Urbina Reserva Especial Rioja 2006

Description

Urbina Reserva Especial 2006 Rioja is part of Urbina’s blue label range of wines, which signifies that it comes from the estate’s older vines. Their red label wines, like the Urbina Crianza, are from younger vines. The wines are bottled as Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa) Rioja.

Bodegas Urbina is a small, traditional, family-owned Rioja wine estate founded by Salvador Urbina in 1870. This single-estate Rioja is located in Cuzcurrita de Río Tirón on the north-western boundary of the DOC Rioja. Urbina has 75 hectares of vineyards at two main vineyard sites – the first site is in the westernmost part of Rioja at Cuzcurrita de Río Tirón, an area well-known for producing Riojas capable of ageing for many years, ideal for Gran Reservas. The other vineyards are located at Uruñuela, in the heart of the Rioja DOC, which consistently produces wines of great quality and body. Four generations of the Urbina family have dedicated themselves to producing Rioja wines, and, following in his father’s footsteps, Pedro Urbina is the current winemaker, aided by his brothers Ángel and Santiago.

In 1976, the Urbina family decided to bottle and age all the wine they produced themselves, rather than selling grapes to other wine producers, and their single-estate Urbina Rioja wines were created. Since then, Urbina has continued to grow and remains a very traditional Rioja producer, maturing their wines for many years before release, which allows their wines to develop complex flavours and a smooth, elegant mouthfeel.

In 1986, the Urbina family designed and built a new winery in Cuzcurrita, making a significant investment in modern equipment, stainless steel tanks, and a bottling plant. Bodegas Urbina now produces 400,000 bottles of red Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva wines, as well as 50,000 bottles of white and rosé wine, all made from grapes sourced exclusively from their own vineyards. The vineyards are cultivated using traditional methods, with hand harvesting and minimal use of weed killers and pesticides. Additionally, all the fertilizer used is organic. The winemaking process utilizes only local/indigenous yeasts, which helps to give Urbina wines their unique personality.

Urbina Reserva Especial is a blend of 95% Tempranillo, 5% Mazuelo and Graciano. This wine is aged for 2 years in French and American oak casks and a minimum of 2 years in bottle before release.