Rioja El Carretil, Bodegas Artadi 2017

The bottled 2017 El Carretil has 14.65% alcohol, which reflects its ripeness, but it's clearly the second wine in the quality hierarchy, second to El Pisón. These two wines have a perfume and seem to transcend the vintage with the finesse and length provided by the limestone-rich soils, which also give it a chalky texture in the palate. This is a great wine, with a fragrant nose of violets, blood oranges and red cherries that give it superb freshness. 4,025 bottles were filled in June 2019.