Cuentaviñas Rioja - Los Yelsones 2019

Cuentaviñas is the new personal project of Eduardo Eguren, son of Marcos Eguren, who left the family winery in 2018 after inheriting three spectacular vineyard sites from his maternal grandfather. By the time he left the family winery, Eduardo was responsible for all hands on technical aspects of winemaking with his father Marcos, and was head winemaker at Teso la Monja. Before joining the family company, he worked stints at Artadi (helping vinify the legendary 2004 vintage) and after receiving his Masters in Enology from the Colegio Mayor del País Vasco, worked as assistant winemaker for the inimitable Sashi Moorman at Domaine de la Cote, Piedrasassi, and Stolpman Vineyards.

At his new project, Eduardo works as a consummate vigneron; acting as winemaker, vineyard manager, and marketer for his products. His wife Carlota is his partner in the project, and their work as husband and wife very much embodies the what many in the United States have come to know as the "new Spain." The name Cuentaviñas is a play on words - cuentacuentos in Spanish translates to "story-teller" in English. At his new project, Eduardo's philosophy is to work as a cuentaviñas or "vineyard-teller," living and breathing each site and translating this expression into the bottle. For now, the project is so small that pruning, leaf pulling, plowing by horse, selecting cover crops, and digging soil pits are all carried out by Eduardo himself. Who better to tell the story of these spectacular microparcels than a man who grew up on the streets of San Vicente de la Sonsierra, living and breathing the revival of quality winemaking in this historical medieval Rioja village. The aging of the wines is carried out in an 18th century cellar in the municipality of Peciña, which Eduardo and Carlota have recovered and established as the home for their new project.

Eduardo produced 4,900 bottles of the inaugural vintage (2000 Alomado, 2000 Los Yelsones, 900 El Tiznado), and if all goes well, the goal of the project some day is to grow to a maximum production of 80,000 bottles after adding an economical bottling. As of October 2020, Eduardo is aging two new wines from the 2019 vintage - a Garnacha from the Alta Najerilla in Rioja and a Ribera del Duero from 3.5Ha. of 80+ year old Tinto Fino.

The uniting stylistic factor of the three wines is a crystalline purity of fruit that rides the knife's edge between the power of great classic Spanish wine and the new school of freshness and elegance.

18 months in 500-litre barrels and 3 months in bottle in an 18th-century underground cave. Due to the low temperatures and high humidity, the rate of oxidation is reduced allowing Eduardo to work with low levels of SO2.

“Truly impressive, aromatic, nuanced, powerful and elegant, with power and finesse and some oak still to be integrated on the palate. It's pure Tempranillo from a plot planted in 1970 in La Rad in the fourth valley of San Vicente de la Sonsierra where the soils have big blocks of calcium carbonate (yelsones) that name the wine....It's a showy and impressive wine that should develop nicely in bottle.” - 95 Points, Wine Advocate

“Plum and berry with some hazelnut and lavender. Fresh flowers, too. Medium to full body with firm, chewy tannins that are fine-grained. Racy and beautiful. Drink after 2023.” - 94 Points, James Suckling

Producer: Cuentaviñas

Country: Spain

Region: La Rioja

Varietal: Tempranillo

Appellation: Rioja

Vintage: 2019

Size: 750ml