Day 3 (Part 2): Finca Allende

The waning hours of the afternoon has our group travelling to the hamlet of Briones a few kilometers south of San Vicente.  Briones is famous for its Museo de la Culture del Vino, universally acclaimed as Spain’s best wine museum, with its educational center and modern winery (Dinastia Vivanco).  I had the pleasure last year of visiting with winemaker Rafael Vivanco, tasting his wines and perusing some of the Museo’s exhibits and artifacts.  Driving by this landmark had me reminiscing a bit.

Briones is also noted for Finca Allende, one the best wineries in the Rioja Alta, and the brainchild of flamboyant proprietor and winemaker, Miguel Angel de Gregorio.  Miguel is a self-affirmed “terroiriste” and believes strongly that the soil in his vineyards is the secret to his expressive wines. 

We caught up with him and his export manager, Nathalie Lebouef, in the vineyards and it couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes into our visit before he was scooping up a handful of dirt and inviting us to smell its essence.  He then encouraged us to taste the wine that was the end result (a glass of which was conveniently on hand) and to note the relationship.  To reinforce his point, Miguel would repeat this exercise several times: we would drive a short distance, stop at a specific location, smell the dirt and taste the wine. 

During our sojourn, we would stop at the source of each of his single-vineyard wines: Pago del Calvario and Aurus, their parcels of old-vine Tempranillo now shimmering in the late day sun, and Martires, a plot of Viura planted in 1970.  These wines are nothing short of stunning!  I’ve always been a fan of Finca Allende’s reds, and tasting them in the place where they live, did nothing to dissuade my sentiments.

However, the Martires was a complete revelation for me.  Here was a single vineyard Rioja Blanca that reminded me of a top Premier Cru Burgundy even though it’s made from a different varietal, grown in the Ebro River valley of Spain and not the Cote d’Or of France.  Gout de Terrior? Yes, Finca Allende has it in spades!

Jim Greeley, Wine Supervisor, SW Florida.