Rioja Gabaxo - Garnacha, Graciano & Tempranillo (22)

The red 2019 Gabatxo was produced with a blend of 40% Garnacha, half from Rioja Alta and the other half from Rioja Baja, 40% Tempranillo from Rioja Alavesa and 20% Graciano from Rioja Alavesa fermented separately, the Garnacha with full clusters, the rest destemmed and blended after fermentation finished. It matured in second-year oak vats for one year. Alcohol is 14%, and there's integrated acidity. This feels a little different from the rest of the reds and shows a little ripe. This is a little different from the 2018, more aromatic and open, straightforward, but with a serious palate with chalky tannins. 22,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2021.

Olivier Rivière produced 170,000 bottles, and in the 2022 harvest, he will pick a new plot of Garnacha in the village of Cárdenas for the first time since he planted in 2019. When I asked him about the latest vintages, he told me that he thought 2019 was an easy year in the vineyards with no diseases, uneventful weather, harvested à la carte when each plot was at its optimum moment. He likes the wines, which he finds balanced and with moderate alcohol that he compares with 2015 but with more complexity and with more acidity. 2020 was the most complicated year in the vegetative cycle with a very high pressure of mildew in spring; the summer was somewhat dry but the rains at the beginning of September helped to finish the maturation cycle. The reds are still completing the élevage, but it's a lighter vintage than 2019, very good also with lower yields. 2021 was a complicated year at first, with special care for powdery mildew, but then without problems in May, and there was a cold summer with little sun. There are two different harvests: the Rioja Baja harvest, where they had to harvest early due to rain, and the Rayos harvest, which was very easy, long and fruit driven. For the wines of Rioja Alta and Alavesa, he considers it a great vintage, from the people who waited for the perfect ripeness that took a long time to arrive. . . . He's reshaping the project in Rioja, refocusing to Cárdenas and selling the vineyards he had in Álava; 2020 will be the last vintages for Las Viñas de Eusebio, Losares and Pozo Alto. He is also starting a new winery in Bordeaux, in the Côtes de Bourg, an obscure zone with potential where he has purchased nine hectares of vineyards.