Lindes de Remelluri Viñedos de Rivas de Tereso 2020
Lindes de Remelluri Viñedos de Rivas de Tereso 2020
Lindes de Remelluri (Borders of Remelluri) is the result of a visionary and broadly representative social initiative at Remelluri to emphasize the identity and prestige of the village-specific wines of Rioja. Lindes de Remelluri is a social and economic project rooted in collaboration with trusted grower-partners from villages near the Granja Remelluri property with the goal of improving their surroundings and communities by encouraging consumers to ask one question: Where does your Rioja wine come from?
With Lindes de Remelluri, Telmo Rodríguez seeks to evolve the dialogue regarding the future of the Rioja region from one of aging methods, grape varieties, and blends (wines made in the cellar) to a conversation focused on villages, sites, terroir, and responsible economic and ecological vineyard stewardship (wines made in the vineyard). The growers for Lindes utilize ancestral farming techniques, which include organic, biodynamic, and regenerative vineyard practices.
Rivas de Tereso, a tiny hamlet of San Vicente de la Sonsierra with just 30 inhabitants, is a municipality in the autonomous region of La Rioja, on the left bank of the Ebro River, in the heart of the Sonsierra mountains at 644 meters, which is part of the Rioja Alta subzone. The origins of the village go back to the founding of the Hermitage of Santa María de la Piscina, a Romanesque jewel from the 12th century.
Viñedos de Rivas de Tereso consists of 4.9ha of old vineyards set high above the Ebro Valley, where garnacha is particularly prolific. Telmo prefers the late-ripening garnachas of Rivas de Tereso for their highly aromatic, Atlantic profile – “you can really feel the mountain in the fruit” through their taut profile with plenty of garrigue. The soils in Rivas de Tereso are very stony and rich in limestone, and the altitude gives the wine an austere twist.
Vinification – In the cellar, rather than using winemaking and technique to transform the wines, they aim for consistency across the range to guide each expression to reach the full potential of the place. Telmo describes the Lindes winemaking as a “winery in the back, village in the front.” Grapes for Lindes are hand-harvested in small crates and spontaneously fermented with native yeasts in stainless steel. The wine undergoes spontaneous malolactic fermentation and is aged 12 months in oak barrels of various provenance, size, and age.