Bodegas Bhilar Phincas 2021
An elegant and complex blend, with wild red berries, herbs and spicy nuances, leading to a carefully crafted palate of fine tannins, balance and understated oak.
Vineyards have dominated the landscape of Elvillar for hundreds of years and consequently, this region is known for having some of the oldest vines in Rioja. Its poor soil conditions encourage the vines to penetrate their roots deep into the soils in search of nutrients, producing wines of wonderful complexity. These rocky, limestone soils are woven throughout three valleys running from the Sierra Cantabria Mountain to the River Ebro, giving Elvillar a distinct and diverse viticultural landscape. This estate village wine is from high-altitude vineyards in some of the finest viticultural areas in Elvillar: La Revilla, Terreras, Las Naves, Santa Agueda, Valmayor, Tajo, La Ceposilla, Renana, San Julian. The extremely old vines range from 35 to 100 years in age and are low yielding, dryfarmed, bush vines which are grown in limestone soils. The vineyard is organically and biodynamically farmed and following a philosophy of low intervention in the vineyard, the soils are ploughed by horse and the grapes are hand-harvested.
The grapes were harvested manually according to the lunar calendar. Whole clusters were placed into a concrete tank and lightly crushed. Once the spontaneous fermentation with natural yeasts was complete, the wine was transferred to 225-litre and 500-litre barrels without any additives, where malolactic conversion occurred naturally. The wine spent 36 months in oak, followed by six months in 5,000-litre concrete tank prior to bottling.
Bodegas Bhilar is a boutique winery located in Elvillar, Rioja Alavesa, run by husband-and-wife team, David Sampedro and Melanie Hickman. Together, they make terroir-driven wines with soul, while respecting the land and working with indigenous grapes.
For over 20 years the land has been cultivated organically, biodynamically for 15 of those and in 2014, horses replaced tractors in the vineyards. They have been Demeter certified since 2022. David Sampedro Gil grew up in the same vineyards he works today. While earning his masters in oenology, David started his career working in some of the larger wineries in Rioja. Realising that great wines are made in the vineyard, he returned to his vineyards and established Bhilar, reflecting his winemaking philosophy of making unique wines that evoke a sense of place, using sustainable agriculture and minimal intervention in the winery. Bhilar is the Basque name for his village, Elvillar. Their wines are full of personality and perfectly capture the characteristics of the cool-climate vineyards. In 2020, Tim Atkin MW awarded them Winemaker of the Year.
