Bodegas Exopto Rioja Horizonte de Exopto Blanco 2017

A white Rioja from Exopto, the estate a Bordeaux-trained Frenchman built after arriving in the region selling barrels.

Tom Puyaubert studied oenology in Bordeaux, moved to Spain to work for a cooper and founded Exopto in 2003. The cellar is at Laguardia in the Rioja Alavesa, and the fruit comes from around 22 hectares split across more than thirty small plots, most of them at Ábalos and San Vicente de la Sonsierra on the slopes below the Sierra de Cantabria, with a few in the foothills of Monte Yerga further south. The vines are largely bush-trained and often more than sixty years old, on rocky, limestone-rich soils; farming is organic and biodynamic, the soils are ploughed by horse and yields are kept low. Horizonte is the more approachable of the estate's ranges. The white is a field blend built on Viura, the region's mainstay white grape, with Malvasía for aromatic breadth, and the cellar works with cement, stainless steel and large neutral French oak rather than new barriques.

Drink over the next three or four years. Serve at 10-12°C with roast pork, grilled squid or a mushroom risotto.

*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.