Sierra De Tolono Rioja 2023

Grape: Tempranillo

Region: Rioja, Spain

Farming:Organic  

High up in the foothills of the Sierra de Toloño, in Rioja Alavesa, Sandra Bravo works in some of the oldest, and highest altitude vineyards in Rioja, growing Garnacha, Tempranillo, Viura and some Graciano. In her small winery in Villabuena de Álava, where she works with steel, anforas, and old wood, this young winemaker translates the mountainous landscape into pure and expressive wines. She harvests multiple varieties from micro-terroirs over many small plots that together form a fresh, beautiful image of the area.  Sandra was studying Engineering and Enology in Rioja and then went on to work in wineries of Bordeaux, Tuscany, New Zealand and California. She came back to Spain and spent 7 years in Priorat. All that experience gave her an open point of view to make different wines in Rioja. She says Priorat really influenced her to make artisanal wines, and to understand that the most important is the soul of the vineyard. The mountains of Sierra de Toloño, with their clay and limestone rocky-soils, are perfect conditions to grow Tempranillo. This is Sandra Bravo's "workhorse", the wine that points the way to some of the most elegant expressions of Rioja Alavessa.