El Quemado Vinas de Sierra, Olivier Riviere 2016

The single-vineyard 2016 El Quemado is not a wine that gets bottled every year, as sometimes the grapes contribute to the El Cadastro bottling. 2016 was a cool and rainy vintage, and this wine seems to have reached higher levels of sophistication. It has complex aromas, floral and fruit driven, but also spicy and herbal, with hints of licorice and fennel. It comes from a 0.5-hectare plot planted with Tempranillo and 5% Garnacha at 1,000 meters in altitude in the village of Covarrubias in Arlanza. As far as I know, it has only been produced twice before: in 2011 and 2015. This has impressive depth and nuance, subtly perfumed, with chalky, fine-grained tannins and a serious and balanced personality. It's tasty and supple but not flashy; it's more restrained in a style I like very much. This has to be the finest vintage of this wine to date. Drink 2020 - 2026.

Olivier Rivière is better known by his work in Rioja, but he also has some wines from Arlanza. Trying to mitigate the shortage of grapes from the 2017 harvest because of the adverse climatic conditions, he got some grapes from other regions and started a range called Proyecto XXXVII Trotamundos, which consists of wines from different zones vinified in his Rioja winery and therefore sold without appellation of origin.