Wine Advisor
Remelluri, Rioja Blanco 2023
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez
The 2023 Blanco was produced with vines at high altitudes (between 605 and 805 meters above sea level) planted with different varieties that had different vinifications and matured in used barriques, foudres and concrete eggs for one year. The wines from 2023 show very good freshness, despite having been a warm and dry year, and this has some notes of fennel and aniseed, floral and elegant. It's more elegant and sharper, with a delicate mountain personality, not lacking power. It has 14% alcohol, a pH of 3.32 and 5.69 grams of acidity and finishes with a salty twist. It should age nicely in bottle. 8,440 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2025.
About the Producer
History The estate’s origins date back to the tenth century. The modern winery was established in 1967 when Jaime Rodríguez Salís, father of siblings Telmo and Amaia Rodríguez, purchased the vineyards at the heart of the former estate and began to make wine from the ancient, abandoned site. Remelluri became the first single-vineyard Rioja of the modern era with its release of the 1971 vintage, standing out from a conservative wine culture based on house style and blends of purchased wines from throughout Rioja. Telmo Rodríguez (winemaker) and Amaia Rodríguez Hernandorena (viticulturist), returned to the property and took over the project from their father in 2009. Terroir Remelluri’s vineyards are located along the slopes of the Sierra de Toloño mountains in the valleys of Valderemelluri, La Granja, and Villaescusa, just above the village of Labastida in Rioja Alavesa. The vineyards here are at the highest elevation in the Rioja region with vines planted between 500 and 950 meters, south-facing, and protected from the prevailing northern winds and frost. The estate consists of more than 80 individual plots, all of which are vinified separately. One of the keys to the location’s significance is that the vines are planted in terraced amphitheaters following the contours of the mountainside, which shelters them from the harsh weather on the leeward side. It is this unique microclimate that gives the wines of Remelluri their distinct personality and character. Poor, stony soils with layers of calcareous clay give considerable structure for aging. At the same time, the Atlantic influence provides abundant rainfall and much lower temperatures than in the rest of the region, lending incredible acidity and freshness. The fluctuation of cool nights and warm days offers the ideal conditions for proper, long phenolic ripening of the grapes, resulting in Remelluri’s hallmark complex and nuanced aromatics. The high-altitude wines from these vineyards have more in common with the great mountain nebbiolos of Italy than the fruity garnachas of southeastern, Mediterranean-influenced Rioja. They are also naturally built to age gracefully for decades, similarly to their Italian counterparts.
