2019 Artuke Pies Negros Tempranillo

Artuke is a rarity in Rioja: a small, terroir-focused winery. Owned and run by brothers Arturo and Kike, Artuke only use grapes from their vineyards in and around the small town of Baños de Ebro, tucked under the Sierra Cantabria on the northern edges of Rioja.The Artuke aim is simple: to make vibrant wines expressive of the village, uncluttered by oak, extraction or other artifice. The brothers farm organically and their elevated, cool climate vineyards produce wonderfully bright versions of Rioja.Pies Negros is a reference to the tradition of foot stomping grapes to gently release the first juice, allowing natural yeasts to begin fermenting the wine. It speaks to how this wine is made, but also provides a sly reminder of how rare such small-scale winemaking has become in the Rioja region, where big business and industrial agriculture dominate, and fancy architecture often trumps serious viticulture.Artuke make this wine from five separate plots, planted on limestone and clay at around 550 metres altitude dotted around the town of Abalos, just to the south of their 'Grand Cru' Escolladero site. It bursts with freshness and lively acidity, with a core of cool blackberry fruit. There's plenty of structure here too, thanks to the proximity of limestone to the top soil in foothills of the Cantabrian mountains which shows the serious, age-worthy Rioja side of Rioja Alavesa, even in the modern-terroist frame.