It bears the name of the location of the Graciano vineyard, on the outskirts of Viana, from which 75% of the grapes that make this wine come from. The remaining 25% are Tempranillo grapes that come from the Imaz area, close to Mendavia. Graciano and Tempranillo are common Rioja blends, however, Imaz and Venta Jal\u00f3n are two very different terroirs, especially in terms of soil composition.<\/p>\n
Winemaker Esperanza El\u00edas watches over the Venta Jal\u00f3n Graciano vineyard (photo below) from the windows of the cellar\u2019s tasting room while she airs a glass of the new Rioja Vega Venta Jal\u00f3n Reserva Especial 2014.<\/p>\n
Esperanza explains that she decided to combine grapes from Venta Jal\u00f3n and Imaz because she believed that such different but equally special terroirs could, together, produce an exceptional wine. Esperanza looked for the vineyards to tell their own particular story and aged the must in small French and American oak barrels for two years, long enough for the oak to round off the wine without hiding the fruit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe soils in Venta Jal\u00f3n are clayey and slightly calcareous, which favours concentration, aromas typical of the Graciano grape variety and ripe tannins. In addition, during the 2014 vintage, the good weather conditions boosted the effects of terroir in this special-edition Reserva.<\/p>\n
In turn, the salinity of the soils in Imaz limits production which highlights the expression of the Tempranillo from this vineyard. The limestone component of the soil gives it elegance\u201c, so El\u00edas.<\/p>\n
In other words, this Tinto Reserva Especial is a true reflection of Rioja Vega\u2019s terroir: It\u2019s elegant, complex, mineral, with ripe tannins and ripe fruit flavours overall.<\/p>\n
Savouring any of the little more than 12,000 bottles of Rioja Vega Venta Jal\u00f3n Reserva Especial 2014 is just like watching the sunset on a harvest day when the temperature drops and the soils of Venta Jal\u00f3n release their distinctive bouquet of earth, leaves, spices and fruit.[\/text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rioja Vega Venta Jal\u00f3n Reserva 2014 is Rioja Vega\u2019s new limited release Tinto Reserva Especial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"\n