Description
This is quite simply one of the most elegant glasses of Rioja we’ve ever tasted. Mi Lugar, which translates to ‘my place’, falls under the new Rioja classification of ‘Vino de Pueblo’, which can only be produced from family-owned vineyards within a named village. Rather than focus on how long a wine has been aged, the new classification is all about the origin of the wine, enabling wineries such as Bodegas Ontañón to express their heritage and the quality of their individual vineyard plots.
The winery, situated in the village of Quel in Rioja Oriental, has been cleverly built into the cliff face, recreating the 18th century ancient winemaking caves at the base of the sheer sandstone cliffs, where grapes were gravity-fed from the vineyards above. It has been constructed around an existing cave, and the 4-level design replicates (in a very modern way) the traditional gravity-flow system that allows a gentle approach to the handling of the grapes at each step.
