Wine Advisor
Artadi, Vina El Pison 2018
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez
The flagship single-vineyard 2018 Viña El Pisón has to be one of the finest vintages for this bottling. It's named after a plot of 2.4 hectares planted in 1945 in the village of Laguardia. The vineyard is an amphitheater with changing soils of limestone, clay and sandstone with a deep combination of limestone and silt. The grapes underwent a 24- to 48-hour cold soak and fermented with indigenous yeasts in oak vats for 10-12 days, during which time the grapes were foot trodden twice per day. It matured in French oak barrels for nine months. There's something mysterious about this Pisón; it's subtle and elegant, a little austere and reticent at first. The palate is seamless, silky with very refined tannins, with gobsmacking balance and a very long, clean and precise finish. This is superb. 6,600 bottles were filled in June 2020.
Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez
The sample of the 2018 Viña El Pisón promised to be one of the finest vintages of this monumental wine. It has perfume and nuance, and it's detailed, complex and elegant, with gobsmacking depth and an endless finish. Same as the El Carretil, this has a strong mineral/chalky texture that adds to its tastiness and length. It has ripe flavors but with great acidity, with great purity and definition, precise and energetic. There should be some 5,500 bottles that will be filled in the summer of 2020.
Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez
The sample of the 2018 Viña El Pisón promised to be one of the finest vintages of this monumental wine. It has perfume and nuance, and it's detailed, complex and elegant, with gobsmacking depth and an endless finish. Same as the El Carretil, this has a strong mineral/chalky texture that adds to its tastiness and length. It has ripe flavors but with great acidity, with great purity and definition, precise and energetic. They expected some 5,500 bottles to be filled in the summer of 2020.
About the Producer
Artadi is a well-regarded, high-profile wine producer based in the Rioja Alavesa town of Laguardia although famously having left the local Rioja wine body, it produces wines under the Vino de Mesa title. It makes a range of Rioja-style wines albeit with a subregional focus and is perhaps best-known for its single vineyard labels, all made from Tempranillo. The single vineyard labels include El Carretil, La Poza de Ballesteros, Quintanilla, San Lazaro and Valdeginés, as well as the flagship El Pison. The 2004 vintage of El Pison wine received 100 points from American wine critic Robert Parker. Other notable wines include the Pagos Viejos cuvée, the value-level Viñas de Gain and the entry-level Artadi Joven, produced from carbonically macerated Tempranillo and Viura. Artadi also makes a white Viñas de Gain from 100 percent Viura aged in oak as well as a sparkling Cava, also from local Viura. López de Lacalle's wines are fruit-driven and characterized by smooth tannins, showing an emphasis on individual vineyard sites more than aging styles. He also owns the El Sequé estate in Alicante, which makes wine from the Monastrell variety, and Artazu in Navarra, which focuses on the Garnacha grape.