Pagos Viejos 2012 75cl

Produced with the Temporanillo grapes sourced from a myriad of small plots planted with old vines (hence its name), a little bit of the blend of three plots (Valdeginés, La Poza de Ballesteros and El Carretil), the 2012 Pagos Viejos shows a fine thread of acidity, but here I get more notes from the barrel in the nose. Then the palate is the one with rounder tannins, it feels very gentle and well educated. It has good volume and silkiness, A noteworthy Pagos Viejos. 20,000 bottles were produced. 2012 seems to be e very good vintage for Artadi, ripe and powerful, but with very well-integrated oak, serious wines. For the three wineries they have (Artadi in Rioja, Artazu in Navarra and El Sequé in Alicante), proprietor Juan Carlos López de Lacalle wants to simplify the range of wines, first an entry-level line of local varietal wines, Tempranillo, Garnacha and Monastrell, (Tempranillo by Artadi). The second line is village wines (so Viñas de Gaín will disappear as a brand and will be turned into Viñas de Laguadia, Viñas de Leza and Viñas de Elvillar in future vintages, and Pagos Viejos will be turned into a special collector's items) and then single-vineyard wines. In Alicante and Navarra they don't have single-vineyard wines for now, while for Artadi they will continue with the four they offer now. This change will be for the 2014 harvest. Tasting them slowly I came to the conclusion that, following the Burgundian model, the hierarchy of the single vineyards is as follows: El Pisón and El Carretil would be the Grand Crus and Valdeginés and La Poza de Ballesteros would be the 1er Crus. And the big news is, of course, that they are leaving the Rioja appellation before the end of 2015!