Rioja Reserva Vitola 2020, Miguel Merino

Merino's single vineyard Reserva. More lifted than the classic bottling and it rewards a decanter. Vitola is a complex and expressive Reserva wine. Ripe red and black fruit aromas with cloves, black pepper and spice. Tobacco, liquorice and coffee on the palate. Fresh, intense, long and well-balanced. After a career in exporting wine, Miguel Merino realised his dream in 1990, creating his own winery. Starting with a restored farmhouse, he built a small vinification plant and barrel-ageing cellar. Miguel sources his grapes from small winemakers who owns some of the best plots near Briones, in the heart of Rioja Alta, and focus on the traditional grapes of Rioja; Tempranillo of course but also Mazuelo (or Carignan) only produced by a few winemakers as it requires a lot of hard work. His obsession was to find the small and old vineyards that no one else wanted to work, designed to be tilled by horses and producing intense fruits with good structure in order to produce great wines. He has also planted an experimental vineyard and his aim is to constantly improve the quality of his wine. Miguel is passionate, charismatic and a treasure trove of knowledge about Rioja. He now owns and runs one of the smallest, youngest and most prestigious wineries in Spain. Only 40,000 bottles (approximately) are made each year.