Top news item for Altos is the arrival of baby Amaia – the first child of winemaker Amaia Amestoy. They are missing her at the winery, but we are all delighted at the news. Both Amaias are in fine health and when madre Amaia is ready, she’ll be back to supervise the running of the cellar and its winemaking again.

In Amaia’s absence, Jean-Marc is trying to spend a little more time at the cellar. He has a good team in place, and co-owner Paloma is there full-time, but they still benefit from a little guidance from the maestro!

But J-M is a busy man – bumping into his hero film director, Pedro Almodóvar in Madrid airport, in the Iberia Business-Class Lounge, and helpfully guiding his choice of wine, to being lucky enough to have a ticket to the mesmerising Björk at a rare gig of hers in Bordeaux (see the latest VP magazine issue for the full story on both).

He’s also been in Miami, presenting his Pigeage wines to top wine critic James Suckling, with the photo to prove it.

Altos Pigeage 2020

The latest Pigeage Tempranillo release for Vineyard Partners is the 2020, already in possession of six Golds, one Grand Gold, one Great Gold and two scores of 95 points.

James Suckling awarded the 2020 Pigeage 93 points, describing it as:

“A pretty deep nose that shows some dark mushrooms, wet earth, graphite, spiced blackberries and sous bois. Full-bodied on the palate with fine, dusty tannins and a long, refined finish. Long, tight yet intricate.”

Tim Atkin MW tasted it during a visit to the winery last November and wrote:

“Featuring amphoras for the first time and way less oak, this is a perfumed, textured, well-structured blend with redcurrant and blackberry fruit, undertones of dried herbs and a tangy, acid-driven finish.”

The vintage:

The greatest standout of 2020 was, of course, Covid and lockdown– no flights, minimal movement of people, so that even the ever-itinerant Jean-Marc could only flit between Bordeaux and Rioja … when it was permitted, if he could persuade border control! The upside, he said, was that he could spend more time in the vineyards … a great benefit for any winemaker, monitoring progress and health … and talking to his growers. This pursuit was outside and permitted.

The other standouts of the vintage for Rioja overall was hail, which was localised but devastating where it hit, and an unusual bout of mildew. The latter was due to a warm spring and abundant rain. However, for Altos’s growers, 85% of which is from the brothers Alvaro and Carlos, with some from Old Johnny too, it figured very little. Being so high up and close to the mountains, these vineyards benefit from strong, cold winds, which stave off humidity and help keep disease at bay.

There was some rain during September, but for those who waited until after the wet weather, quality and ripeness was excellent. Jean-Marc was delighted with the vintage, and his Pigeage –90% Tempranillo, with 10% Graciano, mostly taken from Carlos and Alvaro’s 80+ year old vineyards, with a small amount from Old Johnny’s prized Pisón vineyards, Alta and Baja. Between these two vineyards sits one used by Artadi to make their Viña El Pisón, which sells easily for £200 a bottle.

With temperatures climbing every year, more and more top wineries are looking for great, high-altitude old vineyards to source from to combat the heat. So, Jean-Marc works hard to keep his growers sweet, paying a premium for the fruit.

As its name suggests, pigeage (the plunge-down of the skins into the liquid) is key to the making of this wine – once or twice a day initially, dropping to about twice a week as the fermentation progresses. Certainly less often than when Jean-Marc first made Altos Pigeage, because he’s aiming for more subtle, perfumed style, whilst still holding onto the richness and power.

Then for ageing, as critic Tim Atkin noted, a 10% portion of the 2020 Pigeage Tempranillo was aged in clay amphorae to promote pure fruit and freshness in the wine, while the remainder is aged in all-French, part-new oak barrels. It’s a great balancing act, weighing up the qualities of the vintage to obtain just the right amount of pure fruit, richness, weight and depth, along with the oak influence to match it. Jean-Marc’s plan is to increase the portion of amphorae used each year – likely to be 25% from 2024, but he will be closely monitoring progress before he makes that leap.

As for a tasting note … from the winemaker himself:

Very deep blackish crimson, with lifted aromas of intense, ripe blackberry and plum, earthy hints, dark spice and a graphite, stony edge. It’s a big, full-bodied wine, silky at first, with firm tannins and a tight seam of freshness holding together the ripe black fruits and dried herb notes, laced with dark chocolate and spice.

Four years old and still young, it’s a wine for opening well in advance – ideally a few hours early and decanting. Alternatively tuck away until Christmas … this Christmas or one in the next decade!

It’s a magnificent red to serve with serious meat dishes like slow-cooked lamb shoulder, rib of beef or venison casserole. Or try it with a vegetarian version of the latter – black bean and squash stew with cheesy dumplings in winter. Reserve it in summer for a special barbecue.

What’s drinking well:

For current drinking, Jean-Marc highly recommends the 2016 vintage if you’re lucky to have a few bottles stashed away. And the 2010 in large format bottles was on delicious form too, our buyer Sarah and Jean-Marc reported, showing some maturity, but still going strong. You’ll have to drop by the bodegas for those.

Great value for Partners and proving it

From time to time, we like to prove just what good value Vineyard Partner wines are by pitting them against fancy names in the same appellation and presenting them, bottles blind, to customers and professionals. Most recently we put forward a line-up of six top-rated Riojas, fetching up to £200 a bottle. They included both the Altos Pigeage Tempranillo 2018 and 2019, which cost Vineyard Partners, as you will know, only £18 a bottle. As you will see from the bar chart below – Altos is represented by the orange and yellow columns – they stood shoulder to shoulder with Riojas that cost £80 to £200 a bottle. A very impressive result.