Akutain Rioja Cosecha

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 and began developing relationships with the great traditionalist cellars of the time. He planted his first vineyard in 1975, located 5km west of Haro at Rioja’s epicenter and repurposed an old stable next door for his bodega; Bodega Akutain has been there ever since. . Today the property is comprised of 6.5 hectares of four distinct vineyard plots, all located in the Rioja Alta subzone. Juan’s son, Jon Peñagaricano, is now handling the day-today operations. Harvesting is by hand, all fermentations are with native yeasts in neutral vessels, and aging is in American and French Oak (most of it used) with extensive racking and substantial aging after bottling.

Origin: Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain.

Varieties: 100% Tempranillo.

Vineyard: From Fonzabala, the bodega’s youngest vineyard that was planted in 1990. The vineyard is at 580m, faces northeast, and is on clay-calcareous soils.

Vinification Method: The grapes were destemmed and pressed with a vertical press, then macerated on their skins for 2 days before fermentation in fiberglass and steel tanks with native yeasts at controlled temperatures. The wine went through malolactic fermentation and rested over the winter in the same vessels with 4 rackings. Bottled without clarification, only a very light filtering with a large mesh, and rested for 1 year in bottle before release.