Intro to Amaren Tempranillo Reserva Rioja – Amaren Tempranillo Reserva Rioja is a fine elegant wine with lingering complex smooth notes of fruit, coffee and licorice. Full tasting note and wine making – Amaren Tempranillo Reserva Rioja is bright cherry red and has fine, elegant and complex aromas with good concentration of black fruit, subtle touches of creamy oak as well as hints of roasted coffee and minerals. On the palate is rounded and fresh with elegance, complexity and power with some ripe black fruit and liquorice and a firm structure and a delicious and persistent finish. At the bodega the bunches are selected by Luis Cañas himself before being destemmed so the individual berries can be sorted based on their weight. Only the most perfect grapes are allowed to pass to wooden vats of French oak for fermentation. The resulting wine is then racked to French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation, during which the lees are pumped over periodically to obtain a well-rounded wine with excellent oak integration. The wine is aged for a total of 18 months in new French oak from a selection of oak forests in central France. THE PRODUCER – Bodegas Amaren, meaning ‘of my mother’ in Basque pays homage to Ángeles, the mother of Juan Luis Cañas, owner of Bodegas Luis Cañas. Ángeles dedicated her life to the winery with a fierce passion to produce only the highest quality wines. In 2009 Juan created a winery dedicated to making wines that represent the pioneering ambition of his mother. Grapes are hand harvested and vineyard plots are categorised according to quality. These wines are so good five of the seven 3-star Michelin restaurants in Spain feature them on their menus. The grapes used to produce Amaren come from vines situated in the highest parst of the vineyards where the soil is poor, thus obtaining small bunches of grapes which allow for perfect ripening with highly concentrated nuances. Bodegas Amaren owns 22 hectares of more than 60 year old vines, and a further 30 hectares of vines aged between 30 and 60 years old, with low yields and are situated in some of the best plots in Rioja. The grapes used for Angeles de Amaren are processed and aged separately to preserve the fruit of the Tempranillo and enhance the complexity of the Graciano. The Amaren brand began in 1995 and was until recently the premium range from Luis Cañas. Following the immense commercial and critical success of these wines, Juan Luis determined it was time to create a winery devoted exclusively to their creation. At Ama- ren, he seeks perfection at every stage of the process; in the vineyard, during selection, and throughout the processing and ageing. And with nearly 50 percent of the vineyards older than 60 years, as well as a rational and environmentally friendly form of viticulture. DRINK WITH –
