This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)
Now that it’s starting to get cold in the mornings and the afternoons are getting shorter, we fancy diving into the world of Arzuaga red wines more than ever. And that’s why today, we’d like to introduce you to our Arzuaga Reserva 2017, one of the winery’s flagship wines. To do this, we invite you to accompany us alongside Jesús Bernad, the Global Brand Ambassador for Bodegas Arzuaga and a real connoisseur of our wines. Together with him, we’re going to go over the production process, from when we harvest the grapes to when Arzuaga 2017 reaches your table. Let’s go!
‘This wine is made in the heart of Ribera del Duero’s Golden Mile, using red Tempranillo grapes from vineyards in the province of Burgos that are 80 years old, giving it that great concentration of fruit, body and structure. Besides this Tempranillo, there’s 4% Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from the La Planta estate, which stands at an altitude of over 900 metres. That combination of the fineness of the whitish soils of La Planta and the clayey soils of Burgos gives this Arzuaga Reserva 2017 complexity and structure,’ explains Arzuaga’s Global Brand Ambassador. And it’s that special Ribera del Duero soil that’s able to stamp a very personal character on our wines. In terms of the production, Bernad highlights the delicate way that we handle the grapes from when they’re on the vines right up to when they reach the bottle. ‘They’re harvested in small 15-kilo boxes and then fermented at a low temperature after passing over the sorting table. Then there’ the ageing for 26 months in new French oak barrels.’
After this initial explanation comes one of the most important parts of the story we’re telling today: the tasting. ‘The first thing we see after pouring it is an impressive colour, a cherry red with a slightly purplish rim. The nose is wonderful, complex, with bags of black fruit: blackberries, blueberries, a delicious touch of cherry. You also notice hints of balsamic herbs and cedar wood.’ This introduction leads to trying this exceptional wine.
‘On the palate, it’s sensational, broad, meaty, flavourful, structured, with a deep fruitiness but at the same time with that lightly spiced touch at the end. A wine that is, therefore, very flavourful, powerful, but with fineness. It’s perfect for accompanying oily fish dishes, barbecued red meat or game dishes. And of course, the famous suckling lamb of Castile and León. Always at a temperature between 16 and 18 degrees, however.’ That’s it for our tasting today, so now we’d just like to invite you to try our Arzuaga Reserva 2017. You can get it and any of our other wines at: https://tienda.arzuaganavarro.com