2018 Bodegas y Vinedos Artuke Rioja Finca de los locos

The 2018 Finca de Los Locos comes from a single vineyard in the village of Baños de Ebro, a terrace planted in 1981 at 120 meters above the river with sandy and gravel soils with a high content of limestone. The varietal breakdown came to 78% Tempranillo, 20% Graciano and 2% Viura that fermented destemmed but uncrushed with indigenous yeasts and matured for one year in 500- and 600-liter oak barrels and a 3,500-liter oak foudre. As with the other wines, it improved tremendously with one hour in the glass. This is a little riper and more immediate than others of the single vineyards, and I would group this with El Escolladero rather than the others. These two have a common profile (all four wines are fermented in the same way), more powerful and a little more fruit-driven because of the soils (gravel here) and more exposition to the sun and the higher percentage of clay at El Escolladero. The long and complete cycle made the grapes ripen thoroughly, and the wine feels quite round, with polished tannins and ripe flavors and with structure over the chalky backbone. 10,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2020.