Bideona, Vino de Pueblo, Villabuena V1BN4, Rioja Alavesa 2019

Bideona, founded in 2018, is a winery based in the heart of Rioja Alavesa which offers a new perspective on Rioja wines: here the emphasis is on site, rather than ageing. The vineyards are situated on the slopes of the Sierra Cantabria, predominantly surrounding the villages of Villabuena, Leza, Laguardia and Baños del Ebro, with each terroir producing wines with distinctive character. The vines are extremely old and low yielding; many were planted in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s and they deliver concentrated juice with a clear identity. Vines are planted on hillsides in soils with a high percentage of limestone, a characteristic that sets Alavesa apart from the rest of Rioja, together with high altitude and vineyard age. The winemaking philosophy is to obtain very pure, fresh and well-textured wines that reflect their origin.

The grapes come from carefully selected hillside parcels situated at around 500 metres elevation surrounding the village of Villabuena. The area is protected by the Sierra Cantabria and the mesoclimate imparts the wines with excellent balance between freshness, elegance and good fruit concentration. The bush vines are planted in limestone soils and are cultivated with respect for the environment, using minimal sprays of copper and sulphur when required. The fruit is hand-harvested in 15 kilogram boxes to preserve the quality. Current Denominación de Origen regulations in Rioja only permit the use of a village name on the label by the location of the winery (i.e. the building and not the vineyards) thus the wine from the Villabuena vineyards is marketed as V1BN4.

The grapes were manually sorted to maintain diversity and subtle variation in ripeness. Fermentation and malolactic conversion took place with selected yeasts in stainless steel tanks and concrete vats, at moderate temperatures. The amount of daily pump overs and maceration timings were tailored to each individual tank based on tastings, with the aim of obtaining balance without over-extraction. The wine was made without excessive use of new oak or oxidative ageing. 44% was matured in new and second use 300 litre French oak barrels for nine months, with the balance being aged in stainless steel tanks on its fine lees. Blending and bottling took place on February 3rd 2019, producing just 7,369 bottles.