Professional reviews
Robert Parker (93)
The 2021 Ukan is the Tempranillo selection from three-year-old vineyards in the village of Laguardia. It was fermented separately and then blended together. It's ripe at 14.5% alcohol but keeps very good freshness, balance and acidity, which means full development of aromatic and flavor compounds in the grapes, and the wine comes through as more harmonious, complex and nuanced. Fermentation was in concrete with selected yeasts and aged in 225-liter oak barrels for 16 months. It's clean, modern, ripe without excess and with integrated oak and elegant, fine tannins. 16,693 bottles and 400 magnums produced. It was bottled in June 2023.
Jancis Robinson (17.5)
A blend of three old-vine bush-trained Tempranillo parcels in Laguardia: Valderromán (planted in 1945), El Estado (1966) and Zarzamochuelo (1940). Hand-harvested in 15-kg boxes. Double sorting, berry by berry. Cold maceration for 48 hours. Fermented in open 20-hl oak vats. Aged for 16 months in French oak barrels.
Tasted blind. The nose shows great purity of black fruit, black pepper and well-controlled, sensitively handled oak. Powerful yet savoury tannins are well integrated, framing fruit of very high quality. There is a clear sense of concentration and depth, with the oak supporting rather than dominating. The finish is refined and persistent, with notes of damp forest floor and blackcurrant. A Rioja of excellent quality and expressive clarity. Ferran Centelles
Decanter (95)
Talc, violets and lavender reveal a wine with pretty aromatic quality and an inherent freshness. It offers a chalky lift with a vibrant and lively palate, lots of juicy blueberry and cherry fruit, and a long finish. Poised and elegant. 100% Tempranillo sourced from a number of vineyards in Rioja Alavesa, each parcel destemmed and vinified separately, with 30% whole clusters, in 2,000L open-top oak vats, followed by malolactic fermentation and ageing for 15 months in new 225L French oak barrels.
Peñin (92)
Color: Cherry. Aroma: complex, expressive, spicy, mineral, black fruit. Flavour: elegant, full-bodied, long, great length.
