Sierra Cantabria Reserva

D.O.Ca. Rioja

San Vicente de la Sonsierra

100% Tempranillo

Estate owned vineyards surrounding the village of San Vicente de la Sonsierra, sandwiched between the foothills of the Sierra Cantabria mountain range and the Ebro River.

1950-2000

Practicing organic dry farmed viticulture with certain selective biodynamic practices. Vineyards trained as spur-pruned goblet vines as well as high density trellises. Manual work and harvest, with no mechanization whatsoever.

Calcareous clay soils that are typical to the Sonsierra Riojana. Limestone rich clay soils that are sandwiched between large slabs of lime-sandstone mother rock.

Continental with heavy Atlantic influences that are moderated by the Sierra Cantabria.

The grapes undergo rigorous double-manual sorting, both before and after destemming. 100% of the clusters are destemmed, but not crushed. Temperature controlled fermentation in stainless steel (inoculated) with indigenous yeast that have been selected from their vineyard and cellar. Maceration lasts 20-30 days. Malolactic fermentation in barrel.

26 months in Bordelaise French (50%) and American (50%) oak barrels. 20% new oak, 80% maximum of three vintage old barrels. Racked every four months. Aged for a minimum of 12 months in bottle before release, however, most vintages see longer than this minimum required ageing period.

Sierra Cantabria Crianza is one of the flagship age-classified Rioja bottling produced by the Eguren family of San Vicente de la Sonsierra. While the family is most well known for their single cru classified bottlings, they produce outstanding ageing classified wines from their estate vineyards in San Vicente. While this category is dominated by blends of purchased fruit sourced from many growers across the entire appellation, the Eguren family are one of the few (if not the only) families in Rioja that produce an estate grown and bottled Reserva from a single village - in this case, San Vicente de la Sonsierra, one of the most respected villages for Tempranillo in Spain.