Viña Gravonia Blanco Crianza

2016 was a superb vintage in Rioja, and the 2016 Viña Gravonia Blanco, which has the cellar aroma that all the wines, especially the whites, have, due to the longer time the wines spend in barrel. The white vines in this vineyard are now 92 years old and their juice was fermented in old oak vats with indigenous yeasts. They explained, "We have never used selected yeasts." It was matured in their well-seasoned American oak barrels for four years. It's paler than any of the other whites, and it has a little less pungency, with very good freshness. It's elegant, subtle, clean and ethereal. They had good yields and a good climatic year. 42,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2022. I give these wines a conservative drinking window, but they will probably last much longer.

The 2014 Viña Gravonia Blanco always smells of the cellar with some mushroomy aromas and flavors, and it's very classical, with 12.5% alcohol, more vibrant than the 2015 I tasted next to it. To María José López de Heredia, Gravonia has to be very fresh with citrus freshness and some nuttiness but without the bitterness of the aged Tondonia, which they compare with the Carbonieux and such wines from Graves. These are ancient vines and the grapes are pristine. 25,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2021. They bottled later because of COVID-19, and the extra time was spent mostly in oak vat but maybe some in barrel...

Pale gold. Open aromas that characterise this long-barrel-aged white: fresh cedary notes, along with an intense aroma of green fruits and citrus and just the beginnings of the character found on the two previous vintages recently tasted – beeswax and honey but no sense of sweetness, of course. Seems fresher than both the 2010 and 2011 with a beautifully clean and still complex palate of taut citrus – lemon and lime – and cedar, freshly felled trees, and a little hint of sour citrus on the finish. Fills the mouth in a way you would not expect at 12.5% alcohol, with the generosity and roundness that I suspect comes more from the barrel than the fruit, although the harvest was late and volume on the low side, which might have added to the richness. Mouth-watering and persistent – the acidity vibrant (and harmonious), suggesting it will age even longer than the 2011. Less obviously oaky on the palate than the 2011. Long, lemon-lime aftertaste. Still very youthful and vibrant for a 9-year-old.