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Akutain Rioja Cosecha, 2020

Akutain Rioja Cosecha, 2020

Red Wine

$18.99 Special Pricing

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All orders need to be picked up in Greendale, Wisconsin.
We do not ship.

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"From organically-grown estate fruit in Rioja Alta. Mostly Tempranillo with Garnacha raised in fiberglass."

From importer Jose Pastor:

 

"Cosecha The Akutain Cosecha is comprised of mostly Tempranillo with a small proportion of Garnacha from Jon's youngest vineyard, Fonzabala. The wine fermented in fiberglass vats with native yeasts and was raised for a short time in the same fiber glass vats. 

Akutain 

The story of Akutain begins over four decades ago, when Rioja’s storied estates were consistently producing Spain’s most highly sought-after wines. At this time, Juan Peñagaricano Akutain was an engineer in nearby Basque Country, working for a company that sold cooling units to wineries. Juan developed personal relationships with many Rioja bodegas and spent time tasting and learning in the region, most notably in the cellars of two of the great traditionalists of yesteryear – CVNE and La Rioja Alta. These experiences gave him the confidence to plant his first vineyard in 1975, located 5km west of Haro at Rioja’s epicenter. With a desire to work in the chateau style, Juan acquired a horse stable adjacent to the vineyard and converted it into a small bodega. Akutain has been making wine here in this small but highly functional bodega ever since, with the goal being “to control the whole process from vineyard to bottle.” They strive to produce wines in the traditional style set forth by the Grand Bodegas, but on a much smaller scale, and most importantly to singularly reflect the wind-swept, high elevation terruño of Rioja Alta.

​Today the property is comprised of 6.5 hectares of four distinct vineyard plots, all estate-owned and located in the Rioja Alta subzone, ranging from 25 to 40 years of age
​Juan’s son, the young and ambitious Jon Peñagaricano, is now handling the day-to-day operations. Before coming back to the estate, Jon worked for 7 years as an export manager for a vineyard equipment company. In his youth, Jon spent as much time in the vineyards and winery as he could – pruning vines, cleaning barrels, bottling, labeling, etc. These days, Jon is leading the estate into the 21st century. Akutain has begun converting their highest elevation vineyard, Gembres, to organic viticulture, with the rest of the estate following suit. In 2015 Akutain made its first cosecha wine, as well as their first cask-aged rosado, a wine that reminds us of the great Rioja roses of yesteryear.
 
Harvesting is by hand, all fermentations are with natural yeasts in fiberglass vats (with no temperature control), and all aging is in used American oak. Due to the small size of the cellar, they do not rack the wine from barrel to barrel, but rather decant the wine periodically out and then back into the same barrel. They bottle age for a significant amount of time in natural caves that the Akutains built under the first vineyard they planted back in 1975. This is traditional Grower Rioja at its best!"