2018 Rioja Tentenublo Wines Xerico

Bodega Tentenublo belongs to the absolute new style of Rioja makers where the focus is only on producing quality wines. New style Rioja also means that the fruit should have the upper hand. You can see this trend in the top houses from the Rioja such as Remirez de Ganuza and Pujanza. Tentenublo Wines has only been around for a few years and owns a unique number of very small vineyards that only range between 20 and 80 years old. Some lots are so small that only a few hundred bottles are produced. The fact that we are talking about top quality here is also confirmed by Robert Parker who recently assessed the wines of Tentenublo Wines and without exception all wines received 90 points or more.

The Xerico is a new wine that has only been on the market since 2015 (2014 vintage is the first vintage). The Xerico is a blend of Tempranillo and Viura and the vineyards are located in the Rioja Alavase at altitude on a limestone marl plateau. The vineyards are between 15-50 years old and the vineyard is worked with minimal human intervention. The grapes are picked manually in boxes of 15 kg. Natural fermentation (without added yeasts) takes place in open stainless steel vats. The malolactic fermentation and maturation takes place for 6 months in French oak. In addition to the great quality, Tetenublo Wines is unique in its collection with great labels.

The Xerico has a beautiful ruby red color with abundant tears. In the nose the wine has a nice freshness with notes of chocolate with black and red fruit, plums, ripe blueberries, cherries and leather. On the palate, powerful, full-bodied, fruity, red berries, structured, powerful and concentrated with good acidity, balanced and with velvety tannins. The great thing about the wines of Tentenublo is the nice balance between power and freshness with a nice minerality. The Xerico is a wine with a great price/quality ratio.

Hubrecht Duijker : Roberto Olivár is sometimes described as 'one of the great promises'. Simply because he makes history with his wines made in Rioja.

In some cases, the wines are given a kind of WAX seal instead of a regular capsule. This has no further purpose and has the disadvantage that it hardens fairly quickly and pieces can easily crumble (spontaneously, during transport, etc.). This has no influence on the quality of the wine. We cannot give any further guarantee for this.