Vinos Norzagarai ‘Las Franjas’ Tinto 2018
Location: Spain, Rioja
Winemaker: Santiago Norzagarai
Grapes: Tempranillo
Soil: Very fragile, segregated type of structure. Everything is clay limestone.
Winemaking: Indigenous yeasts, virtually NO extraction (just wetting the cap now and then), no pumpovers, a delèstage at 1040º and light pressing at 1000º. End of fermentation and malolactic fermentation in oak barriques, those light lees are kept in the wine throughout ageing for at least 9 months. Barriques are old french oak 225 liters, youngest barriques are 6.y.o. Barriques are hand picked around Rioja trying to avoid any type of contamination from them. Very low levels of sulphur in the wines and it is crucial that barriques are in top shape. Parcel wines are not stabilized nor filtered prior to bottling and vintages are released to the market when Santiago feels they are ready, in terms of roundness and potential aging.
From the Producer: Las Franjas is a vineyard parcel in the Villabuena de Álava district, on clay-limestone fragile soils of dissagregated structure. On the eastern side of a light slope right below the Toloño mountain, our natural barrier from extreme cold weather but still able to get lots of Atlantic climatic influence. 100% Tempranillo, 40+ y.o., very deep roots and a surprising acidity for Tempranillo, which is normally what Tempranillo lacks of. Organically farmed since 1999, its soil structure is what really intrigues me. I've had the opportunity of vinifying this and the neighbouring parcels and pH differences have been outstanding throughout vintages. In the vineyard I tend not to mess a lot with the vines nor its habitat: alternate row plowing once a year just on the topsoil, only copper sulphate is used when disease is pressing, no inorganic nitrogen has been added since 2000 just sheep manure now and then, camomile and yarrow preparations are added during flowering and not much else: no defoliation, no cluster thinning. Everything is hand-harvested of course. After 42 different vinification protocols I released the 2014 vintage to the market, about 1000 bottles and a real door opener for me. In the beginning the idea was to profit from the parcel’s surprising acidity in order to make a full-on grand-vin-de-garde, but whenever I aimed at extractive protocols, astringency was just too high and unbearable. So in the end the applied protocol for this parcel had nothing to do with what I was aiming at originally.
From the Importer Selection Massale: Santiago Norzagarai is a Rioja producer making wines unlike any others in the region. Many things set him apart. First of all, he is from Buenos Aires, though he has lived in Spain for 25 years. Secondly, he is working in the Rioja Alavesa with organic vineyards. Thirdly, he is making non-oaky, not-overly-extracted, meant-to-be-drinkable wines with a “non-interventionist approach.” In other words, Norzagarai is trying to change the stylistic perception of wines in Rioja.
Norzagarai spoke to us recently on a video call about honoring the terroir of Rioja Alavesa and making wines that reflect more than just new oak:
“Every single vineyard is facing in a different direction–it has its own microclimate. It’s own soil profile, not compositions. The soil in Rioja Alavesa is all clay-limestone. But in terms of soil structure, we really have all sorts of aspects around here and I’m inclined to showcase that, rather than the Rioja gran riserva, etc. Rioja started as an appellation for the French to make wine when they got phylloxera. The French came down here because they found potential, not because there were crianzas, reservas, and gran reservas. I reckon the potential is mostly in this area. This is where there is the wine profile I am aiming at…We do lots of carbonic maceration wines here. When they’re well-made, they tend to go really well with local cuisine. There’s something to be explored there in that sense. The bold Rioja wines we were told we should be making with heavy oak, etc., this is certainly not the way for me.