| Producer | Bideona |
| Country | Spain |
| Region | Rioja |
| Varietal | Tempranillo |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Sku | 05975 |
| Size | 750ml |
| ABV | 14.50% |
Master of Wine Andreas Kubach and his partners tend their 300 small parcels of old-vine Tempranillo in the Basque highlands of Rioja Alavesa with a simple goal: to capture the character of the region, villages in the region, and individual vineyards as expressed by Tempranillo. So they ferment in 100 different small batches using only native yeasts and age their wines mainly in concrete plus large, old, casks that don’t add any of the vanilla, wood or dill flavors you expect from Rioja. Instead they let the flavors of grape and place shine through with compelling, captivating, beauty.
This is one of their “village” wines from Samaniego. Because of Rioja’s current rules, a wine can’t carry a village name unless the winery itself is actually in the village. So instead of “Samaniego” you find “S4mg0” here.
As to the wine, there’s not much we can add to the 96 point Vinous review, other than a big "Yum"! "The 2020 S4MG0 Viñas Viejas is 100% Tempranillo sourced from Samaniego, Rioja Alavesa, produced by Bideona as part of their effort to highlight specific places and towns in Rioja. Aged in concrete and foudres, this wine has a dark garnet hue. It offers aromas of plums and blackberry, accompanied by hints of sour cherry, petit four and truffle. On the palate, it is dry, bold and rich, with a liqueur-like character and fine-grained tannins that linger.” This will age beautifully but is already delicious, especially with grilled meat or mushrooms or anything with a bit of North African spice.
For You If: "Bordeaux-like Rioja" sounds good to you - this is definitely Tempranillo and Rioja, but with the graphite, herb, and purity of a top-notch Bordeaux.
Not For You If: You're looking for the highly-oaked/aged "traditional" wines of places like Lopez de Heredia or La Rioja Alta - this is "modern" in the sense that the fruit is preserved and site is more important than winery house style.
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