CUNE "Monopole Clásico" Blanco Seco, Rioja, Spain 2018

FROM RARE WINE CO.:

THE WINE: If you go back 50 to 100 years, you’ll find that CUNE made one of Rioja’s most illustrious whites: Monopole. First made in 1914, it was the first prestige cuvée created by CUNE, predating both Imperial and Viña Real. Monopole was not only great, it was unique: a blend of 95% Viura and 5% Manzanilla from the Sherry region, aged in large neutral barrels. But as Spanish drinkers began to demand more modern whites in the 1980s, CUNE changed the Monopole blend, removing the Manzanilla, and switching to stainless steel to create a fresher, simpler and less expensive white.

Fortunately, in 2014 (celebrating the anniversary of its birth) Victor decided to start making the “original recipe” again, calling it Monopole Clasico. Monopole Clasico is, in the words of The Wine Advocate’s Luis Gutierrez, made “the way Monopole was always produced decades ago.” And the wine has been a sensation, drawing such praise as John Gilman calling it “one of the most unique and compelling white wines I have tasted from the Rioja region.”

As in the past, Monopole Clasico is a selection of CUNE’s best Viura, gently pressed and then settled in concrete tank, followed by fermentation in stainless steel and aging with the lees in large neutral oak barrels for eight months. This approach produces classically rich and creamy textured white Rioja, but what makes Monopole Clásico unique is the addition of a small amount of Manzanilla Sherry, purchased from the great Hidalgo family in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Further barrel-aging harmonizes the two varieties, the Manzanilla’s saline, nutty complexity perfectly complementing the Viura’s citrus and mineral freshness. Monopole Clásico is a triumphant resurrection of this mythic white Rioja.

THE PRODUCER: CUNE is among Rioja’s most venerable houses, founded in 1879 as Compañia Vinicola del Norte de España—abbreviated as C.V.N.E. or CUNE—by brothers Eusebio and Raimundo Real de Asúa of Bilbao. And it remains in family hands to this day. Like other early bodegas, CUNE had French connections—to Champagne producers in Reims as well as to the Cognac house Remy Martin. From the beginning it was based in Haro’s famed Barrio de la Estación, taking advantage of the railway line as a convenient means of transporting their wines.

While originally a negociant, the Real de Asúa brothers soon began acquiring vineyards, recognizing that controlling production from vine to bottle was the path to high quality. And they quickly demonstrated their success, winning numerous medals at the major European exhibitions taking place at that time. This reputation carried the bodega for more than a century. However, by the beginning of the twenty-first-century, new energy was needed. That energy came from fifth-generation descendent Victor Urrutia who arrived in 2003.

Under Victor, CUNE has seen a surge in quality across the entire range of wines, from Crianza to Gran Reserva. But as John Gilman has pointed out, Victor has not only managed to raise quality, he has done so while doing “an absolutely admirable job of maintaining Cuné’s great traditions.”