Dear *|FNAME|*,

Rioja is one of Spain's most famous and traditional wine-growing areas. It's also home to a new wave of producers, including former Wine Cellar Young Gun Bryan MacRobert and his wife Clara Canals, who are making new styles from very old vines with Laventura.

For only R215, La Nave 2020 is a blend of Garnacha, Tempranillo and Mazuelo. Fresh-fruited and unoaked, it's the perfect introduction to their range. Unusually for Rioja, where blends reign, the Laventura range focuses on single varietal wines: two reds – Tempranillo and Garnacha – and two whites – Malvasía and Viura.

'The style is clean and fresh, produced with less extraction and contact with air, and they are using larger barrels to have less impact on the wines.' – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate

The 2020 Malvasia hails from 55-year-old vines. With 24-hour skin contact and fermentation in concrete, this is a textured wine with notes of white flowers and orange rind. From slightly younger vines (40 years +) but also organically and dryland farmed, comes the 2020 Viura. Viura is fresher and lighter on the palate, full of white tea notes and lemongrass.

The vineyards for the 2018 Tempranillo and the 2020 Garnacha sit at altitudes of 600m and 660m respectively. The Tempranillo is perfumed and brambly with stony tannins, and the Garnacha is red-fruited and crunchy – very elegant indeed.

Finally, the single-vineyard 2016 Barranco del San Ginés is phenomenal. Planted in 1935 to Tempranillo, this is a vineyard and wine to watch. 'There are not many vineyards like this left in Rioja, and MacRobert is doing a superb job here getting the vineyard back to life. The wine is also beautiful, even more so in the great 2016 vintage. A really great single-vineyard Rioja. Bravo!' – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate.

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Vinous regards,

Tasting notes

Laventura, La Nave 2020

'A classic Rioja blend of the three sub-regions, this features Garnacha and Mazuelo from Tudelilla and Najera and Tempranillo from Laguardia and is squarely aimed at the tapas bar market. Crunchy, vibrant and unwooded with plum and cherry flavours and a nip of underlying tannin.' – Tim Atkin MW, Rioja Report 2022, 91/100

Laventura, Viura 2020

'South African Bryan MacRobert makes this varietal Viura from a single parcel of young vines in Villabuena, fermenting and ageing it in old foudres. Leesy, textured and nicely judged, with pear and lemongrass flavours and a hint of fennel.' – Tim Atkin MW, Rioja Report 2022, 90/100

Laventura, Tempranillo 2018

'This wine has a medium garnet colour with primary fruit aromas of raspberries, redcurrant, red cherries, black berries and plums. Secondary aromas of oak, brioche, and vanilla to the lees contact and ageing for one year in barrel. The palate is textured with a present tannin. Good acidity, body and length. Good ageing potential on this wine.' – Winemaker

This vintage has not been rated yet. See the 2017 note below.

'The red 2017 Laventura Tempranillo was produced with grapes from two vineyards, one in Labastida and the other one in Laguardia. This is the one red I tasted that seemed to take the 2017 heat better, and the wine is not far from the 2016. Yes, it's a little riper, and the fruit is a tad darker, but the wine keeps its poise and composition. It has balance and harmony, and there is only a touch of riper fruit on the finish. It finishes dry. 3,300 bottles were filled after 12 months in 500-liter oak barrels.' – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine advocate, 92/100

Laventura, Garnacha 2020

'Vines at 660 metres in Tudelilla supply the grapes for this varietal Garnacha, which sits at the more elegant end of the spectrum in Rioja. There's a little too much reduction on the nose here, but it disappears in the glass to reveal a stylish, stony, redcurrant and raspberry-like red with barely a whisper of oak.' – Tim Atkin MW, Rioja Report 2022, 90/100

Laventura, Malvasia 2020

'Unlike his young vine Viura, Bryan MacRobert's Malvasía hails from a 55-year-old parcel in Leza. Made with 24 hours of skin contact, it's fermented and aged in a concrete egg, with white flower, stone fruit and orange zest flavours and a sappy, refreshing finish.' – Tim Atkin MW, Rioja Report 2021, 92/100

Laventura, Barranco del San Ginés 2016

'The wine is also beautiful, even more so in the great 2016 vintage. It's aromatic and fresh, with notes of red cherries, raspberries, blood orange and violets, perfumed, elegant and nuanced. The palate reveals beautiful balance and refined tannins, great harmony, freshness and length. A really great single vineyard Rioja. Bravo!' – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, 95/100

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