Ostatu Rioja Blanco 2023

Importer notes:

Ostatu Blanco is an incredible value and introduction to their range of wines. It says something about a winery when they pursue excellence from the beginning of their range to the top. For this reason, Ostatu Blanco is one of the most beloved white wines of substance and complexity from Rioja Alavesa.

The secret lies in the high-altitude, bush-trained vineyards of indigenous viura and malvasía grapes coming from the villages of Samaniego, Laguardia, and Leza in Rioja Alavesa at an altitude of 580m. These villages are located directly at the convergence of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean climatic influences, which mold the character of the vintages. This unique soil and climate also lend a certain austerity and structure to Ostatu wines, which differentiates them from the Rioja wines of other subzones. Ostatu is pure Alavesa mountain wine, born of the tension and energy of an extreme climate.

Grapes are farmed organically, and only native yeasts are utilized to ferment in stainless steel tanks, yielding an impressive, transparent expression of high-altitude mountain Rioja.

Vinification – After a manual harvest, the grapes are destemmed and gently pressed before undergoing a few hours of pre-fermentation cold maceration. The wine then ferments with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks at low temperatures (15°C to 16°C) on the lees. This process takes 27 days. Afterward, the wine is cold stabilized and gently filtered through diatomaceous earth before bottling.