Contino Blanco 2018, CVNE

Very classy. This is elegant and understated yet beguilingly complex with citrus, aniseed, roasted nuts and herbal overtones.  It has a lovely aromatic, floral quality, cleansing acidity and a subtle yet persistent finish. Don’t over-chill this wine!

90% Viura
10% Garnacha Blanco

In 1973 Contino became the first single estate Rioja. The pioneering 62ha estate on the bank of the Ebro has foundations dating from the 16th century.

Production notes – vineyard: The Garnacha Blanca comes from the San Gregorio Encina plot which was planted in 1980 and whose soils are calcareous clay.  The Viura comes from different parts of Contino, from the alluvial, old pago of Lentisco, from the stony San Gregorio La Tabla and from La Finca de Santa Maria.  All of these vines are between 35 and 40 years old.

Production notes – winemaking: The close proximity of the vineyards to the winery meant that the grapes arrived in perfect condition.  Whole bunches of hand-picked grapes were destemmed and transferred to a stainless steel vat where several hours of skin contact took place.  Following this, the vat was drained and pressed and the alcoholic fermentation took place, taking about 20 days.  Once completed, 30% of the wines was racked to concrete tanks and 70% to new and second use oak barrels from different coopers and of various sizes, namely 500 litres and 400 litres, and where the wine remained for 10 months.