Hermanos Pecina Finca Iscorta de Pecina Gran Reserva 2015, DOCa Rioja, Spain

The Peciña winery and vineyards are located in San Vicente, which while technically in the Rioja Alta sub-zone, is not in the vicinity of Haro where most of the other traditional Rioja houses have their cellars. Rather it is located on the northeast side of the Ebro river near the border of the Basque Alavesa zone. These vineyards – many 40 to 60 years old – are actually some of the finest in the appellation as they fall at the foothills of the Sierra Cantabria Mountains at an average of 500 meters, and offer hillside expositions as well as complex and diverse soils. Many of Peciña’s most prized vineyards are actually on north facing slopes which Pedro feels helps give the wines good freshness and delineation. Single vineyard named Finca Iscorta. The vineyard is a total of 8 hectares and only the best fruit goes to this bottling. The vines are on average 50 years old and bush pruned. Soil: Calcareous clay. Top terroir focused vineyards in the San Vicente zone rich with limestone. North facing vineyards. Natural producer both in the vineyard and in the winery. Sulphur is used while the wine is in cask and largely gone by the time of release. Traditional producer in line with the Bordelaise model of long cask aging and bottle aging before release. All rackings done by hand with full oxidation and candling at the end of the cask. Vinification: The grapes are destemmed and crushed and fermented naturally with wild yeast in stainless steel tanks. Aging: The wine ages in used American oak for 4 years with 8 manual rackings (every 6 months). The wine further ages a minimum of 3 year in bottle before being released to the market. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered.