La Rioja Alta, S.A. is located in the region of La Rioja, Spain. The estate was created in 1890 by five Riojanes and Basques families. The original La Rioja Alta winery is based in Haro, but there is a second site in Labastida in the Rioja Alavesawhich was built in 1996. In 1904, the Ardanza winery, owned by Don Alfredo Ardanza, joined La Rioja Alta. To commemorate the event, the Gran Reserva 904 is produced for the first time. Grupo La Rioja Alta also owns the Torre de Oña estate in the Alavesa de la Rioja sub-region, Áster in Ribera del Duero and Lagar de Cervera in the Rias Baixas region in Galicia. The estate consists of around 660 hectares of vineyards around La Rioja. The winery located in Haro includes a cooperage, where the barrels are made from American oak. The racking of each barrel is carried out by candlelight, to remove sediment in a natural way and also to allow the team to monitor each barrel individually.
La Rioja Alta, S.A. is committed to the environment: limited treatments in the vineyards, investment in clean energy, reuse of water, solar farm, and the corks and boxes are also managed in a sustainable manner. Today, 16 hectares are certified in organic viticulture and the aim is to increase the proportion. In addition, the board of directors has launch the Viña Ardanza Solidario programme; 1% of the annuel net profit (and with a minimum of €100.000 per year) is allocated to humanitarian and philanthropic causes.
The 2015 Viña Ardanza Reserva is a blend of Tempranillo (78%) from the 30-year-old La Cuesta and Montecillo vineyards, located in Fuenmayor y Cenicero and Garnacha (22%) from La Pedriza vineyard in Tudelilla, in Rioja Oriental. Alcoholic fermentation took place naturally. The malolactic fermentation was concluded at the end of the year. In March 2016, the selected wines were put in barrels to start ageing separately: the Tempranillo for 36 months with 6 manual rackings in American oak barrels averaging 4 years in age, and the Garnacha for 30 months with five manual rackings in American oak barrels of two and three wines. The final blend took place after barrel ageing was completed. The wine was bottled in September 2019.
Grape varieties: 78% Tempranillo, 22% Garnacha
