2020 Artadi Vina El Pison
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How full and heavy the wine feels in your mouth, like the difference between skimmed milk and cream. More alcohol, sugar and oak ageing make a wine fuller.
The drying, grippy feel on your gums and tongue, as with strong tea. It comes from the skins and seeds of black grapes and from oak, and softens with age.
How much sugar you taste, from dry to sweet. Fruity is not the same as sweet: a dry wine can taste of ripe fruit.
How fresh and juicy the wine is: acidity makes your mouth water. High acidity tastes lively and refreshing, low acidity soft and round.
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The bars follow how sommeliers taste (WSET): body, tannin, sweetness and acidity, each from low to high.
Body: full-bodied. Like most red wines from ; 14% alcohol.
Tannin: firm. From ; aged in oak.
Sweetness: dry. Red wine from is almost always dry.
Acidity: medium. from the temperate climate of .
Aromas: earthy notes, dark fruit and red fruit, typical of
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Log inIn the medieval village of Laguardia, the future of La Rioja has developed in the cellars of Artadi. Without a doubt, this masterpiece is due to the brilliant and creative work of Juan Carlos López, assisted today by his son Carlos.
When Juan Carlos turned the cooperative into an independent 'bodega' in 1992, he had already been in charge of it for 7 years. His vision was revolutionary and destroyed the whole of Rioja, but in no time he managed to make the best wines of Spain, which immediately conquered the entire world. Short pruning in the vineyards, resulting in very small yields, and the use of French oak barrels were just some of his innovative ideas. Even more important was the 'early' bottling of his wines, in contrast to the traditional Riojas, which were sometimes stored for up to 10 years in large wooden 'foudres'. With this he also consciously stepped aside from the Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva classification.
All wines in their range are made exclusively from the Tempranillo grape, which was born in Rioja and can also provide the best quality here. The range covers 3 wines in which Viñas de Gain is their base wine. This wine is the great example of the best Rioja wines and is often used as a reference point. Without a doubt the best quality wine for its price!! Only the best grapes from the old vineyards are selected for Pagos Viejos, which come from the best terroirs throughout Rioja. Consequently, it is no wonder that this wine is a true explosion of fruit, structure and elegant tannins. This wine owes its perfect balance to 14 months of oak barrel aging. Only in the very best years is this selection made into superior Grandes Añadas.
Viña el Pison comes from a unique piece of land of 2.4 hectares where the subsoil and the location of the vineyard to the sun are exceptional tenors. With an average age of 65 years, the vines produce nothing but the very best, but unfortunately also very limited, which makes this stunner so unique!
Artadi's El Pison is the most aromatic of all Artadi's single-vineyard bottlings. It opens with aromas of violets and Asian herbs similar to a Rioja version of a Chambolle-Musigny or Vosne-Romanée. The nose is very spicy, ripe and intoxicating with open and expressive aromas of croissants, herbal tea, aromatic herbs and balsamic vinegar that is already remarkably complex for its young age, so that promises something with age. The El Pisón is very complete and is a very complex wine. Only 6,600 bottles were produced and the wine received 98/100 points from Parker and 99/100 from Suckling. The wine is named after a 2.4 hectare plot planted in 1945 in the village of Laguardia. The vineyard is an amphitheater with varying soils of limestone, clay and sandstone with a deep combination of limestone and silt. The grapes underwent a 24 to 48 hour cold soak and fermentation with native yeasts in oak barrels for 10-12 days, during which time the grapes were trampled twice a day. It matured for nine months in French oak barrels. There is something mysterious about this Pisón; it is subtle and elegant, a bit austere and reserved at first. The palate is seamless, silky with very refined tannins, with stunning balance and a very long, clean and precise finish.
Character
The wine
- 100%
Origin
Bottle
Wine features
Parker
The Wine Advocate
RP 98
Reviewed by:
Luis Gutiérrez
Release Price:
$390
Drink Date:
2023 - 2032
One year ago, I tasted this as a barrel sample when it was still young and undeveloped, juicy and with plenty of baby fat. And now tasted from bottle, the 2020 Viña El Pisón has turned into a serious wine despite 2020 being a more approachable vintage with more fruit, but still has a remarkable tannic structure. It's elegant, austere and subtle, with a very long aftertaste, and the strength here is the mouthfeel. It's both powerful and ethereal, with stunning balance. They finally bottled it after the normal élevage, and the idea is to perhaps bottle it before was abandoned, as they realized what seemed like a more fragile vintage at first also benefitted from the élevage. 6,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2022.
I tasted the 2020s and 2021s from Artadi. They have been working to understand their soils in the valley, where they have quite a lot of sand in the vineyards.
