Tim Atkin, wine writer and Master of Wine, is already a key player in the international panaroma of wine prescriptions and ratings. Every year he traveled to Rioja and, camera in hand, he alone toured the wineries that he considered should be followed. This year, pandemic through, the tasting has continued to be F2F although in an online version. When he released his first report on Rioja a few years ago, he surprised everyone by drawing up a Bordeaux-style classification of wineries that today serves as a guide for many to put some order to the vast number of wineries in this DO.
In Pujanza we are in luck again. All our wines are above 93 points, which is said soon … but the best thing is that every year we improve. With five of the six wines presented included in the “Wines of the Year” section, this year we are especially proud of the 97 points obtained by Pujanza Norte 2018. Each vintage a little higher. In addition, 96 points for La Paul 2018 and the whites, SJ Anteportalatina 2018 and Añadas Frías 2019; 95 for Valdepoleo 2018 and 93 for Hado 2018. Enough reasons to continue working hard and enjoying, not only the achievements, but also the path to reach them.
This 2021 report has been the longest ever made on Rioja by Tim. In it, it includes a list of “The 10 things you need to know about Rioja”, with numerous data, opinions of the protagonists and also their own, which make this reading a very interesting manual to understand the current situation of our DO.
We highlight two of the reflections in this list, the growing importance of terroir and the need for a Rioja map that addresses aspects such as soils, geology or altitude, and the influence of the vintage on wines, especially those that come from cooler areas of Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa and of a single origin, as is the case of Pujanza. These two aspects, which have always been part of our philosophy, are, as the author says, “part of the fascination of Rioja”.
We are also left with the idea of the need for Rioja to convince consumers once and for all that we are one of the Denominations in the elite, at the same level as other large regions such as Burgundy or Barolo.
