Ostatu "Blanco" Rioja, Spain 2023

FROM DE MAISON

THE WINE: Ostatu Blanco is an incredible value and introduction to their range of wines. It says something about a winery when they pursue excellence from the beginning of their range to the top. For this reason, Ostatu Blanco is one of the most beloved white wines of substance and complexity from Rioja Alavesa.

The secret lies in the high-altitude, bush-trained vineyards of indigenous viura and malvasía grapes coming from the villages of Samaniego, Laguardia, and Leza in Rioja Alavesa at an altitude of 580m. These villages are located directly at the convergence of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean climatic influences, which mold the character of the vintages. This unique soil and climate also lend a certain austerity and structure to Ostatu wines, which differentiates them from the Rioja wines of other subzones. Ostatu is pure Alavesa mountain wine, born of the tension and energy of an extreme climate.

Grapes are farmed organically, and only native yeasts are utilized to ferment in stainless steel tanks, yielding an impressive, transparent expression of high-altitude mountain Rioja.

Vinification – After a manual harvest, the grapes are destemmed and gently pressed before undergoing a few hours of pre-fermentation cold maceration. The wine then ferments with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks at low temperatures (15°C to 16°C) on the lees. This process takes 27 days. Afterward, the wine is cold stabilized and gently filtered through diatomaceous earth before bottling.

THE PRODUCER: Bodegas Ostatu is a family winery located in the heart of the Basque Rioja Alavesa region in the village of Samaniego. Ostatu is located in an 18th-century structure in the foothills of the Sierra de Cantabria range which was a former country inn (or hostel, offering hospitality; the origins of the name Ostatu) which travelers would stop for nourishment and rest on their way across the mountainous Basque Country.

The Sáenz de Samaniego family has been farming in the area since the 16th century – for so many generations, in fact, that their family name and the village’s name are the same. The winery has been growing grapes for over two hundred and fifty years. In 1970, husband and wife, Doroteo and María Asunción Sáenz de Samaniego began bottling the first Ostatu cosechero wines, utilizing the whole-cluster, carbonic maceration style which is historic to the Rioja Alavesa region. Upon realizing the exceptional quality of their vineyards and potential through a friendship with Hubert de Boüard de Laforest of Château Angélus in Saint-Émilion, the winery was modernized in 2002 by four of their six children: Mariasun, Gonzalo, Iñigo, and Ernesto. The philosophy at Ostatu has been one of constant self-improvement through blending tradition, a forward-thinking approach, and perseverance.

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