Cerro Amurdi blanco
50% Viura, 50 % Garnacha Blanca
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This small project was initiated in Navaridas, just northwest of Logroño (Álava), at the border between the Basque Country and La Rioja. Initially, Luis called this nomadic viticulture: the origin of the grapes were not set in stone and were thought to change over the years, so much so that Luis predicted that the selected plots, and even the final blend could change drastically from vintage to vintage.
The original name of this wine, Urbanita, reflected Luis’ love for cities. It’s a wine more reflective about a region and way of making great wines than the desire to make the same wine with the same grapes at the same place, year in, year out. For those who remeber the 2015 and 2017m thinking they may have missed the 2016 vintage, it is worth mentioning that Luis experimented a little with this vintage and was quite dissatisfied with the result. A true perfectionist, the production ended up in the sewers… It was also the trigger for the change initiated the following year. Since the 2017 vintage, the provenance of the grapes has changed, for the better. Already, this vintage was crystalline with yellowish hints drawing on green (yes, like the original label), we have the same purity as in 2015, but with more complexity. Luis, faithful to his original plan to select grapes in the area where he grew up, has now chosen plots south of his hometown Pamplona, in the province of Navarra. We will probably see several elaborate vintages of these parcels. Now in control of the viticulture and the elaboration of the wine, his signature is obvious. A complex wine, all in finesse, and as he says so well: “sin maquillaje” (without makeup). Viura originates from a plot in Mendigorria, while Garnacha Blanca is grown in San Martin de Unx. As always, using environmentally friendly farming techniques, he uses principles of sustainable non-interventionist agriculture: no plowing of the land, no external fertilizer input, no pesticides, no herbicides or thorough weeding, only superficial manual weeding/trimming. The vineyards planted more than thirty years ago are located at an altitude of 600 meters and are harvest manually. Like his other wines, the winemaking is done with minimal intervention: stainless steel tanks, and low temperature, wild yeast fermentation (18 to 22 °C) for 24 hours. The resulting wine is not clarified and undergoes a very light filtration. The wine is aged 6 months in stainless steel tanks prior to bottling. In 2022, here is the new branding, under the Cerro Amurdi brand. Luis has a new address (he’s very proud, and she be!) located in Zizur Menor, and the name Cerro Amurdi refers to a peak in the Basque country, not very far from his vineyards. |