D.O.Ca. RIOJA
VINO ARAR
BODEGAS y VIÑEDOS ARRANZ-ARGOTE

Bodegas y Viñedos Arranz-Argote is a small winery in D.O.C. Rioja (Denominación de Rioja Calificada Rioja), hold by two partners, they elaborate just one kind of wine called ARAR made with grapes that come from vineyards more than 70 years old, inherited from their ancestors, combining tradition in the elaboration with modern techniques and materials.

The cellar, also inherited from their grand parents is located in the centre of the monumental village of Navarrete (La Rioja), in the middle of the road to Santiago de Compostela (pilgrimage).

Our current production is 4,500 bottles. This wine has spent 14 months in French oak barrels from different oak forest and barrelmakings. Every single step in the elaboration process is made by tasting, from the from the collection of the grapes to the decision of when is ready to be sold. The bottles are bottled, labeled, topped and marked with its corresponding number by hand. Nor yeast nor bacteria are added to our product and small dose of SO 2 is incorporated to the process to the elaboration.

ARAR is a modern wine, fruity but with the right touch of oak to allow the wine to keep its quality during many years.

VINEYARDS

The vineyards located 2 km from the winery (in the same village), are northeast-southeast orientated and the earth is formed by stone, sand and clay and is well drained, all this provide the optimum conditions to obtain the best product. The fertilizing is organic, weed killers are not used. Only sulphur and sulphate are added against oidium and mildew as a preventive measure.

The varieties are:
• Tempranillo (85%)
• Garnacha
• Graciano
• Mazuelo
• Maturana tinta navarretana (an autochthon red grape from Navarrete)

These varieties are spread along de 3 Has. of vineyards belonging to Bodegas y Viñedos Arranz-Argote.

ELABORATION

The vintage is started when the grapes are ready, by tasting them our winemaker decides this moment very carefully. The fruits are selected by hand, refusing the bunches of grapes that do not reach the properly quality. 18 kg. boxes are used and they are kept in the right temperature condition from the vineyards to the winery.

The ageing period is approximately 14 months but this process is decided by tasting the wine. Afterwards a light filtering is made. We do not clarify our wines. Afterwards the wine is bottled by hand. The cork has high density and is natural, specially treated to prevent sanitary problems. The bottle ageing process last at least 14 months and we put the product into the market when the winemaker tastes the wine and decide is the right time.

THE WINERY

The underground stone cellar 7 meters below the surface from the XV Century, was excavated by our ancestors with rudimentary tools. It is located in the historic centre of Navarrete; the pilgrims to Santiago pass by the entrance. The temperature and humidity conditions at this profundity are perfect to the ageing process, almost constant all the year long. The calmness, silence and obscurity bring our wine the ideal conditions to obtain a perfect wine. Thanks to all this conditions, impossible to obtain in an industrial winery, make our wine unique.