The husband and wife team of Abel Mendoza and Maite Fernandez have been pushing the winemaking envelope in Rioja since 1988. The pair has been growing and crafting single varietal white wines since before it was legal in the region, and their red wines are some of the most exciting expressions of Tempranillo in the world today.
Abel and Maite farm a total of 50 acres across 35 different plots spread throughout la Sonsierra in San Vicente, Labastida and Ábalos. They produce an average of 6,000 cases per year which are split into tiny allocations for various export markets. Extremely sought after, Wine Advocate calls Abel Mendoza ”one of the true vignerons of Rioja and the whole of Spain.”
Family-owned
Both Abel and Maite’s families have long histories of grape growing in Rioja, but it was in 1988 that they decided to start producing wines themselves.
Abel is the viticulturist and refers to the work in the vineyard being the most important part of their winegrowing process. Maite is the oenologist and admits that intervention in the winery is important to make the wine, but the character of the land, climate and varietal must be reflected above all else.
Winemaking
Abel Mendoza eschews the traditional Rioja classification system when it comes to their wines. They take a Burgundian approach to terroir, fermenting their plots separately and treating each with care and adapting to its particular vintage characteristics. The wines do not follow the classic Rioja aging classification and therefore these terms do not appear on the labels.
Abel and Maite continue to craft wine to the best of their abilities in a manner that they deem best to express the terroir of la Sonsierra in Rioja. At times, Maite says this has the effect of “feeling like we have to push against a closed door that we are destined to open.”
Sustainability
Abel Mendoza embraces sustainable, organic, biodynamic and natural winemaking practices, but does not certify their wines as such. They have always farmed this way as it is a manner of winegrowing that they truly believe in.
No pesticides are used in the vineyards, and production in the cellar will vary from vintage to vintage, based on the conditions of each year.
