Sierra Cantabria Gran Reserva 2012

Sierra Cantabria is the mother winery of all the Eguren family wineries in Rioja. They produce 600,000 bottles per vintage. I tasted a wide range of wines, mostly from good to very good vintages. After the challenging 2013 and 2014, 2015 was a warm vintage, but the wines are developing much better than expected—they have weight, but they also have freshness. 2016 seems to be a truly spectacular year that managed to provide quantity, and quality and perhaps the higher yields produced lighter wines that are very aromatic and elegant and come through as very expressive. 2017 was decimated by frost, and quantities are very low. The rest of the year was warm and dry, with a very early harvest from a fast ripening. 2018 is more in line with 2016, fresher and with higher yields, but perhaps a little lighter and without the elegance and class of the 2016s. I saw better integration of the oak in most of the wines and more differentiation between wines. Marcos Eguren told me that in the last few years they have changed the way they toast their barrels, with a very long and softer toast, more like a barrique for white. It seems to work. The one wine that is an exception is the second edition of the CVC, a blend in 2006, 2008 and 2011 that I found too oaky to be recommended (not to mention the price).

Catalog of wines click here

FIVE GENERATIONS OF GRAPE GROWERS

Since 1870, a period spanning five generations, the family has been dedicated to the cultivation of vines and the production and ageing of the best wines of La Rioja. They have been able to pass down from father to son both knowledge and tradition yet, at the same time, adapting them to the new advances in technology and always maintaining their respect for the soil and the vine. 

The unmistakable and very personal stamp that the family imprints upon the wines, brings together a daily quest for improvement and a passion for a job well done, from the demanding search for the best conditions for grapevine cultivation to the presentation of the final product to the wine lover. 

The family and their wineries enjoy prestige both in Spain and internationally and have won a number of distinctions and prizes.

ABOVE ALL, WE ARE GRAPE GROWERS

Knowledge accumulated over five generations, together with modern technology, love of vines and production of great wines are the pillars on which the philosophy of the Eguren family is firmly based.

A family who have always had a strong and deep-rooted conviction: “above all, we are grape growers”. This is something that is shown every day, in the care for the earth and the vines given that great wines are achieved in the vineyard. The result: exclusive wines that are well enjoyed even by the most demanding of palates.

In total six wineries, each with their own individual style where quality plays the most important role, something which we see reflected in the careful selection of the land, the scrupulous care of the vines, the choice of the barrels to be used... All this with the aim of obtaining wines with character, in accordance with the family philosophy and a level of quality that does not disappoint the consumers’ expectations, both nationally and internationally.

NOTHING IS PREDOMINANT, 
NOTHING IS ESSENCIAL BUT 
EVERYTHING IS NECESSARY

We understand that in order to create great wines, we must first go back to our roots and practice the same viticulture as our great grandfather Amancio –to work in harmony with nature by understanding and observing it in order to obtain the purity of the terroir.

We work according to nature’s cycle, by means of observation and Astrology, and carry out our tasks accordingly to as to create a close link with the vineyard and the environment.

We apply an effective viticulture management, with our own resources, respecting the natural balance and its self-regulation.

We enhance and care for the life in the soil and the environment to encourage the presence of microorganisms that interact with the soil and the plant.

We use the appropriate levels of organic material and we favour a healthy microbial activity in the soil. We use our own organic fertilizer and we apply a nutritional protocol, so as to control and balance the different points of the vegetative cycle, obtaining samples of clusters and leaves to analyze the assimilation and equilibrium of the nutrients in the plant and in the berry.

A healthy vineyard, planted in healthy soils, is better prepared and most likely to resist any loses or disease. Should a treatment be needed, natural solutions are applied, contact treatments which do not penetrate the plant or grapes, respecting both the plant and the environment.

The objective is to achieve natural and healthy vineyards in harmony with active and pure soils, so as to obtain healthy, honest, genuinely distinctive wines, which are pure and which portray the identity of the terroir.

We work close to the land, in dialogue with the land, to connect with the idiosyncrasy, with our terroirs’ spirit.