Bideona, Rioja Alavesa, Spain
Cofrades Single Vineyard, planted in 1945. Vinified as a field blend of predominantly Tempranillo and Viura, with small amounts of Benedicto, Jaén, Malvasía Riojana, Garnacha, Morate, Mencía, Bobal and Mazuelo.
Bideona, Rioja Alavesa, Spain
Bideona owns or manages over 300 parcels of extraordinary vines in villages throughout the Rioja Alavesa, the coolest, smallest and most Atlantic sub-zone of Spain’s most famous wine region.
The vineyards of the Rioja Alavesa are defined by parcels of old bush vines planted on terraces or hillside slopes with a high percentage of limestone. Located in the foothills of the Sierra Cantabria, Bideona’s vines have an average age of 50 years and many were planted in the 1920s, 30s and 40s, before high-yielding clones became available.
Bideona puts the focus firmly on terroir by making each wine in its Vino de Pueblo range as a field blend of Tempranillo and other native varieties from plots in an individual village. Each is named with an acronym – L3Z4 for Leza, L4GD4 for Laguardia, S4MG0 for Samaniego and V1BN4 for Villabuena – owing to DOCa Rioja regulations that only allow village names to be marked if both the winery and the vineyard are in the same location.
“Bideona’s reason for existence is to make wines that show the personality of the Rioja Alavesa and its historic wine villages” states company co-founder and director, Andreas Kubach MW. “We have access to a wealth of diverse plant material in our parcels of old vines, which we believe contributes to the complexity of the wines as well as the differences between villages.”
Local vine growers used to have a clear understanding of the differences between the villages of Rioja Alavesa, but this knowledge was largely lost in the 20th century with the industrialisation of the wine industry. Bideona is working with the Old Vine Conference to highlight the region’s old vine heritage and ensure its survival for years to come.
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