NUMBER 11, 2022
www.vintae.com IF WE WERE TO STOP DREAMING, WE WOULD NOT BE VINTAE CHANGE OF VINTAGE
RESTAURANT OPENING
VINTAE MEDAL TABLE
López de Haro Crianza 2019, an excellent vintage with a renewed image. Page 2
New management at the Aroa restaurant and new activities in Rioja. Page 3 and 4
We continue adding excellent scores, this time with Viñedos El Pacto. Page 4
NEW CLASSICA: THE GREAT VINTAGES ARE BACK The Classica Hacienda López de Haro collection is expanding with three new wines that will be released this spring. The great novelty is our first aged rosé, Classica Gran Reserva Rosado 2009, but new vintages are also coming onto the market: Classica Gran Reserva Blanco 2013 and Classica Gran Reserva Tinto 2004. The latter arrives preceded by its 98 points in blind tasting at the Decanter World Wine Awards a few months ago and the top spot on the competition’s list of Spanish wines.
T
he banker who oversaw the Bank of Spain in Haro du during the height of the phylloxera crisis, the Rioja soprano who sang of her love for her land and wine, and the French soldier who was eaten by yeast, coining the expression “French wine”, are the three historic Rioja figures who appear on the labels of these three new wines, which are being released in extremely limited quantities. The collection pays homage to pioneers who contributed to Rioja’s splendor during the belle epoque, and is a recreation of those great Rioja wines that brought the DO to the most prestigious tables in Spain, Europe, and the world over a century ago.
98
Decanter
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Decanter
92
Tim Atkin
These are wines that since the creation of Hacienda López de Haro have been reserved under the criteria of Raúl Acha and the Arambarri family. Aged for extended periods of time in both new and used oak, giving prominence equally to fruit and wood aromas and commensurate with excellent vintages, it exhibits an exceptional capacity for aging.
Classica Hacienda López de Haro Blanco 2013 (4,250 bottles) is a blend of Viura, Malvasía, and Garnacha Blanca from vines in Sonsierra and the Alto Najerilla that are roughly 65 years old. After 36 months in French and Eastern European oak barrels, it is rounded off for more than three years in the bottle. The end product is a Gran Reserva with personality and elegance.
Classica Hacienda López de Haro Gran Reserva Rosado 2009 (only 1,771 bottles) is made with Garnacha and Viura from old vineyards located in the Alto Najerilla. It is aged over four years in Bordeaux barrels, most of them new, but with the occasional second-hand one. This is a subtle wine with a lot of personality that reveals its grandeur through finesse.
Classica Hacienda López de Haro Gran Reserva Tinto 2004 (9,300 bottles) is a blend of Sonsierra Tempranillo (70-year-old vines) and Alto Najerilla Garnacha (around 90 years old). This red wine was aged in new and used French oak barrels for 42 months. It is a wine that stands out for the complexity and finesse that can only be achieved with the passage of time.