Bodegas Exopto La Mimbrera de Exopto 2019

This limited-release field blend celebrates the very first plot of old bush vines Tom Puyaubert purchased in the village of balos back in 2003. La Mimbrera is a 0.5-hectare plot of vines, only one kilometre away from El Espinal, yet it is a radically different terroir with different varieties. The vines are roughly 75% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and 5% Viura. The Garnacha vines are 108 years old, while the Tempranillo and Viura sit in the 70- to 80-year-old range. The altitude is 250 metres lower here (at 450 metres above sea level) and the soil has far more active limestone.

The old vines are worked by mule (led by seasoned viticulturist Miguel Angel Mato), and all the viticulture is organic. The grapes were hand-harvested and co-fermented using wild yeasts and the wine was matured in a single, used French oak barrel before being bottled unfiltered.

Redolent of its site, wild fruit and Mediterranean herb aromas seep from the glass before a long, chalky and intense palate thats driven by stylish, freshly picked fruit and elongated, fine-grained tannins. Marked by the limestone soils, the finish is long and penetrating. Its a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind Atlantic-influenced Rioja.