Bodega Akutain Gran Reserva Rioja 2015

“It’s not everyday that you discover a great traditional Rioja producer…”

"Akutain is the classical under-the-radar winery from Rioja, created in 1978. After tasting their wines in my last review of the region, I decided I needed to visit them to know them better and understand what they are doing, which follows the most orthodox classicism I know together with López de Heredia. Today, the three sons of founder José Peñagaricano Akutain, who unfortunately died in April 2021, lead the projects, especially the youngest, Jon Peñagaricano Hoeks, CEO since 2012. The founder and their winemaker, Ángel Olmos, were friends and protégées of people like Basilio Izquierdo and Ezequiel Garcia, some of the best-known old-timers from Rioja.

It's a château-style property, and they only vinify grapes from their own vineyards, with five plots planted between 1975 and 2016 (this last one 0.12 hectares of Maturana Tinta) around the winery that make up some 6.5 hectares of vine in total, in the villages of Villalba, Haro, Anguciana, Cihuri and Sajazarra in the Obarenes Mountains in Rioja Alta.

Their methods are classical Rioja: They don't use herbicides or chemicals but are not certified. They vinify each vineyard separately in stainless steel and fiberglass. They don't filter, use cold stabilization, and they let the wines decant and use minimal SO2. They use mostly used American oak barrels that are racked manually one by one and always into the same barrel, and each barrel is tasted and handled individually. They only produce 35,000 to 40,000 bottles per vintage."

-Luis Gutiérrez