The Terroir of Ancestry: Soulful Expressions from Tentenublo in the Rioja Alavesa
4/19/16 -
Roberto Oliván Iglesias has been farming his eight hectare family estate, Tentenublo, in the high, wind-swept Basque country of the Rioja Alavesa since 2011. Working organically, using native yeast fermentation, and limited sulphur, Roberto draws upon Rioja’s long established protocol of barrel aging (working mainly with French oak), to craft deeply personal wines of substance and character.
In our last Rioja article we touched on Roberto’s entry level cuvée, Viñedos en Viñaspre which with its bold, feral character and startling mineral intensity, feels invested with a narrative power. The Rioja Alavesa, where Roberto was born, has historically been an agrarian based society within which the cultivation of the vine firmly rests. Speaking with rustic, raw-boned honesty, this cuvée, comprised of fruit sourced from multiple vineyard sites, evokes in its own, wild, graceful language the day-to-day drama of farm life defined by relentless physical labor, the perpetual threat of extreme weather, and the servile existence of livestock.
In strict geographical terms, Roberto is a winemaker of Rioja, and more specifically a winemaker of the Rioja Alavesa. However, it is the powerful connection he shares with the previous generations of his family who once worked the land now in his care, combined with his deep knowledge of the country surrounding the small village of Viñaspre, where he was born, that truly defines Roberto’s sensibility and influences his decision making process.
Today, we are pleased to offer Roberto’s much more serious and ageworthy 2014 bottlings from the estate’s premiere vineyards: El Abundillano, Las Guillermas, and Las Paredes. Each of these wines is a remarkable, complex study of individual terroir and we are happy to announce that they have finally reached our shores.
Xerico is another multi-vineyard cuvée dedicated to Roberto's grandfather, Félix, who is pictured on the label. While somewhat softer and more refined than Viñedos en Viñaspre, this wine, through its direct, earthy simplicity, also tells a story of its rural origins.
As explained by importer Geoffroy Ducroux (Avant-Garde Wines and Spirits), the property of Tentenublo, despite its relatively small size, can be described as a collection of several distinct microclimates with 15-70 year old vines spread throughout 22 individual parcels in the foothills of the Cantabria mountains, at altitudes ranging from 450-650 meters. The estate is planted mainly to classic red and white Rioja varieties including Tempranillo, Garnacha and Viura.
While the soil composition of the overall estate is predominately marl and sandstone, the specific geology of each site varies depending on its particular position and altitude. Similarly, each site is influenced, to a greater or lesser degree, by the effects of the Ebro River, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, depending on its situation. All of Roberto's wines bear the unique stamp of these profound elemental variables.
The degree of understanding Roberto Oliván Iglesias has of the intricate terroir of his land is not only impressive, it is a testament to the value of filial loyalty and pride of origin in the world of winemaking. While we wish we had more bottles available to share with you, we hope you take this opportunity to try these remarkable offerings from a very interesting, evolving producer whose arc is well worth following. -Sydney Snyder
