There are two persistent narratives about Rioja which continue to shape consumers’ perceptions of this historic wine region. One centers on its many large, legendary bodegas, whose massive back-stocks of aged/aging wine are unrivaled in the wine world. Another spotlights the different categories of Rioja wine (Crianza; Reserva; Gran Reserva), which are defined by the length of time each spends in wood barrels. What’s less talked about, but no less important, are the soils and microclimates of Rioja and how they influence wine character. Villota is one family’s attempt to showcase their historically important plot of land in Rioja Alavesa—a plot that was once the centerpiece of Rioja’s first “single-estate” winery, Viñedos Contino. This is a balanced, lifted expression of Rioja, without any of the coconut-husk influence imparted by American oak—a new-generation wine from a historic family.
Following the twists and turns of the Ebro River and bordered to the north by the Sierra Cantabria mountains, Rioja’s subzones have diverse soils and climates: Rioja Alavesa, which sits on the north bank of the Ebro, is dominated by calcareous (i.e. limestone-rich). As the northern-most of the three zones, Alavesa is the coolest of the three, feeling some of the influence of Atlantic air currents.
The Pérez-Villota family has farmed vineyards in and around Laguardia, in the Rioja Alavesa, since 1930. From the 1940s to the early ’70s, they were CVNE’s top grape supplier at Viña Real, and they later partnered with CVNE and others to create Viñedos del Contino. In 2013, they broke away and founded their “own” label, which is today helmed by the third (Ricardo Pérez- Villota) and fourth (Carmen Pérez-Garrigues) generations of the Pérez-Villota family.
The 2020 “Villota”—the estate’s flagship bottling—shows the taut structure of Tempranillo (84% of the blend) with the crunchy fruit of the Graciano and plushness of Garnacha (Grenache). The wine ferments in stainless steel before aging for 18 months in French oak barriques, then rests for six months in concrete eggs before bottling.
In the glass, it’s a deep garnet-red with black and purple highlights, bursting with dark fruit and a slight hint of vanilla bean at first but unfolding in layers the longer it is open (if drinking this wine now, decant it about a half hour before serving at 60-65 degrees in Bordeaux stems). Scents of red and black woodland berries, licorice, black olive, leather, vanilla bean, and ground coffee carry over to the medium-plus-bodied palate; it’s an energetic, fresh, balanced style with very fine-grained tannins.
