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Vina Ardanza Reserva Rioja – La Rioja Alta 2017
Come away with me to the wild southern coastline at the edge of the world.
Here trees groan, sideways pushing grassy green accents into the ocean blues. The salt wind lashes, and makes my eyes cry, watching clouds drift over livid blue sky.
I’ve brought a Spanish friend along for the ride. Her name is Ardanza. A red blend of Tempranillo 80% and Garnacha 20%, sourced from Rioja Alta and Oriental. Aged for 36 months in American oak, she shall be the perfect company for a steak on my weekend jolly down south.
After driving the entirety of the South Coast State Highway 99 and having had to turn around after hitting a cul-de-sac of Fiordland bush. Past Bluecliffs and passing through the time capsule town of Tuatapere, I eventually found a nice wee spot to make camp and watch the sun go down.
Filled with hunger and thirst after my travels it was time to see what this Spanish companion had to offer this weary traveler. Pop goes the cork as I heat up the skillet, ready to sear some Southland steak and mushroom. As the temperature dropped with the sun, the cooling wine opened up, revealing layers of aromatic details. Immediately deciding this was a wine to write home about I scribbled some notes on a pamphlet from the glovebox.
Opening with red fruits, sweet cedar wood, balsamic and leather cream the wine reveals layers of aromas which evolve with each breath. Joy.
The palate is intense and concentrated, edging a tightrope of acidity that tilts redcurrant to one side and an abyss of black cherry to the other. Free falling into the depths of the cherry I was caught on a cloud of cacao tannins. Supporting and enrobing, slipping onto my palate feeling like a quilted smoking jacket, holding a pipe of fresh tobacco in one hand and a mocha chino in the other. Blissful stuff.
I must return for a second sip to confirm my suspicions.
Yes indeed! This is a stellar wine, outstanding structure, complexity and intensity of flavours, latticed and laced. There is a nervy tension, vibrancy, fine details and generosity to balance.
Some wines do live up to, and if we are very lucky, even surpass expectations. And, for me in this instance, this is one such wine. An iconic producer from an iconic wine region absolutely living up to the hype that surrounds their storied name.
Was the wine really that good, or was being surrounded by driftwood watching the sun go down on the edge of the world clouding my judgement…actually now I’m thinking about it, it could’ve been that jazz fag.
Wish you were here?
Blogged by Henry 16/09/2025
o o o la la
Triple Zero 0 – 0 – 0 La Taille aux Loups Jacky & JP Blot
A shining example of a wine that translates a place. Jacky & JP Blot’s Triple Zero Bubbles focuses on ancestral methode winemaking techniques with no additions made along the winemaking journey.
According to Jamie Goode’s Wine Anorak “All the wines here are dry, and fermented in oak, and Blot has 1000 barrels. He buys around 100 new barrels each year, so there’s a 10 year cycle. For Blot it is very important to him to get the wines properly dry, and fermentations are sometimes very long in the cold cellars: he says he is looking for sucrosity without sucre. He avoids malolactic fermentation. Three coopers are used, all Burgundian. The wines are bottled with low levels of sulphites.”
Tracy can confirm this is true, having visited JP Blot in January this year, but being so excited after tasting these dazzling bubbles all of her carefully curated notes were unfortunately lost during a scenic canoe journey down the gently flowing Loire. She did however manage to secure an allocation of these incredible wines and excitedly share them with me just recently at the shop. Joy!
So back to Triple Zero –
Zero chaptalization – Zero liqueur de tirage – Zero dosage. A stripped back approach of a long slow fermentation in barrel then bottle that serves to retain fruit purity, revitalising acidity, creamy mousse and bone dry finish.
A crispy wine that opens with fresh sliced into baked apple fruit bedded on silky textural leesy layers. Bone dry but never austere, and seductively revealing details, ushering you to look closer. Following on with white flowers, spiced pear, fresh pastry and chalky minerals. The mousse is creamy and lifting, not aggressive or explosive. The bone dry finish is beautiful, cleansing, leaving me constantly salivating. All in all – Incredibly moreish, a true delight that is expressive of its cool climate roots dug into layers of chalk, clay and silex along the Loire.
Limited stock available in-store now.
Blogged by Henry 20/09/26
