Introducing a wine that has been ten years in the making for Gabriel Pérez Cuevas - celebrating Ontañón's new winery in the centre of Quel and the family's long heritage in this area. A fine expression of only the best Tempranillo and Graciano from this family-owned winery.
Production
The Tempranillo and Graciano grapes are selected from high altitude vineyards. The Tempranillo vines in La Pasada vineyard grow at 790m altitude, surrounded by oak and pine trees, and the Sierra Yerga and Sierra de la Hez mountains. Here poor sandy soils mix with iron-rich clay. The Graciano vines grow in several small plots at El Pozo - planted in stony sand and clay soils at 650m. After hand-harvesting the grapes were macerated for 5 days below 5ºC, prior to fermentation. The resulting wine spends 24 months in new oak barrels of extra-fine grain - 70% French and 30% American - with varying levels of toast. Plus a further 36 months in bottle in their underground cellar before release.
Queirón Reserva Viñedos Familiares 2011 (6 bottles case)
Vivino ratings
Tasting notes
Pronounced aromas of ripe black fruits, coffee, fig, brown spice and toasty oak. Rich and structured on the palate with berry compote, forest fruits, spice, oak and balsamic notes. The generous mouthfeel is balanced by fine tannins and juicy acidity on the long finish.
Food match
Lamb cutlets, albondingas (meatballs) and black pudding. Perhaps not all at once!
Info
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ABV
13.5%
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CASE/BOTTLE SIZE
6 x 75cl
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REGION/COUNTRY
RIOJA, SPAIN
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GRAPE
TEMPRANILLO 83%, GRACIANO 17%
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CLOSURE
CORK
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WINEMAKER
RUBEN PÉREZ CUEVAS
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APPELLATION
DOCA RIOJA
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ALLERGEN INFO
CONTAINS SULPHITES AND NO OTHER ALLERGENS
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Meet the producer
The town of Quel sits in the Cidacos river valley, between the Sierra Yerga and Sierra la Hez mountain ranges, at the heart of Rioja Oriental. Here in the Barrio de Bodegas wineries have existed since the 18th century, with ancient winemaking caves at the base of the sheer sandstone cliffs, where grapes were gravity-fed from the vineyards above.
This has been the home of the Pérez Cuevas family (who established and own Bodegas Ontañón) for generations, and the new Queirón winery is the fulfilment of Gabriel’s dream. It has been built around an existing cave, and the 4-level design replicates (in a very modern way) the traditional gravity-flow system that allows a gentle approach to the handling of the grapes at each step. They have more than thirty separate vineyard parcels located in and around Quel. These range from the ancient Garnacha vineyard of ‘El Arca’ (planted in 1892) to the Tempranillo vineyard ‘La Pasada’ - planted at some of the highest elevation vineyards in the entire Rioja DOCa.
Established at the start of the new Rioja classification system allowing wines to be labelled according to their origin, their portfolio highlights the winery's heritage, and family’s long relationship, with the town of Quel.