Description
92-93 Points | The Wine Advocate, Luis Gutiérrez
The white 2018 Viñas de Gaín Blanco comes from a number of vineyards in Laguardia and Elvillar at 450 to 700 meters in altitude on clay and limestone soils. In this rainy and cooler year, it fermented with some skins and then matured for two years and four months in stainless steel (plus a handful of barrels) and finished with 13% alcohol and a pH of 3.33. It has a strong and acute note of fennel and aniseed, white flowers and musk, with a lively palate from the cool vintage; it's balanced and has purity, without very showy aromas—a white for food. 12,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2020. In 2020 and 2021, there will be a little less white wine, as they have added some white grapes to the reds.
I tasted the wines from Artadi as part of their annual portfolio tasting when I covered the bottled 2019s and barrel samples of (some of) the 2020s. I've reproduced the notes and comments here for context and completeness of the article.
2019 was slightly drier and warmer than average, and there was an episode of hail as late as August 25th, which seriously affected the vineyards located in the south of Laguardia and Elvillar; the plots of San Ginés, Valmayor, Cuerdamayor, La Ceposilla, Parredonda and Las Ventas, among others, registered significant damage. They started picking the whites on September 20 and finished the last of the reds on October 10. The grapes were clean and healthy, with 35% less grapes than in 2018.
2020 was a challenging year with a loss of 30% of the crops from mildew. All of their vineyards are now certified organic, and they suffered more because of that. It's a relatively fresh vintage, cooler than 2019 but without its complexity, with more ethereal, approachable and fruit-driven wines with red rather than black fruit. Carlos de la Calle compared 2020 to 2007, a subtle and fruit-driven vintage. 2021 goes back to the fresher and more energetic style of 2018.