2020 Sierra Cantabria Mágico

At Sierra Cantabria or the Riojans, people are always looking for genuine and pure wines that express their origin, landscape, culture, tradition, ancestors, family and personal experiences. In this wine, Sierra Cantabria Mágico, all these qualities come together. The Sierra Cantabria Mágico comes from a small vineyard: El Vardallo (also known as Las Sepulturas) of only 1.18 hectares in size, located in San Vicente de la Sonsierra.

It is a vineyard that was spared from the phylloxera crisis at the beginning of the 20th century and some sticks are more than 150 years old and as was customary at that time, 1 vineyard (you) had a wide range of varieties, both red as white. Among the red wines are 65% Tempranillo, 20% Grenache, 2.5% Graciano, 1% Petit Bouschet and 1.1%, others; among the white varieties, 4.4% are Calagraño, 3.2% Turruntés (Rioja) and 2.8% Viura (Macabeo).

The Magico is produced according to very traditional Rioja viticultural techniques. The vineyard is completely worked by hand and plowed with horse. The Eguren family uses biodynamic techniques to ensure sustainability and maintenance of the soil microbiome. The vineyards are naturally fertilized every two years. The soil of the vineyard consists of sandy loam soil with little organic matter and in the subsoil there is a cap of iron and calcareous clay, which is crucial for water retention. At the same depth, the parent rock is also present. The climate is continental with Atlantic influences that are moderated by the Sierra Cantabria mountain range

All grape varieties are all destemmed by hand and rigorously sorted. All varieties except the Garnacha are lightly crushed and macerated in small wooden barrels. The Garnacha was fermented and macerated separately in a wooden barrel. The maceration lasted 21 days for the composite varieties and 15 days for the Garnacha. Malolactic fermentation in new French oak barriques. The compressed varieties underwent malolactic in one 500 L and four 225 L barrels. The Garnacha underwent malolacticum in a 500 liter barrel.

Sierra Cantabria Mágico represents the desire of the Eguren family to produce a superior wine from Rioja as they do with their Teso La Monja. Because of their long history of incredible single vineyard wines, they felt it was a challenge to keep improving and saw that surpassing that quality was possible when they discovered El Vardallo Vineyard. Vineyards this old simply hardly exist anymore in Rioja, and the qualities are innumerable. The grape blend is an incredible treasure trove of authentic varieties, each adding character and complexity to the final wine.

Fact: There is a lot of messing around with cult wines these days, so certainly with this wine. We are the official importer and you can check on Sierra Cantabria's website if you have an official bottle issued by an importer. You can then be sure that you do not accidentally have a counterfeit or refilled bottle. You can do this at: http://www.sierracantabria.com/en/wineries/vinedos-sierra-cantabria/sierra-cantabria-magico/

The Magico from Sierra Cantabria has a fresh cherry color in the glass. In the nose, the Magico has beautiful notes of blueberry, tobacco, cedar wood, cherry and mineral and toasty undertones. On the palate, the Magico red wine is very intense, super elegant, complex with silky tannins. The wine has beautiful smoky notes due to the new French oak Velvety soft on the palate. Excellent balance between the acidity and the ripe tannin with a very long finish. The wine has received a unanimously great rating. This is a collector's item.

Fun fact: Hermanos Euguren has been named the best winemaker of the year 2012 by the American wine magazine Wine Enthusiast.