Luis Cañas Blanco Viñas Viejas 2024, Rioja Alavesa DOCa

Luis Cañas Blanco Viñas Viejas is an old-vine white from the family’s vineyards in Rioja Alavesa, beneath the Sierra de Cantabria. It is a blend of around 90% Viura and 10% Malvasía Riojana from old plots planted by earlier generations on the ‘cabezadas’, the highest and poorest parts of the vineyards, on calcareous clay soils. The grapes are picked by hand into small boxes and double-sorted, by bunch and by berry. Around 70% of the wine is fermented in barrel and 30% in stainless steel, and it then spends five months on its lees with regular bâtonnage, mainly in 500-litre French oak barrels.

In the glass it is golden yellow with bright lemon tints. The nose is subtle and layered, with white flowers, citrus, chamomile, a hint of fennel and hazelnut, and a gentle honeyed roundness from the barrel. The palate is dry, fresh and creamy, with good structure, balanced acidity and a finish of ripe fruit.

Serve chilled, at around 8°C, and let it open up in the glass. It is excellent as an aperitif and with oily and white fish, shellfish, paella and other rice dishes, white meats, risottos and mild cheeses. Enjoyable now, it will also continue to develop over the next few years.

Bodegas Luis Cañas is a family winery in Villabuena de Álava, in Rioja Alavesa, sheltered to the north by the Sierra de Cantabria. The family’s roots in Rioja go back more than two centuries. Earlier generations sold their wine in bulk, and it was Luis Cañas who moved the business to bottled wine under the family name. His only son, Juan Luis Cañas, took over the management in 1989 and led a thorough modernisation of the winery. Today the family farms around 90 hectares of its own vineyards organically, with long-term contracts on a further 200 hectares, spread across more than 800 small plots with an average vine age of around 50 years. All grapes are picked by hand into small trays and sorted again at the winery.