Vinícola Riojana de Alcanadre Cooperative has brought together 250 winemakers to offer the market the highest quality of its grapes. To achieve this aim, work begins on the 590 hectares of vineyards, thirty years old on average, which have been gradually restructured, year after year, pulling out the oldest vines and substituting them with La Rioja's most noble vine varieties: Tempranillo, Mazuelo and Graciano.
The vines are planted principally between 400 and 600 metres above sea level on east-facing slopes, on clay-lime soil, between ridges and hills, which allows perfect airing of the vines by the north wind, guaranteeing each bunch's perfect health, which in turn allows us to reduce phytosanitary treatment and respect the vineyards' ecological surroundings. Another important factor is La Rioja Baja's weather. The winters are cold and rainy with frequent freezing. The springs are suave with moderate rainfall, giving the vines the humidity reserves that they need for budding and later growth. The summers here, on the other hand, are extremely dry, with hot temperatures, and the vines are bathed by long hours of sunlight which guarantee the magnificent ripening of the fruit, giving our wines all the fine wine characteristics: body, colour, extract and degrees to become what one critic has described as "An area of La Rioja still to be discovered".  

 

The third determining factor is the production process that we use to make our wines. Combining tradition with technological innovation, the grapes ferment under the oenologist's strict control in lined concrete vats for red wines and in stainless steel vats for the rosé and white wines.

The red wines need time for maceration to bring out all the components from the grapes which make great reds: colour, structures and tannins which are extracted from the grapes by maceration at a temperature of approximately 28ºC for 14 days, which is why we use lined concrete vats to maintain a constant temperature during the fermentation cycle. On the other hand, the white and rosé wines are made using first musts from the Viura and Garnacha grape varieties respectively, musts which are previously cleaned and which ferment at 18ºC in stainless steel vats for 14 days, thus obtaining the optimum aromas -clean, flowery and fruity - to give a great white or rosé wine its character. In short, the characteristics of vineyards on dry land with low production per hectare (approximately 4,500 kilos per hectare), together with the traditional wine-making techniques and the latest technology, guarantee the highest quality wines that Vinícola Riojana de Alcanadre sells under its various brands.