La Vendimia 2016

"The juicy and fruit-driven 2016 La Vendimia is a blend of 50/50 Garnacha and Tempranillo (the percentage of Garnacha has been increasing) from different organically farmed vineyards; it fermented in stainless steel and matured in oak barrels for four months. Álvaro Palacios would like to increase the amount of Garnacha, but they do not have more organically farmed Garnacha (there are less than 4,000 hectares of Garnacha in Rioja Baja, which they now call Rioja Oriental, something that Álvaro started), but they have very good Tempranillo. The nose is very Mediterranean, with notes of herbs and spices, showing typicity of both grapes. It's soft and approachable, pleasant and fresh, with some tannins. They produce no less than 350,000 bottles and 2,000 magnums of this wine." Luis Gutiérrez.