Finca Allende Rioja Blanco – 2018

If you’re looking for an alternative to Chardonnay, Rioja is now producing some really interesting oak-aged white wines, and this is an excellent example! It is a blend of 95% Viura and 5% Malvasia from estate-owned, bush-pruned vines averaging 55 years old grown on red, iron-rich, clay soils around Briones. It has a deep yellow-gold colour and complex flavours of honey, stone fruits, nuts and vanilla. 2018 was a relatively cool vintage giving this wine freshness, persistence and a long finish. 13% alcohol.

Drink with smoked or baked fish, chicken in a creamy sauce or smoked ham.

3,000 cases were produced. Drink now – 2029

Rated 93pts by both Wine Advocate and Tim Atkin MW

Rated as one of Rioja’s “First Growths” by respected British Master of Wine and journalist Tim Atkins, Finca Allende is based in the town of Briones on the south bank of the Rio Ebro in the far northwest of the Rioja Alta region.

The winery is owned by Miguel Angel de Gregorio, who was the original “wild child” of Rioja in the 1980s and the region’s first true “terroiriste”. He was the first producer to refuse to use the traditional Crianza/Reserva/Gran Reserva labelling system and vinifies his best single vineyard wines separately. His top single vineyard reds and whites regularly receive very high press scores. He has also received highly positive acclaim for his “estate” white Rioja. Jancis Robinson rated the 2017 vintage 17.5pts and called it “a superb, complex wine for the money – very good value!”

Although not certified organic, Finca Allende work 100% sustainably. The vines are treated organically with no artificial fertilisers and are ploughed by mules. The berries are sorted three times before fermentation – once during picking, again on a sorting table at the winery, and a third time using an optical sorting machine – so that only the healthiest grapes are fermented. The white grapes are then gently pressed and fermented and matured for 14 months in French oak barrels– the first 7 months on their lees to add extra richness and complexity. They are bottled without fining and after a very gentle filtration.