2019 Bodegas Roda Sela

Roda is one of Rioja's top projects and the catalyst for the major innovation movement in this well-known wine region with flying colors. The Rotllan-Daurella family from Barcelona started this project with great ambition in the most prestigious appellation in Spain. After 5 years of thorough research, they settled in Haro, the capital of Rioja Alta. In the Barrio de la Estación we also find all the great classics (Viña Tondonia, La Rioja Alta, CVNE, Bodegas Bilbaínas) with a long tradition. Just here they decided to settle, with a view of the Sierra Cantabria and right next to the Ebro which flows slowly under the bodega.

The domain was founded in 1987, but the first wine was only made in 1992. Perfection is striven for in every step. Top enologists Agustin Santolaya, Carlos Diez, Isidro Palacios and Esperanza Tomás form from the beginning the 'dream team' responsible for all steps in the production process.

The ambition is to make the best wine possible from Tempranillo. Flagship is the Roda I, Roda's top wine that can be made depending on the vintage and in less or greater quantity. This wine always consists of 100% Tempranillo. The aim is to get to the essence of the Tempranillo with the Roda I and especially to work towards a wine with a lot of storage potential. In addition, the Roda, top quality and drinkable year after year with a nice storage potential, is almost always an assembly of Tempranillo with Garnacha and Graciano. These 2 wines are only made with grapes from vines older than 30 years. Finally, there is the Benjamin Sela, made from vines between 15 and 30 years old. Cirsión is an outsider: a wine from another planet, made from a selection of bunches of grapes where polymerization has already started in the grape itself.

Roda is also very active in research and development and has one of the largest vineyards in the world with over 500 different clonal selections from Tempranillo.

Tempranillo is of course the most important grape. The average age of the vines is 55 years. The grapes from the young plantings are fully resold until the vines offer a sufficient guarantee of quality: first for the Sela and then for the Roda.

In total there is a good 70 ha in production, almost 65 ha Tempranillo and the rest divided between Graciano and Garnacha. All vineyards are 'en gobelet', with good ventilation and exposure to the sun of the bunches of grapes. Average production is 4000 kg / ha

The Tempranillo and Graciano are planted in Rioja Alta, but the Garnacha mainly comes from their vineyard in Rioja Baja (Tudelilla) because it is of better quality here. No insecticides are used and the vineyards are treated with respect for the ecosystem.

Roda is characterized by the fact that they do not have a unique terroir, but work with different vineyards from different zones within Rioja. A total of 20 terroirs, 17 of which are used for Roda. The common thread with these terroirs is that it always concerns poor soils with good orientation to the sun and good drainage. These are often sandy soils or loam soils. In general we can distinguish 2 soil types: terraces with soils with little depth, with a layer of petrocalcial soil to which the roots grow. That kind of terroir is usually flat and the sticks are planted from north to south. The other soil type is usually on a gentle slope, poorer soils but with a deeper top layer. Both soil types have a high pH value, between 8 and 8.5 (basic).

The climate in Rioja is a mild one, with both continental and Mediterranean influences. No irrigation is used in the vineyards; rainfall is usually limited but well spread over the year.

Control over the ripeness of the grapes is not done analytically, but experimentally. The team of oenologists tastes the grape seeds daily and waits for the grapes to reach perfect phenolic maturity. For Cirsión they are going to choose those bunches where, in a manner of speaking, the polymerization has already started in the grape itself.

The entire harvest is done manually and everything comes in via the selection table. The maceration and fermentation takes place in large oak casks; each vineyard is vinified separately. We only work with native yeasts.

The malolactic fermentation takes place entirely in oak barrels. All oak barrels are made of French oak, half of which are new. The wines have been on oak for one year from the moment when it will be determined by tasting the barrel samples which barrels are intended for which wine (Roda or Roda I). It is then that the final coupages can be made.

Sela gets a level of 12 months. Roda and Roda I, depending on the millésime between 14 to 18 months. Cirsión is an outsider with a level of only 8 months.