Bodegas Exopto Rioja Horizonte de Exopto 2017 Ábalos

The red Horizonte, from Ábalos, the village at the foot of the Sierra de Cantabria where most of Exopto's vines are planted.

Ábalos sits in the Rioja Alta just over the boundary from the Alavesa, high enough on rocky, limestone-rich ground for the growing season to run long and cool. Tom Puyaubert, Bordeaux-trained and originally in Rioja selling barrels, founded Exopto in 2003 and works from a cellar at Laguardia across about 22 hectares in more than thirty plots, the greater part of them at Ábalos and planted to bush vines mostly over sixty years old. Farming is organic and biodynamic, the soils turned by horse, the yields deliberately small. Horizonte is the estate's more immediate range, made to be drunk rather than laid down for decades: Tempranillo carries the blend with Garnacha for flesh and Graciano for acidity and a savoury edge, and the cellar uses cement, steel and large-format French oak, with no American wood at any stage.

Drinking now and good for five or six years. Serve at 16-18°C with grilled lamb cutlets, a chorizo and chickpea stew or roast vegetables.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.