Señorio de San Vicente 1994


Señorio de San Vicente 1994 tasted on the 05/09/00.

The most powerful and intensely flavoured Rioja I have ever tasted.

Very deep garnet and brick red robe. Astonishingly complex nose of vanilla, black berry fruit and spice all vying for centre stage. Very elegant. Soft and fresh attack rapidly filling the mouth with spice, mint and prunes. Velvety tannins give gentle but firm backbone and weight to the wine.

Concentrated fruit of the Tempranillo grape and carefully dosed new French and American oak are perceived separately , side by side, and need a little more time before they are fully wed.

Innovative Rioja at its best !


Story of Señorio de San Vicente

Señorio de San Vicente is the flagship wine of the Eguren family, owners of Bodega Sierra Cantabria in San Vicente de la Sonsierra in Rioja Alta.

Winemaker Marcos Eguren has produced one of the best wines ever to come out of Rioja.

In the early eighties the Egurens looked at the various vineyard parcels on their estate and in 1985 chose one parcel and planted Tempranillo peludo, " peludo " meaning hairy or furry due to the fine hairs on the leaves. Tempranillo peludo is native to Rioja and the oldest grape variety there.

The vineyard was chosen for its good drainage, poor soil, good midday exposure and sheltered position against the cold north wine.

Señorio de San Vicente's single vineyard and high density of planting were unique in Rioja at the time. Eguren believes that good husbandry in the vineyard and only using organic matter and no chemical fertilisers limits aggresivity towards the vines.

New too was the severe sorting of grapes in the vineyard and in the winery.

Low yields, the erstwhile norm in ancient Rioja but long forgotten by the big production years of the eighties and nineties, were brought back into practice. Eguren adopted new methods of vinification in the winery : long maceration ageing in new oak, American and French, and for shorter periods.

Eguren's philosophy behind all this ?     
To produce a wine with maximum varietal expression and a pronounced personality. Greater concentration and complexity which could only be achieved by respecting the vineyard, listening to the grape and paying attention to detail.

All these factors have contributed towards producing an elegant wine, concentrated and complex. A wine of quality where tradition and modern techniques come together to give a very special wine, Señorio de San Vicente.


Wine Tasting Directory
Señorio de San Vicente 1994Rioja - Spain
Domaine de Saint-Lannes 2001Pays de Côtes de Gascogne Blanc- France
Domaine de la Salette 1998 and 1999Pays de Côte de Gascogne - France
Château La Dominante 2000Bordeaux Supérieur AC - France

 

Beverly Reny Fine Wines © 2003

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