Artadi El Carretil 2023

Artadi El Carretil is made by Bodegas y Viñedos Artadi in Laguardia, in Rioja Alavesa. Artadi began as a growers' cooperative in 1985 and, under the Lacalle family from 1992, turned its focus to single vineyards that express their origin, eventually leaving the regional appellation to bottle these site wines on their own terms. El Carretil is a single old-vine plot of Tempranillo, farmed organically. The vineyard sits on poor calcareous clay soils at altitude below the Sierra de Cantabria, where cold nights and warm days slow ripening and preserve acidity, fragrance and colour while the fruit ripens fully. Low yields from the old vines concentrate the fruit. The wine ages twelve months in French oak, where slow oxygen exchange softens the firm tannins and adds fine spice, and malolactic fermentation rounds the acidity. The wine is deep, dark cherry red. The nose is black cherry, plum and red berries with liquorice, vanilla, a peppery note and a stony, earthy depth. The palate is full bodied and structured, with concentrated fruit, firm fine-grained tannin and a long, mineral, savoury finish. Serve at 16 to 18 degrees and decant ahead. It suits roast lamb and grilled beef.