Hacienda Lopez de Haro Crianza 2018

The Riojan Sonsierra is an area located on the southern side of the Sierra de Cantabria and the Toloño mountains, which protect it from the cold and humid winds of the Cantabrian Sea. Its meteorological conditions, with more rainfall in winter than during the rest of the year and the wind channeled through the Ebro valley, make it an optimum area for vine growing. Its broken orography, with well-drained clay-limestone soils, is perfect for the Tempranillo variety.

At Bodega Hacienda López de Haro the objective is to respect the traditional winemaking systems, so that the winemaking tanks (between 15,000 and 35,000 liters) have very wide mouths to imitate the traditional winemaking in open vats. This allows for more comfortable punching down to better work the cap (the solid part of the grapes that floats to the top of the tank during fermentation).

The winery has about 5,000 barrels, of which three quarters are French oak and one quarter American oak. French o ak fits in with the style of wines made at Hacienda López de Haro as it respects the fruit and character of the varieties most used in the López de Haro collection: Tempranillo, Garnacha and Graciano.