Rioja Alavesa, Spain
Sierra de Toloño
Sandra Bravo is a dynamic winemaker who owns and runs Sierra de Toloño, a boutique winery in Villabuena de Alava in Rioja Alavesa. Sandra gained experience in Bordeaux, Tuscany, New Zealand, California and finally seven years in Priorat before moving back to Rioja establishing Sierra de Toloño in 2012. She is recognised by many wine critics to be among the top of the new wave of Rioja winemakers.
Sandra farms around 10 hectares (split up over 27 plots) of high-altitude (up to 700 m) vineyards planted with several black varieties including Tempranillo and Garnacha, and white varieties, including Viura and Malvasia. The production is certified organic or biodynamic, and the varied soils include calcerous clay, sandstone and limestone (known locally as lastra). The vines are bush trained, and all the vineyard work is manual. She practices low intervention viniculture and uses large and small neutral vessels and terracotta amphorae for aging to allow the wines to express their purity.
Nahikun
In the Basque language, Nahikun translates to great desire, and this wine represents Sandra’s great desire to recover five tiny vineyard plots craft this beautiful wine. The vines are planted on a diversity of soils, at around 550 metres, including calcerous clay, marl and limestone. The latter gives this wine its nervy minerality. The vines are around 80 years old with remarkably low yields (around 200 grams per vine, or 4-5 vines per bottle!) The wine is made mostly from Viura and Malvasia, and small amounts of Calagraño and Rojal, two ancient varieties from the region. It is fermented using ambient yeasts and then aged in used oak barriques for 8 months. Around 2000 bottles of Nahikun are produced annually.
La Dula
La Dula translates to communal pasture shared by livestock. It is a high-altitude village wine and is the ultimate expression of the purity of Sandra’s wines. The fruit comes from 80+ year old plots at around 650 metres on marl, limestone, clay and stony sandstone (known locally as cascajo). La Dula is made with Garnacha and a small amount of Garnacha Gris. Alcoholic fermentation takes place in small oak foudres at low temperatures. The wine is then aged in 300 litre amphorae, making the wine expressive and pure. La Dula is bottled unfined and unfiltered. Around 8000 bottles are produced annually.
Tereseño
Tereseno is named after the people in the small village of Rivas de Tereso. This wine sits at the pinnacle of Sandra’s portfolio. It is a single vineyard wine made 100% from Garnacha from vines planted in 1944 at an altitude of 650 metres. The soil is lastra and is up to 1.5 metres deep. The northerly winds from the Sierra de Toloño mountain range give a remarkable freshness to this wine. The wine is both fermented and aged in 300 litre amphorae, with minimal intervention. This very fine wine is produced in very small quantities (only 800 bottles annually) and we are delighted to introduce it to Vinalia members!
