Pujanza Finca Valdepoleo 2021

Pujanza Finca Valdepoleo is an estate Tempranillo from Bodegas y Viñedos Pujanza, based in Laguardia in the Rioja Alavesa at the foot of the Sierra de Cantabria. Carlos San Pedro built the project from 1998 on a family winemaking history going back three generations, and the house style keeps fruit as the main character with oak in a supporting role. The Rioja Alavesa sits on poor calcareous clay soils with the Sierra de Cantabria sheltering the vines from the worst of the Atlantic weather, while the marked day to night temperature swing through the growing season slows ripening and fixes colour and aromatic precision in the skins. After fermentation the wine spends fourteen months in French oak, where slow oxygen exchange through the staves softens the tannins and adds gentle spice and vanillin without burying the Tempranillo fruit. Expect a deep cherry red colour, a nose of ripe plum, red berries and dark cherry over tobacco and sweet oak, and a medium to full palate with fine grained tannins and a savoury, earthy finish. Serve at 16 to 18 degrees, ideally decanted an hour ahead, alongside roast lamb or a plate of aged Manchego.