Jose Gil - Labastida Rioja 2021

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Producer	Jose Gil
Country	Spain
Region	Rioja
Varietal	Tempranillo
Vintage	2021
Sku	12105215
Size	750ml

  

WA

94

CC

95

 Viñedos en Labastida comes from two vineyards in Labastida one of which is 45 years old and the other 80 years old. Both are primarily Tempranillo with about 10% Garnacha and small percentages of white varieties. These vines are harvested by hand, destemmed, and co-fermented in concrete tanks.

Jose Gil grew up in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, where his family have been grape growers and winemakers for generations. His grandfather, father, and uncle own Bodegas Olmaza, a small 35-hectare estate famed for its vibrantly traditional “village” wine. Before modern or traditional Rioja, there was a simpler style of whole-cluster, co-fermented, and shortly-aged wines that were as naked and honest an expression of Rioja as one could find. So it should come as no surprise that when José Gil started his own project, he would follow in his ancestors’ footsteps and be more interested in the vineyard than the cellar.

Jose currently farms 5 hectares of vines located in the villages of San Vicente, Labastida, and Briones. Practices are manual and organic although he is not certified. The vines range in age from 5 to 130 years old with the majority Tempranillo, a small percentage of Viura. The oldest vineyard plots a co-planted with tiny percentages of other grape varieties which include Garnacha and Palomino. When the grapes reach the cellar after being harvested by hand, they are fermented either whole-cluster, or partially destemmed. All fermentations are by indigenous yeasts and extraction is gentle. After pressing the wines are racked into 225-300L French oak barrels and transported to the aging cellar in San Vicente.

There's also a village red from Labastida, of which I tasted two vintages. The 2021 Viñedos en Labastida is a blend of different plots with some 85% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha and 5% white grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts and some whole clusters in search of balance and elegance. The wine matured in 500- and 600-liter oak foudres in their cold cave. This was my favorite of the village reds, with a perfumed and elegant nose, complex, deep and nuanced. It's serious, harmonious and with very fine tannins. It has medium ripeness and good balance. 3,600 bottles were filled in September 2022.

Jose Gil doesn't stop. The two wines La Canoca and El Bardallo moved from single-vineyard wines to paraje, or lieu-dit, wines in the 2022 vintage, which increases the number of bottles to about 3,200 bottles each. There's a new white, which will be released after several years of fine-tuning the style they are looking for. There are new plots from La Canoca in 2023, places that he described as "incredible locations and soil qualities." In 2024, he and his wife leased with the option to purchase 4.5 hectares of very old vineyards (80 and 120 years old) in different locations and soils in Labastida, including one hectare of white planted with different varieties. I tasted the 2021 and 2022 versions of the five reds they produce. The 2021s are superb, but the 2022s, a little juicier and more primary, are not far behind.

There are currently 11 hectares of vineyards, owned and rented. They use 500- and 600-liter barrels that age in underground cellars under the San Vicente de la Sonsierra Castle and have a production of 26,000 bottles. This is one of the most exciting young projects in Rioja.