Tasting notes
A powerful wine with a heady and complex nose of ripe dark red and black fruit, balsamic notes, sweet spice notes. The palate is remarkability soft and long with wonderful elegance and a great mineral freshness. Ideal with roasts (meat and root veg), tomato-based pasta and hard cheeses.
Why we recommend this wine
We visited Ribera del Duero a short while ago and were most impressed with the wines in general and Arjuaga in particular. There are very few producers of half bottles in the area but luckily Arzuaga are one of them.
The wine
Crianza is the flagship wine from Bodegas Arzuaga. It is made from Tempranillo with the addition of small amounts (6% or so) Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Merlot. When the grapes arrive at the optimum ripening point, frequently in mid-October, the clusters are harvested in 15 kg boxes, and then passed to a selection table to remove sub-standard material and then destemmed and pressed before landing in stainless steel tanks. After a few days cold macerating, they ferment at about 27ºC and then aged for 16 month in barrels, 50% French oak and 50% American oak.
The wine estate
Bodegas Arzuaga was founded in the early 1990’s by Florentino Arzuaga when he purchased the La Planta estate, just east of Valladolid in the high-altitude region of Ribera del Duero. The estate itself consists of over 1400 hectares of land, of which just over 200 are under vine. There is an abundance of olive trees and a bewildering array of wildlife, flora and fauna on the estate along with a superbly modern hotel, spa and restaurant. It’s pretty much the perfect wine holiday location!
tienda.arzuaganavarro.com
Food and wine
Rich and powerful so roasts, winter stews and hard cheeses such as Manchego Curado. Handles dishes with some pimenton such as chicken chorizo (remember to buy a half of Manzanilla to go in the pot). Refer also to our food and wine pairing guide, click here.
Did you know?
The Ribera del Duero competes with Rioja for the Best Tempranillo wine title. The name of this wine region is derived from the Duero River which flows through it. The Duero valley has many castles, churches, and monasteries. The monasteries grew most of the vineyards during the middle ages when it was an important wine-producing region. But during the 20th century Ribera del Duero stopped being important and many of the vines were ripped up and cereal grain was planted instead. But there was an exception to demise of the vine, Vega Sicilia, probably Spain´s main wine icon and producer of its most expensive wine. Bodegas Arzuaga adjoins Vega Sicilia.