CVNE Real de Asua Rioja 2018

“The 2018 Real de Asúa, a pure Tempranillo first produced in 1999, has been produced from 2018 onward with grapes from a vineyard in the paraje (zone) known as Carromaza from the village of Villalba de Rioja. The vineyard was planted with head-pruned vines on sandy soils at 600 meters in altitude at the foot of the Sierra Cantabria in a cool and windy zone with around 700 liters of rain per year. This 2018 fermented in small French oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in new and second use barriques for 12 months (down from 18 months in the previous vintage). This could very well be a new wine, from one of their freshest vineyards in a cool vintage, with lots of freshness and much more integrated oak than in the past. It’s still very young and has tannins to be resolved by time in bottle, but it should develop very nicely and make old bones. 3,125 bottles were filled in February 2020. Drink: 2022-2038. 95 points

CVNE are working to produce white wines in the Reserva and Gran Reserva, an exciting development for the future, but we already have the first example here, a 2018 Cune Blanco Reserva. They are also refocusing on the Real de Asúa range, with interesting developments, which mean completely new wines. And the vineyard work doesn’t stop. They have purchased and planted 15 new hectares in the village of Cellorigo in the Montes Obarenes, certainly a new hotspot for the development of fresher wines. They planted those hectares in terraces at 750 meters above sea level, a little in the style they have done in Valdeorras in their Virgen del Galir project. They are also involved in the recovery of the Davalillo Castle in San Asensio and are replanting the surroundings (close to seven hectares) to make a wine there. So, quite exciting and dynamic times at one of the classical Rioja wineries…

Even if they have a separate winery above Contino (which they also own) for the Viña Real wines, I have included them here rather than in a separate entry.”

Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate (251)