Artadi Valdegines 2018
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Blueberry, matchstick, flint and earth aromas follow through to a medium body with medium, round tannins and a flavorful finish. Very polished and full of character. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I had not tasted the 2018 Valdeginés unbottled, as I did with some of its siblings, but the east-facing plot that tends to deliver more Atlantic, cooler wines saw its character accentuated in the rainy and cooler 2018. The 4.1 hectares were planted between 1982 and 1989, partly on a slope that is quite shallow and with a base of sandstone and partly on some terraces where the soils are deeper and fresher. After a 24- to 48-hour cold soak, the wine fermented in open-top oak vats for some 10-12 days, during which time the grapes were foot trodden twice per day and there was a short pump-over. Malolactic was in barrique, where the wine matured for nine months. This is elegant and nuanced, subtle and insinuating, cool and harmonious. I like very much the character of this vineyard that in 2018 seems accentuated by the style of the year. It has very fine tannins and great harmony in the palate with a fine, velvety texture. This is my favorite vineyard in this price range. Elegant and fresh. Rating: 94+
Other Vintages
2020-
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James
Suckling -
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James
Suckling -
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
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Robert
Parker
Artadi is about purity of extracted fruit with almost Burgundian textures. In fact, critics have often compared these wines to the top wines of Chambolle-Musigny and other top appellations of Burgundy. The key to this level of elegance comes from the cold wines of the Pyrenees which blow from the north. This coupled with moderate temperatures tend to make these wines a study in elegance and power, the iron fist in a velvet glove if you will. They are some of the most extraordinary examples of Tempranillo in the world.
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.