Bodegas Exopto Rioja Horizonte de Exopto Blanco 2022

Bodegas Exopto Horizonte de Exopto Blanco is a white Rioja built on old-vine Viura from the high, cool village of Ábalos.

White Rioja has been rethought over the past two decades by growers who look to site and old vines rather than heavy oak, and Tom Puyaubert, a Bordelais who settled in Rioja Alavesa, has been among the leaders. The blend is 85 per cent Viura, the local name for Macabeo, with 10 per cent Malvasía Riojana and 5 per cent Garnacha Blanca. Most of the fruit comes from Ábalos at around 650 metres, including the old San Cristobel vineyard and Perquita, planted in 1965, and from 2022 the wine also takes in 75-year-old Viura from Baños de Ebro. Fermentation is with indigenous yeasts in concrete, and the wine is then raised in a mixture of concrete eggs, old barrels and a 4,000-litre foudre, an approach Puyaubert uses to hold on to the salinity and tension of the rocky limestone soils.

Drinking well now and worth five years in bottle. Good with grilled fish, roast chicken or a mushroom risotto, at 10 to 12°C.

*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.