Rioja 'Viñas Viejas de la Propiedad'

Score

96

"The label of the Propiedad has changed, and now the bigger letters read Yerga, so people will identify it better if we call it 2024 Propiedad de Yerga, and it also has a more geographical approach, as it names the Yerga Mountains, where the vines are located. It's mostly Garnacha with some 15% other varieties, approximately 4% Tinta Velasco, 4% Bobal, 3% Moristel, 2% Garnacha Roya, 1% Vidadillo and 1% white grapes from the parajes, or lieux-dits, of Las Mulgas, Cabecilla de la Ra and Valmira in Alfaro. It's old vines that are head pruned and farmed organically, located at 400 to 640 meters in altitude. He has now purchased the last remaining plots there. There is a sense of purity in the 2024s that I like very much. It fermented in oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in foudres and large barrels for 10 months. It's fine-boned, elegant and tasty, with more complexity, nuance and depth than the Montesa, but it follows the same pattern in aromatics and texture and is slender and vigorous, with contained ripeness and very fine tannins. It has 13.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.54 and 5.3 grams of acidity, coming through as fresh and balanced. 9,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2026. This was not produced in 2022 or 2023."