Spain: Bodegas Javier San Pedro Ortega - Tempranillo Blanco "Villahuercos" 2022, Rioja (Vegan-Friendly)

Grape variety: 100% Tempranillo Blanco. 13.5% alcohol. 

Yes, WHITE Tempranillo! Extremely rare....or at least it WAS! 

Javier is the fifth generation of a winemaking family from Laguardia, a privileged location in the Rioja Alavesa region. He began learning the trade from his grandfather and at 17 made his first wine in his father's winery. Finally, in 2013, he decided to embark on his own project: Bodegas Javier San Pedro Ortega.

Still only in his 30's (although I think he'd still pass for 21!), he now has seven hectares under vine but he also sources grapes from 46 hectares owned by one of his cousins and other suppliers, up to a total of 100 hectares.

At a recent Rioja tasting event in London, he was by far the youngest winemaker in the room. This is a particularly innovative producer with a young team that seeks to surprise and differentiate itself from the classic oak-aged Rioja style.

I am continually impressed with the quality produced here; the wines are really well made, in a modern fruit-driven style but all are exquisitely well-balanced and have real elegance. I have been particularly taken by his whites and rosés.

Villahuercos is Javier's flagship wine, with Tempranillo Blanco being a mutation of the red grape Tempranillo - Rioja's signature variety - that was only first discovered in 1988. So good is the wine it produces that it has since established itself as the second most planted white variety in Rioja (after Viura, Rioja's workhorse white grape).

Its wines are intensely aromatic, with notes of tropical fruit (banana, pineapple), citrus and white flowers, and it takes really well to being fermented and aged in oak. To my palate, Javier's is the best I have tasted to date, and he has made a real name for himself with this variety. 

This is such a distinctive wine. It was fermented and aged for 10 months in a 2500L foudre of Austrian, German and French oak and some 500 litre barrels of French oak and a small percentage of acacia barrels. The use of acacia wood barrels is growing - acacia is not as impactful on the wine as oak and is said to add delicate floral notes (like jasmine or honeysuckle) along with a soft, waxy mouthfeel.

Decanter Magazine: "A precise, understated, and elegant white Rioja emphasizing finesse rather than exuberant fruit." 

Food pairing

Seafood of all types including seafood paella, tapas (e.g. tortilla, garlic prawns), Mexican dishes, asparagus, halloumi, white meat, grilled vegetables, chicken.