2022 Victor Ausejo Garnacha Tinta Rioja 6pk 6x750ml

Victor Ausejo runs a tiny bodega in Alberite, seven kilometres south of Logrono in Rioja Oriental's Iregua Valley — a region where viticulture was traditional but commercial winemaking almost nonexistent. Until 2014, he worked as a plumber, helping only occasionally in the family vines. When the construction sector collapsed, he studied viticulture and oenology at Laboral de Logrono, trained at Vivanco and Gomez Cruzado, and launched a project built around minority varieties in a Tempranillo-dominated region. His father Antonio convinced him to rip out Tempranillo and plant Garnacha Blanca. The commitment stuck.

This Garnacha Tinta comes from two plots in Sojuela planted in 1950 and 1952 — including Los Pepones, the first red Garnacha vineyard Victor acquired — plus a third nearby site, all sitting at nearly 800 metres elevation and surrounded by forest. The sandy clay soils at the foot of Moncalvillo deliver elegance and structure. Total production: 1,700 bottles at €40 in Spain. Rioja's old-vine Garnacha carries the region's garrigue aromatics — laurel, rosemary, wild herbs — and a freshness that Tempranillo rarely matches. This is what the grape does when it's grown high, farmed carefully, and left alone.

Hand-harvested in fifteen-kilo crates, bunch-selected at the winery, cold-macerated for three days, then fermented in stainless steel for twelve days with two daily punch-downs. Malolactic and twelve months' aging in French oak: one 600-litre foudre, one 500-litre barrel, one 225-litre barrel. The style blends Garnacha's freshness and menthol lift with structure, without tipping into power. Most fruit is destemmed but not crushed.

Clove and lavender open into a spicy, minty palate of redcurrant and strawberry with a balsamic undertone. Classic garrigue — laurel, rosemary — frames dense damson and black cherry, plenty of acidity behind it. Firm, wild, intense. Tim Atkin scored it 94 points; Wine Advocate 92. The wine drinks like high-altitude Garnacha should: taut, aromatic, built to cellar but approachable now with an hour in the decanter.