Tag: santurnia

BEST VERSION OF AN UNDER THE RADAR HOUSE FAVORITE

Yes , we do talk a lot and sell a lot of wine. But there are things we talk about more sparingly simply because they are delicious comfort wines for and we would stock them anyway even thought they are very much under the radar and rarely get attention from the wine media since they don’t make a habit of submitting samples. Still the wines from Bodegas Ramón Ayala Lete e Hijos Viña Santurnia have had a consistent home here at many levels (particularly reserva and gran reserva levels) because they check all of the boxes and do so and extremely attractive prices. They are the kind of wines that wine merchants drink because they are pure, honest, traditional and very well priced.

Located right in the border between Rioja Alta and Alavesa, the Ayala’s family property is in prime real estate. Standing in their property you can see the Barrio de la Estación in Haro, the Tondonia vineyard by the river, and the walls of the Sierra Cantabria in your back. The Ayalas have been involved in the Rioja business for generations. They have two brands: “Viña Santurnia”, for the traditional Rioja aging levels, and “Deóbriga” for wines made with a more modern approach at spectacular prices. 

The impetus for this particular piece is the arrival of the Bodegas Ramón Ayala Lete e Hijos Viña Santurnia Rioja Reserva 2016, a classic, traditional Rioja from one of the best vintages in Rioja in recent memory. The grapes come from family vineyards at the foot of the Sierra Cantabria Mountains or Sonsierra. The grapes are harvested manually between the first and third week of October so they are optimally ripe. They are destemmed and moved by gravity into steel tanks for fermentation. The blend, 90% Tempranillo, 5% Manzuelo, and 5% Graciano, are placed in oak barrels, 80% American and 20% French, for the traditional period of 24 months.

This Rioja has a healthy garnet color and the inviting and complex nose of mulberry, cherry, plum, spice, cocoa, a hint of vanilla and a whiff of smoked meat that only bottle age can bring about. In the mouth the wine has the tenderness of time in the bottle and the richness and balance that is the hallmark 2016 Riojas. On other words very engaging, supple, beautifully done ‘old school’ Rioja.

If you need scores and highlights, like we said, we couldn’t find anything recent from the press on Santurnia wines. The best recommendation we can give you is that these wines find their way into our glasses pretty regularly, and this 2016 Reserva is one of the best examples we have had from them. Salud.

STILL UNDER THE RADAR SPANISH GEMS

This particular traditional Rioja house has been a part of our set for at least fifteen years as well as being one of the prime grabbers for home ‘research’. You may not have heard of it under its formal name Ramon de Ayala Lete e Hijos Vina Santurnia Rioja. You quite possibly haven’t heard of it at all. We simply call it Vina Santurina. We have consistently carried one or more of the Crianza, Reserva, and Grand Reserva bottlings for a long time.

You likely haven’t read about it either unless you are one of those rare folks that reads archived wine review magazines. We have not been able to find anything more recently than 3 years ago in the Wine Spectator and, mind you, these weren’t the 100-pointers, usually grabbing high 80s to low 90s scores from the critics when they were mentioned at all. At this point you might be wondering why we are talking about them.

The simple story is that, while these are not the wine version of ‘super models’, they are character-filled, honest, classically rendered wines that deliver every time at prices that are pretty easy to swallow. Familiar notes of plum, cranberry, spice, leather, and vanilla play at every level. While they have that engaging Rioja muskiness and dusty note to the finish, they tend to be riper, more substantial, and fuller-bodied than your garden variety Rioja.

These folks are traditional to the core, as in organic farming (unless some seriously bad weather dictates otherwise) and even some foot-trodding in the cellar. The wines exude great authenticity will still delivering an ample blast of fruit. The Viña Santurnia Rioja Crianza 2016is a plumper-than-normal version of this wine. It is their best crianza we can recall. We usually play the reserva and gran reserva bottlings but this plays at that level qualitatively this time around. Plenty of dark cherry and red plum with notes of spice, coffee, sweet earth and vanilla. Made from 100% Tempranillo from vines planted between 1986 and 1998, sourced from both Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa, it is a lot of wine for the dinero and accessible now though there is no hurry.

Given the producer and vintage, the performance of the crianza wasn’t as big a surprise as this one. While 2008 isn’t necessarily considered an epic vintage, we have had a lot of very successful wines. But few have shown the plushness, roundness and flesh of this one. The Viña Santurnia Rioja Gran Reserva 2008 from a character standpoint is the reasonable upgrade from the delicious crianza, though more refined, resolved, better balanced, and classier. It is one of the better 2008s we can recall, and as you know we deal with a lot of bodegas. It’s the classic Spanish bargain of a high quality red with bottle age for under $30. This one is a blend of Tempranillo 90%, Mazuelo 5% and Graciano 5% that sees the traditional 24 months in a mixture of French and American oak.

We have been selling these wines for a long time as we said. But more importantly they are regular visitors to our own table as we appreciate quality and value as much as anyone. The wine media doesn’t tell you everything and some labels get overlooked simply because they don’t come from from some high profile, big budget importer. However these deliver where it counts, in your glass.