Tempranillo 92% · Graciano 8%
PRODUCTION / VINIFICATION
Harvest in 12kg crates with manual selection of bunches and mechanical selection of individual grapes. Plot-by-plot vinification. Malolactic fermentation in barrels, 15 months of maturation in French oak.
A CLASSIC RIOJA VINTAGE
This year was marked by a very humid winter, early and quick flowering around 10 June, and véraison around 11 August. Cool temperatures towards the end of July led to some slight unproblematic mildew which actually helped reinforce the grapes´ skin.
Towards the end of August, the vineyard began to suffer from the lack of rain and displayed great heterogeneity, sometimes even on one same vine stock. Green harvesting, a necessity, was therefore carried out throughout the vineyard. The beneficial rains of mid-September naturally contributed to the grapes maturing homogeneously.
The harvest took place from 11 to 20 October in very good weather conditions. The cycle this year was a long one, enabling the production of a great wine.
– Single Vineyard in Laguardia, Rioja Alavesa, 530 meters altitude. 20 hectares in own ownership on a geological break, limestone a clay planted of Tempranillo 95% and Graciano 5%.
– Sostenible viticulture and low yields management, harvest in crates from October 11 till 21 2016. Double selection of the entire cluster and destemming by vibration to select by grain.
– Classical vinification in concrete tanks and aging for 17teen month in French oak barrels. The final blend of El Sacramento is 92% Tempranillo and 8% Graciano.
– El Sacramento is rooted in a vineyard ownership in the 16teen century of the brotherhood of ’El Santísimo Sacramento’ from the medieval village of Laguardia, already at this time producing wine in this plot. Today the owner is Etienne Cordonnier Leizaola, from a French family involved in the wine business and production since 4 generations.
