Aticus Rioja Crianza 2009

Aticus Rioja Crianza is made from 100% Tempranillo. The average age of the vines is 25 years.
Thinning out of the leaves and green harvest in Summer. Manual harvest. Temperature controlled fermentation in stainless steel tanks for 15 days. Malolactic fermentation in stainless steel tanks for 23 days.
The wine is aged in American oak barrels (Missouri & Appalachian area) for 12 months. Clarification for 21 days with egg fining. Filtration.
Dark cherry color. Complex and intense aromas of juicy red and black fruit combined with vanilla and toffee. Fresh, ample and round in the mouth, well balanced and harmonious with fruit flavors and ripe tannins.

"Saturated ruby. Aromas and flavors of dark cherry, blackcurrant and vanilla, with a hint of peppery spices lending vivacity. Sappy and expansive, with strong finishing cut, gentle tannins and lingering spiciness. This wine has the depth to age"- Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar (September 2012), 90 pts

The 2009 Aticus Crianza has a fragrant, rich nose showing somewhat prune like, rich black cherry fruit, and wet earth. Aged 12 months in oak, it is big, ripe and full on the palate, quite rich and layered with dense dark fruit flavors and spice on the finish. International Wine Review 90pts

The Aticus Estate
Bodegas Altos del Marqués follows the tradition started by the Cerrolaza family years ago by creating a small bodega adjacent to the family house in Hornos del Moncalvillo. Built in a "chateau" style, this winery belongs to an exclusively family limited liability company, Bodegas Altos del Marqués S.L, and it´s located in the outskirts of Logroño, surrounded by its own vineyards.

The Cerrolaza family have concentrated their efforts on making a modern high-quality viticulture. In order to obtain the best possible grapes, they apply the latest technology to remove vigour from the vine-stocks and de-leaf the vines. Ensuring that the quality of the grape is the basis for the quality of the wine, the Cerrolaza family focuses on their terrain using the latest technology as the only way of obtaining and guaranteeing great wines. As a result, they obtain wines with identity, and with an expression of their own vineyards.The winery applies the latest vinification technology. They have stainless steel tanks of different sizes, from the smallest ones, having a capacity of 1,000 and 1,500 litres, to the intermediate of 9,500 and 10,400 litres, suitable for the separate wine production process of the highest quality plots. Their biggest tanks are 25,000; 42,750 and 53,000 litres used for blends and the large vineyard plots.

  The Aticus Vineyard  

The winery owns 43.5 Hectares (107.4 acres) of vineyard distributed among several areas. In each of these areas the winery´s vineyards are divided into different plots, depending on the grape variety, antiquity of the vineyard, type of soil, orientation, etc. This separation allows the grapes to be separated in the production phase. As for the harvest, the grapes are picked by hand, using 15kg (33.06 pounds) crates for the best-quality plots, from which the best wines are obtained.