2022 Artuke Rioja

WINEMAKER: Arturo & Kike de Miguel Blanco
REGION: Rioja, SP
VARIETY: Tempranillo
VITICULTURE: Organic

Artuke’s entry-level village wine is composed of 95% Tempranillo and a touch of Viura for aromatic lift, all grown by Artuke around the town of Baños de Ebro. Completely destemmed and fermented as whole berries, it continues a Riojan tradition of making bright, young ‘Joven’ wines for everyday drinking, while remaining true to the higher acid and fresh profile of the wines of the Baños de Ebro village.

A rarity in Rioja – a small, terroir-focused winery – that’s owned and run by brothers Arturo and Kike. Artuke only use grapes from their vineyards in and around the small town of Baños de Ebro, tucked under the Sierra Cantabria on the northern edges of Rioja. Among their greatest assets is Finca de Los Locos, a vineyard planted by their grandfather in the 1950s on a plateau so high in the mountains that other winemakers of the day thought him mad to attempt to farm it.

The Artuke aim is simple: to make vibrant wines expressive of the village, uncluttered by oak, extraction or other artifice. The brothers farm organically and their elevated, cool climate vineyards produce wonderfully bright versions of Rioja.