Food Notes > Wine

From Navarra region: Emilio Valerio

With a family estate that dates back more than six centuries, Emilio was eager to safeguard the biodiversity and viticultural heritage. The red wine is dominated by Garnacha, Graciano, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot

by Graziano Alderighi

Situated just to the north and east of Rioja, the two largely separated by the course of the Ebro, lies Navarra. Once a grand kingdom that ran from Barcelona at one end, across northern Spain and the Pyrenees, to Bordeaux at the other, Navarra is now a considerably smaller but still autonomous region of Spain.

Emilio Valerio Martínez de Munlain, to give him his full title, is a local jurist who has more than 25 years experience as a legal prosecutor, with a particular interest in environmental issues. With a family estate that dates back more than six centuries, Emilio was eager to safeguard the biodiversity and viticultural heritage that lay on the slopes around Dicastillo, his home town.

The vineyards are situated at an altitude between 400 and 1000 metres, with soils of clay and limestone, peppered with areas of sand and limey gravel. The vines are an esoteric blend of varieties, 15 in total, red and white, with an average age of 35 years.

Viñas de Amburza

This red wine is dominated by Garnacha, Graciano, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot; the fruit is hand-harvested, and each small plot sees a micro-vinification in either cement, steel or oak, prior to blending and ageing in a mix of new and used French barrels.

Description: the coour is dark and the aromas are complex: plum skin, cherry stone and spiced blackberry, overall this is very nice. Good sappy fruit character, never plump or fat though, just deliciously composed, sweet and savoury, defined and structured, with a ripe and perfectly integrated seam of tannin in the middle.

Estate, produced and bottled by:
Emilio Valerio
Paraje de Argonga - Ongintza,6 - Dicastillo, Navarra
www.laderasdemontejurra.com

by Graziano Alderighi
01 February 2010 Teatro Naturale International n. 2 Year 2

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