Rioja Aldonia is a blend of 90% Garnacha and 10% Tempranillo. The grapes are sourced from vineyards which sit at up 600 meters above sea level which gives the wine amazing freshness. It’s a pretty wine with red flower aromas and lovely garden herb notes. The palate is bigger and complex with strawberries and cream, cherries, orange peel and subtle cedar. It is pure silk on the palate, medium-bodied, fine and velvety.
Brothers Ivan & Mario Santos are 4th generation wine makers who took over in 2006. They are determined to produce a modern style of Rioja with minimal intervention and organic practises that expressed the grape and terroir. They do not use the age categories which are so famous in Rioja. They believe that the grape is more important than ageing a wine for a set period of time when it might not need it! For this reason their wines contain high proportions of Garnacha and do not have Crianza or Reserva on the labels. They farm 16 hectares of vineyards of which 8 are Garnacha. Most of the vineyards sit between 400 & 850 meters above sea level and some were planted over 100 years ago giving them magical old vines to work with.
