|
Foot Treading of Tempranillo
|
VINEYARD PHILOSOPHY
The vineyards are planted on the sites of ancient
quarries, which have poor rocky soils. Thus, the vines have
to grow very deep to find water and nourishment. The pruning
is the traditional "vaso" system , with a high density of
vines (cepas) per hectare (3400 / hectare) . This, along
with the lack of water, results in extremely low yields of
grapes per hectare (less than 4.500 Kgs.). The viticulture
is essentially organic, since no herbicide or chemical
fertilizer is used. At Viña Ijalba, our philosophy to use the best of
the old traditional Rioja grape varieties such as the
Tempranillo, Mazuelo, and Garnacha. There are also
plantations of rare, lost varieties such as Graciano and
Rivadavia . Graciano produces extremely high quality wines.
Viña Ijalba was fist to bottle it as a pure varietal in 1995. It is
very important as a component of our crianza and reserva wines.
For Tempranillo, we have returned to traditional methods such as foot treading
for maximum extraction of soft tannins and fruit intensity
|
back
to Spanish Wine Page
