Rioja is a happening place. A new generation of growers and wine makers who have moved on from stylistic debates and got down to the business of making the finest Rioja possible from their respective zones.
Exopto’s old vine holdings surround the town of Abalos at an altitude of 600-plus metres in the Rioja Alta district. Of the three districts in Rioja (Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Baja), Rioja Alta is the coolest and has the highest rainfall. Exopto’s Tempranillo vines are between 50-100 years old, Garnacha (Grenache) is 70 years old and Graciano, 30 years old. Soils here are clay and limestone over a sandy, rocky base and ripening very late. Only French oak is used in the ageing process.
The emphasis is very much on the vineyards while the small scale production (around 7,000 cases, tiny for Rioja) and attention to detail was equally impressive. These factors have resulted in Exopto producing modern Rioja in the very best sense – i.e., Rioja that is the result of well-tended vineyards and quality wine making. Rioja that takes the best from the past (Graciano for example and use of concrete tanks & large format oak, etc.) and discards what did not work. Nuestro amigo was right; Exopto is a Riojan star in the making and we have no hesitation in adding them to our Spanish portfolio.
Exopto’s old vine holdings surround the town of Abalos at an altitude of 600-plus metres in the Rioja Alta district. Of the three districts in Rioja (Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Baja), Rioja Alta is the coolest and has the highest rainfall. Exopto’s Tempranillo vines are between 50-100 years old, Garnacha (Grenache) is 70 years old and Graciano, 30 years old. Soils here are clay and limestone over a sandy, rocky base and ripening very late. Only French oak is used in the ageing process.
The emphasis is very much on the vineyards while the small scale production (around 7,000 cases, tiny for Rioja) and attention to detail was equally impressive. These factors have resulted in Exopto producing modern Rioja in the very best sense – i.e., Rioja that is the result of well-tended vineyards and quality wine making. Rioja that takes the best from the past (Graciano for example and use of concrete tanks & large format oak, etc.) and discards what did not work. Nuestro amigo was right; Exopto is a Riojan star in the making and we have no hesitation in adding them to our Spanish portfolio.
