Artuke La Condenada 2017

The last of the single-vineyard wines in the tasting, the 2017 La Condenada is from a plot in Baños de Ebro on sand and sandstone soils at 530 meters in altitude. It's mostly Tempranillo with around 20% made up of Graciano, Garnacha and even white Palomino Fino that fermented destemmed but uncrushed with indigenous yeasts and matured in 600-liter oak barrels for 12 months. This is the single vineyard that has finer soils, which tend to produce finer and more elegant wines. The vineyard has now been recovered, but they don't yet use the grapes from the new vines that have replaced the missing ones. The wine is perfumed, with nuance and elegance. The palate reveals great finesse, detail and texture as well as fine, subtle minerality and great balance and length. Simply superb. Bravo! 1,100 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2019.

A remarkable wine for this humble category with intense yet delicate forest-berry and bitter-chocolate aromas. The rather concentrated tannins are elegant enough for you to drink this now or hold. A blend of tempranillo, graciano, garnacha, and palomino fino.

The sandy soils don't look particularly promising, but this 0.75-hectare parcel in Baños de Ebro, rescued from neglect in 2012 by Arturo and Kike de Miguel, produces world-class wines from a blend of Tempranillo and 20% Graciano, Garnacha and white grapes. Fine, focused and beautifully balanced, it's a Rioja Grand Cru red. 2023-35