Olivier Riviere La Bastide Blanco 2020
Rioja
Regular price $36.99
2020 'La Bastid' 92WA
Olivier Riviere
Rioja Blanco
La Bastida, Rioja Alavesa
$36.99 reg
92 pts Wine Advocate (Gutierrez) The white 2020 La Bastid was produced with 70% Viura and 30% Garnacha Blanca from Cárdenas, one-third fermented in concrete, one-third in foudre and one-third in 600-liter barrels, where the wines matured for one year with lees but without bâtonnage. It has 13.5% alcohol and is young, fresh, aromatic, fruit driven with floral notes and a light and fresh palate. There was a change in 2018, when he started with concrete (in the past it was 100% in oak), and the wine is fresher and younger. It doesn't have a lot of acidity; it's serious and austere with a bitter twist in the finish. 15,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in September 2021.
La Bastid is a blend of Viura and Garnacha Blanca originally from nine plots of vines around Labastida in Rioja Alavesa, but with the 2019 vintage, he has moved this project to the red clay-limestone soils of the village of Cárdenas, where he has been expanding his vineyard holdings. Olivier considers this wine his Côtes de Nuits Blanc in his internal hierarchy. Before the 2016 vintage, this wine was labeled as Jequitiba.
Variety: Viura, Garnacha Blanca
Vine Age: 20–75 years
Viticulture: Sustainable
Soils: Red clay-limestone
Altitude: 550-600 meters
Winemaking: Hand harvested, whole cluster pressing, natural yeast fermentation in French oak foudres, 500-600L barrels and concrete tanks. 8-10 months in French oak foudres, 500-600L barrels, and concrete, vegan
Luis Gutierrez of the Wine Advocate on Riviere (7/22): Olivier Rivière produced 170,000 bottles, and in the 2022 harvest, he will pick a new plot of Garnacha in the village of Cárdenas for the first time since he planted in 2019. When I asked him about the latest vintages, he told me that he thought 2019 was an easy year in the vineyards with no diseases, uneventful weather, harvested à la carte when each plot was at its optimum moment. He likes the wines, which he finds balanced and with moderate alcohol that he compares with 2015 but with more complexity and with more acidity. 2020 was the most complicated year in the vegetative cycle with a very high pressure of mildew in spring; the summer was somewhat dry but the rains at the beginning of September helped to finish the maturation cycle. The reds are still completing the élevage, but it's a lighter vintage than 2019, very good also with lower yields. 2021 was a complicated year at first, with special care for powdery mildew, but then without problems in May, and there was a cold summer with little sun. There are two different harvests: the Rioja Baja harvest, where they had to harvest early due to rain, and the Rayos harvest, which was very easy, long and fruit driven. For the wines of Rioja Alta and Alavesa, he considers it a great vintage, from the people who waited for the perfect ripeness that took a long time to arrive. . . . He's reshaping the project in Rioja, refocusing to Cárdenas and selling the vineyards he had in Álava; 2020 will be the last vintages for Las Viñas de Eusebio, Losares and Pozo Alto. He is also starting a new winery in Bordeaux, in the Côtes de Bourg, an obscure zone with potential where he has purchased nine hectares of vineyards.