2019 was slightly drier and warmer than average, and there was an episode of hail as late as August 25th, which seriously affected the vineyards located in the south of Laguardia and Elvillar; the plots of San Ginés, Valmayor, Cuerdamayor, La Ceposilla, Parredonda and Las Ventas, among others, registered significant damage. They started picking the whites on September 20 and finished the last of the reds on October 10. The grapes were clean and healthy, with 35% less grapes than in 2018. 2020 was a challenging year with a loss of 30% of the crops from mildew. All of their vineyards are now certified organic, and they suffered more because of that. It's a relatively fresh vintage, cooler than 2019 but without its complexity, with more ethereal, approachable and fruit-driven wines with red rather than black fruit. Carlos de la Calle compared 2020 to 2007, a subtle and fruit-driven vintage. 2021 goes back to the fresher and more energetic style of 2018. The range keeps growing, and in 2020, they started making white single-vineyard wines (one 500-liter barrel of each), but they still don't know if they are going to be sold or if they are going to drink them themselves. There might be Carretil and El Pisón whites!
I tasted the wines from Artadi as part of their annual portfolio tasting when I covered the bottled 2019s and barrel samples of (some of) the 2020s. I've reproduced the notes and comments here for context and completeness of the article. 2019 was slightly drier and warmer than average, and there was an episode of hail as late as August 25th, which seriously affected the vineyards located in the south of Laguardia and Elvillar; the plots of San Ginés, Valmayor, Cuerdamayor, La Ceposilla, Parredonda and Las Ventas, among others, registered significant damage. They started picking the whites on September 20 and finished the last of the reds on October 10. The grapes were clean and healthy, with 35% less grapes than in 2018. 2020 was a challenging year with a loss of 30% of the crops from mildew. All of their vineyards are now certified organic, and they suffered more because of that. It's a relatively fresh vintage, cooler than 2019 but without its complexity, with more ethereal, approachable and fruit-driven wines with red rather than black fruit. Carlos de la Calle compared 2020 to 2007, a subtle and fruit-driven vintage. 2021 goes back to the fresher and more energetic style of 2018. The range keeps growing, and in 2020, they started making white single-vineyard wines (one 500-liter barrel of each), but they still don't know if they are going to be sold or if they are going to drink them themselves. There might be Carretil and El Pisón whites!
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James Suckling
ARTADI ALAVA VIÑA EL PISON 2020
Monday, October 9, 2023
CountrySpain
RegionLa Rioja
Vintage2020
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Score
99
Wonderful aromas of peaches, blackberries, mulberries, lightly smoked meat, tobacco, and spices like nutmeg, as well as iodine and graphite. Medium to full body with very racy tannins that run the length of the wine and give it structure and length. Racy and structured with intention. From organically grown grapes. Drink after 2027.
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In the medieval village of Laguardia, the future of La Rioja has developed in the cellars of Artadi. Without a doubt, this masterpiece is thanks to the brilliant and creative work of Juan Carlos López, who is assisted today by his son Carlos.
When Juan Carlos made the cooperative into an independent 'bodega' in 1992, he had been in charge of it for 7 years. His vision was revolutionary and completely flattened Rioja, but in no time he managed to make the best of wines from Spain, which immediately conquered the whole world. The short cuts in the vineyards with very small yields as a result, and the use of French oak barrels were just some of his innovative ideas. Even more important was the early bottling of his wines, in contrast to the traditional riojas, which were sometimes stored on large wooden 'foudres' for up to 10 years. With this he also deliberately stepped aside from the Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva classification.
All wines in their range are made exclusively from the Tempranillo grape which has its birthplace in Rioja and can also give the best quality here. The range covers 3 wines in which Viñas de Gain forms their base wine. This wine is the great example of the best Rioja wines and is often used as a reference point. Without a doubt the best quality wine for its price !!
For Pagos Viejos , only the best grapes from the old vineyards are selected, which come from the best terroirs from all over Rioja. It is therefore no wonder that this wine is a true explosion of fruit, structure and elegant tannins. This wine owes the perfect balance to the 14-month oak barrel aging. A superior Grandes Añadas is only made from this selection in the very largest years.
Viña el Pison comes from a unique piece of land of 2.4 hectares where the subsoil and the location of the vineyard to the sun are exceptional tenors. With an average age of 65, the vines give nothing but the very best, but unfortunately also very limited, making this whopper so unique!
Deze elegante maar krachtige Viña El Pisón 2020 toont verleidelijk rood en zwart fruit zoals bramen en kers, viooltjes en een lijntje zoete kruiden met rook, tabak, grafiet en een uitgesproken minerale, zijdezachte tanninestructuur en lange, precieze afdronk. Dankzij die levendige zuren en de stevige tannines snijdt de wijn mooi door het vet en de umami van rund, lam en wild en tilt hij de smaak van rijpere kazen naar een hoger niveau; denk aan gegrild entrecote of langzaam gegaarde wangetjes, een geroosterd lamsrack met rozemarijn en knoflook of hertenbiefstuk met een bessensaus en bij een kaasplank vooral oude Manchego of een krachtige, gerookte schapenkaas. Voor het beste resultaat kies bereidingen met geroosterde of gegrilde tonen en geconcentreerde sauzen of jus die de complexe kruiden en minerale tonen van de wijn weerspiegelen, of langzaam gegaarde, sappige stukken vlees waarbij de saus de rijke tannines verzacht.
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