Rioja Ganko - Garnacha & Mazuelo (20)

90% Garnacha & 10% Cariñena (Mazuelo) | single vineyard ‘Cardenas’ in Rioja Alta | stokken tussen de 40-80 jaar oud | zanderige bodem met rode klei | 20 % whole bunch | vergisting in gebruikt 600 liter Frans eikenhout | 12 maanden rijping en vervolgens 16 maanden in grote foudres | puur en intens | verfijnde kijk op Rioja | diepgang en complexiteit | licht floraal | zwarte kers | braam | kruidig | 'Olivier considers this wine to be his 1er Cru Village Rioja.' 

Olivier Rivière

Hoe komt een Fransman verzeild in Spanje? Vrij makkelijk eigenlijk! Als je stage kan lopen bij een van de beste wijnmakers uit het land, Telmo Rodriguez, sla je dat vanzelfsprekend niet af! Stap voor stap begint Olivier Rivière meer te leren en zorgvuldig te bouwen aan zijn eigen domein, wat nu 11 hectare beslaat. Na ook werkzaam te zijn geweest bij het beroemde Domaine Leroy vinifieert hij zijn wijnen naar de stijl van het perceel en/of dorp waar ze vandaan komen, zoals het ook werkt in de Bourgogne. De witte wijnen zijn lekker bourgondisch en rijp maar met finesse en de rode wijnen zijn eveneens karaktervol, hebben veel fruit maar zijn heel precies, met spanning en een grote complexiteit.

Review

The 2019 Ganko is a village wine from old vines in Cárdenas, 90% Garnacha and 10% Mazuelo (Cariñena), with 14.5% alcohol and the ripeness of the vintage. The grapes were picked and fermented together with 20% full clusters, and the wine matured in 600-liter oak barrels for 12 months and a further 16 months in oak foudre. I liked it very much. I found it clean, precise and balanced, a little shy on the nose but beautifully textured, with a dry, long and chalky finish. This has had a longer élevage than in the past, and that helps stabilize the wine and makes it more complex and stable. This is deeper and more complex than the initial vintages of this wine, more serious. The vines are now handled by Rivière, and he says he notices it in the wines. 5,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2022. 95/100 Luis Gutiérrez

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.