Goede recensies van Robert Parker voor Oxer

Goede reviews en scores voor de wijnen van onze producenten in het artikel ‘Make Rioja great again’ door Luis Gutierrez voor Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate.

Op 14 juli jl. publiceerde Luis Guttierez zijn artikel over de revolutie in Rioja waar wij al eerder dit jaar een blog over schreven. De wijnen van onze producenten Oxer Bastegieta, Elena Corzana, Victor Ausejo en Sinodo Vitivinicola krijgen van hem hele goede recensies zelfs 98 punten voor Kalamity 2020 van Oxer! Een prachtige recensie en een geweldige opsteker voor Oxer, zijn wijnen worden elk jaar weer beter, verfijnder, complexer. Zo mooi om te zien en te proeven. Luis Gutierrez plaatst Kalamity 2020 zelfs op plaats 4 in zijn top 10!!!

Extracts and scores from Luis Gutiérrez’ article ‘Make Rioja great again!’, published July 14th 2022.

“Not strictly new, as I already reviewed them in the past, but new-ish names that have made very good progress are Akutain, Alegre Valgañón, Alonso & Pedrajo, Arizcuren, Diego Magaña (who is among the best), Eduardo Eguren (Cuentaviñas), Exopto, Jose Gil, MacRobert & Canal, Miguel Merino (a generational change), Oxer Bastegieta and Vinos en Voz Baja. You can also look them up and read their individual profiles or tasting notes, as they include abundant information. But, again, I want to highlight acouple of them.”

“I also visited the impressive, old and beautiful vineyards from Oxer Bastegieta, who had implemented a big change in the quality and style of his wines from 2018 onward. He works organically and uses biodynamical preparations but doesn’t have or seek any kind of certification.
He has three new reds in Rioja, a revamped white and a new wine from a project in Toro. And he continues with his full range of characterful Txakoli, of course… But I still have a soft spot for Kalamity!”

Ahari 2020 – Rating 94

The 2020 Ahari is a blend of small plots of old vines from Laguardia, Leza, Navaridas and Elvillar, a subtle red that has 20% to 30% Graciano from younger vines in a plot planted some 35 years ago on limestone-rich soils. This fermented with some 5% to 20% stems and uncrushed grapes, all foot trodden. He’s always done that because he feels it adds texture/structure to the wines. The nose is elegant, a little closed, serious and nuanced. The wine has a medium to full body, 14% alcohol and the freshness and tension that I find in all his 20202. It has some silky tannins and therefore a silky texture. 4,600 bottles were filled in July 2021.

Kalamity 2020 – Rating 98

The 2020 Kalamity is Bastegieta’s favorite vintage because of the floweriness and the quality of the tannins. There’s a lot of precision here. The vines have been detoxed through years of working organically, so the soils have recovered from years of herbicide. 2020 and 2021 were challenging years because of the pandemic, but qualitatively, in Rioja they are excellent years. All wines ferment with indigenous yeasts, and in this case, the wine matured in 600-liter Stockinger oak barrels, which are his favorites for his wines. The wine already starts transmitting freshness from the nose, and the palate is a lot more obvious and makes salivate. This is super clean, precise like a laser cut, with light and energy, fresher than the majority of Rioja with very fine, silky tannins that give it a beautiful texture with dry, chalky minerality. This is perfumed, elegant, nuanced, layered and beautifully balanced. This is still very young, clean and modern, with stuffing and balance to develop in bottle for a long time. 2,500 bottles produced.

Suzzane – Rating 93

The Garnacha red 2020 Suzzane was quite open, a little more advanced than the other 2020s, ripe and heady but with a vibrant palate that was not consistent with the notes I found in the nose. He sent me a second bottle that I tasted at home, and the profile was completely different: floral, young and spicy with a medium body and very fine tannins, a long, dry finish and still young and energetic. There are only 2,000 bottles. In 2020, the Garnacha had lower yields because of poor flower settling and some hail. On hold. It was bottled in September of 2021.

Tartalo – Rating 96

The 2020 Tartalo is a new single-vineyard red from a plot with a field blend, 0.7 hectares planted in 1920 in the village of Elvillar (Rioja Alavesa) at 600 meters in altitude in the zone known as Barranco de San Julián on limestone soils that deliver no more than 3,000 kilos per hectare. This is the most calcareous vineyard he works. It’s mostly Tempranillo with 8% Viura and some scattered plants of Graciano that fermented with indigenous yeasts in a 1,000-liter oak vat and matured in one single used 600-liter Austrian barrel. It’s super floral and perfumed. Oxer thinks it’s earthy and connected to the soil, but the wine has no rusticity whatsoever. There are notes of aromatic herbs, wild berries and flowers, and there is amazing balance. The wines are always vinified in a very gentle way, like an infusion; he tries not to extract, and the oaking is also very subtle. He has worked a lot to find the barrels that respect the character of each wine, and he came to the conclusion that Stockinger was the best cooper for his wines. The oak is just a little more noticeable here than in the Kalamity, and the palate doesn’t have the same vibrancy, but it’s an amazing wine and very impressive for a second vintage. In 2020, the plot suffered from mildew, and there are around 900 bottles from 0.7 hectares of vines. This was first produced in 2019, a slightly warmer and riper year than this 2020.

Goede recensies van Robert Parker voor Oxer

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