This summer, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food recognized the condition of “singular” to 84 vineyards of the D.O. Rioja, and ten are from our winery. In October of this year, we received from the hands of Minister Luis Planas the certificate accrediting our ten unique vineyards.

Source: Riojawine.

Behind this new project is Juan Valdelana, who has been looking for these particular lands for several years. A difficult objective because a vineyard has to have the following requirements to be considered unique:

• Extension of the vineyard: minor to a municipality, being able to include one or several plots.
• Minimum age of the vineyard: 35 years.
• Maximum production: 5,000 kilogrames per hectare for red varieties and 6,922 for white varieties.
• Vintage: Manual.
• Maximum yield: 65%
• Owner: The vineyard must be owned or leased with an exclusive production of 10 years.
• Double qualification: The initial one, like all Rioja, and a pre-market one. You must reach the rating of ‘excellent’.

Source: www.elcorreo.com

 

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Una publicación compartida de Bodegas Valdelana (1583) Rioja (@bodegasvaldelana) el 6 Ago, 2019 a las 5:20 PDT

With such requirements, it is not surprising that Juan had to work hard to get them. Several are in the vicinity of Elciego, but there are also in Laguardia, Leza and Navaridas, dating most of 1920. But almost as complex as its location is its exploitation. In this lands is not easy to work, so they require a completely manual work in which no finosanitary product, machine or even animal can be used

Unique vineyards, unique wines

It was in mid-2017 when the DOCa Rioja wanted to start identifying a more specific origin for certain wines, as in France and other countries with a great winemaking tradition.

Source: lomejordelvinorioja.com

That is why the labels of DOCa Rioja will now include more specific information about the origin of the wine, making it easier for consumers to distinguish the quality of the product. Working with grapes from vineyards is to guarantee, year after year, a vintage and production of top quality wine. A quality like our consumers deserve. Because unique consumers deserve unique vineyards and wines.