Bodegas Bhilar, Rioja Alavesa, Phincas Thousand Mils Blanco (3-bottle case)

Bodegas Bhilar is a boutique winery located in Elvillar, Rioja Alavesa, run by husband and-wife team, David Sampedro and Melanie Hickman. Together, they make terroir driven wines with soul, while respecting the land and working with indigenous grapes. For over 20 years the land has been cultivated organically, biodynamically for 15 of those and in 2014, horses replaced tractors in the vineyards. They have been Demeter certified since 2022. David Sampedro Gil grew up in the same vineyards he works today. While earning his masters in oenology, David started his career working in some of the larger wineries in Rioja. Realising that great wines are made in the vineyard, he returned to his vineyards and established Bhilar, reflecting his winemaking philosophy of making unique wines that evoke a sense of place, using sustainable agriculture and minimal intervention in the winery. Bhilar is the Basque name for his village, Elvillar. Their wines are full of personality and perfectly capture the characteristics of the cool-climate vineyards. In 2020, Tim Atkin MW awarded them Winemaker of the Year.

2020 saw challenging weather patterns and the threat of mildew. A strict selection took place to ensure only healthy grapes remained, resulting in low production. However, the 2020 wines show wonderful balance, fresh acidity and good colour.

Vineyards have dominated the landscape of Elvillar for hundreds of years and consequently, this region is known for having some of the oldest vines in Rioja. Its poor soil conditions encourage the vines to penetrate their roots deep into the soils in search of nutrients, producing wines of wonderful complexity. These rocky, limestone soils are woven throughout three valleys running from the Sierra Cantabria Mountain to the River Ebro, giving Elvillar a distinct and diverse viticultural landscape. This estate village wine is from high-altitude vineyards in some of the finest viticultural areas in Elvillar. The bush vines are old, low yielding and dry-farmed, which thrive in these limestone soils. The vineyard is organically and biodynamically farmed and following a philosophy of low intervention in the vineyard, the soils are ploughed by horse and the grapes are hand harvested.

The grapes were hand destemmed, and foot trodden to start the fermentation naturally with indigenous yeast. A gentle punch-down of the cap occurred daily until the wine was pressed. The wines were placed in 225-litre French barriques for 36 months. Wine may throw a deposit in the bottle.