2009 Granja Remelluri Rioja Reserva, Rioja, Spain

ABOUT THIS WINE

All of the grapes are hand-selected in estate vineyards. The must is fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks and old, open-top foudres. It is then aged 21 months in foudres and barrels of various sizes, followed by more than five years of bottle aging in the Remelluri cellar. Made with low intervention, unfiltered, and with minimal sulfur at bottling.

This 2009 Reserva is a direct, authentic cellar release of guaranteed provenance, stored under optimal conditions at Remelluri in Labastida, Rioja, until refrigerated shipment to the US in the autumn of 2023. It was selected by Remelluri owner and winemaker Telmo Rodríguez for the exceptional nature of the vintage and beautiful evolution of the wine, offering a fully-cellared Reserva expression from Remelluri to the market. While the 2009 vintage has recently entered into its ideal drinking window, it will undoubtedly repay additional cellar time, offering enjoyment for a decade or more to come.

2009 is among the top vintages of the decade, along with 2004 and 2005. 2009 Remelluri Reserva features aromas of wild earthy red fruit intermixed with notes of vanilla and cinnamon, and a satiny texture with round, fine-grained tannins in a classical and very well-structured style. This is a great vintage for Remelluri Reserva that is drinking well now, yet will age gracefully for another decade or more. The growth cycle ran around 10 days earlier than previous years, starting with flowering in May/June. High summer temperatures provided good alcoholic maturity, with phenolic ripeness occurring much later into September and October. Low rainfall in the summer months reduced quantity and concentrated the grape skin-to-juice ratio, resulting in a powerful red wine with good aging potential. Hydric stress was lessened by rainfall on 16-18 September, which helped balance the phenolic and alcoholic maturity of the grapes. From this point onwards, the weather conditions were sunny and dry until the end of the harvest, allowing the grapes to reach perfect maturity with little incidence of vineyard diseases.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Remelluri is one of the most timeless and iconic landscapes of the wine world, as well as one of the most enchanting vineyards in Spain. While firmly anchored in its historical past, Remelluri illuminates the path forward for not only the future of Rioja but also world-class, terroir-based fine wines produced in Spain.

Remelluri became the first single-estate/monopole Rioja of the modern era with its release of the 1971 vintage. Remelluri is produced by the brother and sister team of Telmo Rodríguez (winemaker) and Amaia Rodríguez Hernandorena (viticulturist), with Telmo’s winemaking partner, the prolific Pablo Eguzkiza (trained at Château Petrus).

Remelluri’s vineyards are located contiguously along the slopes of the Sierra de Toloño mountains, part of the Sierra de Cantabria chain, in the valleys of Valderemelluri, La Granja, and Villaescusa, just above the village of Labastida in Rioja Alavesa. The organically-farmed vineyards here are at the highest elevation in the Rioja region.

Granja is a high-altitude Rioja sourced from a selection of the vineyards that surround the winery and above into the mountain, that delivers on the incredible, historic expectations while setting a new standard for ultra-elegant, terroir-driven Rioja from a single estate.

The estate consists of over a hundred individual plots, all of which are vinified separately. One of the keys to the location’s significance is that the vines are planted in terraced amphitheaters following the contours of the mountainside, which shelters them from the harsh weather on the leeward side. Remelluri is pure mountain Rioja.

Only indigenous varieties are used, planted from 1918, averaging over 70 years old. The blend consists primarily of goblet-trained tempranillo, garnacha, and graciano varieties with an average yield of 27hl/ha. Only grapes from the estate are used for Granja Remelluri. Certified organic farming (certified by ENEEK, the Basque Agricultural Regulatory Council) and made with low intervention, unfiltered, and minimal sulfur at bottling.