It looks just like most other vineyards around Laguardia in Rioja Alvesa, the only give away that this is the famed El Pison vineyard is the gate.  If you’ve been lucky enough to have a bottle (or even see a bottle in a shop) you would have noticed that it has a little drawing of this gate on the front label. But as Artadi’s Rioja wines are only just now coming on to the Australian market, how would most of us know?

The rest of the world has been talking up these wines with big scores and high praise for years and the wines are part of the underground wine culture of rarities and unprocurables here in Australia. Wine geeks seem to love sharing these wines around at offlines and wine diners , there has been quite a buzz about them, which should continue as the prices for the top wines are astronomical. We’ve had small stashes of hand carried bottles and some enterprising people have even imported the wines via New Zealand, but until now that was it. Now that the wines are for sale in Australia, I put Artadi to the top of the list of people to visit while in Rioja. It was well worth the flight over for.

I’ll put all the detailed information about Artadi in a Producer profile shortly, for now you’ll have to be content with these tasting notes. We started off with the top wines from Artadi’s estates in Navarra and Alicante, then on to the Riojas. There are two wines missing here: the joven (known as Orobio in Australia) and Grandes Anadas, which is only made in the best years.

Santa Cruz de Artazu 2006: Very old vine garnacha and very low yields equals very yummy wine. Pure raspberry fruit with undertones of raspberry leaves, earthy, dusty rocks, and spice cake. Feather light tannins, good length and excellent acid. Punchy but highly drinkable with food. We had a bottle of this at lunch and it was a clear favouritewith a wide variety of dishes. 93 Pts.

El Seque 2006:Now this is old vine Monastrell, with a bit of cabernet and syrah. The guys are grafting the non-indigenous varities over to monastrell but in the meantime they go into the blend. Classic Monastrell on the nose: fig and plum with spice and violets, a little bit of cured meats and wild herbs. More of the same on the palate, very refined and smooth with good balance. 91 Pts.

Artadi Vinas de Gain  2006: This is the young vine fruit (under 25 year old vines) and the name litterly means vines of the high point of the mountain in Basque. I’d tasted this just before leaving for Spain and this showed really well again today. Really expressive straight out of the bottle: lush red cherries and plums, thyme and sage with a bit of liquorice root. Just a pup and it seems to be getting better each time I taste it. Excellent vallue too. 93+ Pts.

Artadi Pagos Viejos 2006: Made from the older vineyards that are scattered all over Rioja Alvesa. Each vineyard is picked and vinified seperately in small oak fermenters. Much deeper and more concentrated flvours than Vinas de Gain, but along similar lines. The thing with all of these wines is that the level of extraction is not over the top and every is in the right place. Layers of bright fruit mixed with earthy herbs and spice: dark cherry and blueberry with toasty oak notes of coffee and chocolate, nutmeg and cinnamon, thyme and rosemary. Well structured and obviously built for the long term, but still very approachable now. 94+ Pts.

Artadi Vina El Pison 2006: From the 2.4Ha El Pison vineyard, planted in 1945. El Pison is the name of a type of press used to press wool into clothing material (I think!), as far as I know there is no real translation to English. Now this is something else, the perfume from this thing is like a slap in the face, you have to take notice: layers of red and dark cherries, earthy rocks, chocolate and espresso, herby undergrowth, toasty bread, and on it goes. This needs time and has the structure to build and develop over many years in the cellar. 96+ Pts