La Rioja Alta - Gran Reserva 904 2015
La Rioja Alta, SA is located in the region of La Rioja , Spain . The estate was created in 1890 by five Riojan and Basque families. The original La Rioja Alta winery is based in Haro , but there is a second site in Labastida in Rioja Alavesa which 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 of Galicia. The estate consists of approximately 660 hectares of vineyards around La Rioja. The winery located in Haro includes a cooperage, where 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, SA is ecologically committed: limited treatments in the vineyards, investments in clean energy, water reuse, solar farm, corks and boxes are also managed in a sustainable way. Today, 16 hectares are certified organic viticulture and the objective is to increase this proportion. Also, the Board of Directors launched the Viña Ardanza Solidario program; 1% of the annual net profit (and with a minimum of €100,000 per year) is allocated to humanitarian and philanthropic causes.
The 2015 Gran Reserva 904 is a blend of Tempranillo (90%) from vines planted in Briñas, Rodezno and Villalba and Graciano (10%) from the Montecillo vineyard in the municipality of Fuenmayor. After destemming and light crushing, the grapes were put in vats where they underwent alcoholic fermentation for 21 days. In January 2016, the wine was transferred to 4.5 year old American oak barrels , where it remained for 4 years . During ageing, the wine was racked every 6 months. The final blend was bottled in February 2020.
Grapes: 90% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano
