foreword
As we all know, good wine is in the eye of the beholder. That's clear.
It is also in the nature of a wine merchant to look into a particular winery in more detail and become an ardent fan of it. So you should always be cautious when you read "This wine is the best wine". Sure - I would say so too. But that is a completely different matter and not what we are going to discuss here.
However, there are factors that go beyond subjective perception. Factors that ensure that the hype surrounding a wine is more than just the euphoria of a wine merchant.
I will therefore try to reduce the enthusiasm that Vioneers have for the La Marciana winery to 5 objective factors.
Summary
The 5 factors that make La Marciana wines unique are
- The Rioja region
- The rare grape varieties
- The unique vineyards
- The passionate team
- The strong philosophy
The Rioja region - cradle and queen of Spanish wine
The Geography of Rioja
The name Rioja comes from the Rio Oja - the river Oja - which lies on the northwestern edge of the region. In the north, Rioja is bordered and protected by the Sierra de Cantabria. This is a mountain range that stops the cold and damp winds from the Atlantic, as we know them from the north of Spain. The Sierra de Cantabria ensures that Rioja is one of the naturally warmest and driest wine-growing regions in all of Spain. The northern natural border of the region is the Rio Ebro, which has supplied the region with the necessary water and valuable minerals for thousands of years. Especially in the lower regions of the Rioja Baja further east, the river mud and the minerals it contains are particularly important and make the wines unmistakable.
The subregions of Rioja
The Rioja can be divided into three sub-regions:
- The Rioja Alta
- The Rioja Alavesa
- The Rioja Baja
The Rioja Alta in the west is characterized by cooler winds, calcareous soil and later harvests.
The Rioja Alavesa (northern center of the Rioja) actually belongs to another country - we are in fact in the Autonomous Region of the Basque Country - with its own government, police and subsidies.
The Rioja Baja, on the other hand, makes up the east of the region - here we have the greatest warmth, red-muddy soils and little wind. The Rioja as we know it.
The History of Rioja
There is evidence that grapes have been grown and made into wine in Rioja since ancient times. Stone basins still remind us of this ancient form of vinification. Even during the Middle Ages, monasteries ensured that wine production continued in the region. However, Rioja wine could not keep up internationally, as aging in oak barrels was not yet practiced here. In addition to the improvements in taste, this also allowed the wine to be stored for longer and thus exported to the most remote parts of the world.
It was not until the second half of the 19th century that things started to move in Europe with the mildew epidemic and the phylloxera plague. The wine merchants from Bordeaux needed nearby grapes to replenish their wines. And so the focus on Rioja developed.
The wine merchants, cellar masters and winemakers brought their French expertise with them and thus established the use of oak barrels in Rioja relatively late, something that would be indispensable today.
synthesis
Thousands of years of wine-growing tradition and the experience of families whose lives have revolved around wine-growing for generations make Rioja the oldest and most important wine region in Spain - the cradle of Spanish wine. The fortunate circumstances for Rioja in the 19th century ensured that French wine enthusiasts discovered the potential of Spanish Rioja wine and began to mature wine in wooden barrels in the French style. Tradition and innovation, coupled with the optimal conditions in soil and climate.
The grape varieties
The Iberian Peninsula is blessed with native grape varieties, i.e. grape varieties that only grow in a certain region, simply because of the sheer age of the wine-growing tradition. In addition to the large number of native grape varieties that are traditionally used in mixed wines - as we know it from Portugal, for example - the large number of mutated grape varieties should also be mentioned. Of course, mutation here does not mean science fiction fantasy, even if it would be obvious for wines from Mars. Rather, mutation simply describes the natural process that in the course of the evolution of a grape variety, this one grape variety has taken a different branch. It can therefore happen quite naturally that white grapes suddenly grow in a row of classic red Tempranillo vines.
The majority of grape varieties in Rioja are red grapes, which are blended as a cuvée to create a classic Rioja wine. Only one seventh of the total wine production in Rioja is white wine.
The following grape varieties are most commonly grown in Rioja. The proportions of cultivated areas are shown in brackets:
- Tempranillo (61%)
- Garnacha (18%)
- Mazuelo (3.5%)
- Graciano (0.7%)
- Viura (white) (15%)
- Malvasia (white) (0.25%)
- Garnacha Blanca (white) (0.09%)
The grape varieties of La Marciana
The following varieties were particularly used for the wines of La Marciana:
Alma de la Marciana : Red Garnacha, Tempranillo, Graciano
Red wine : a rare mutation of the Red Garnacha grape
White wine : white Tempranillo, white Garnacha
The white grape varieties Garnacha Blanca and Tempranillo Blanco are particularly noteworthy here. The latter is no longer listed in the overview of the largest grape varieties in Rioja because its share is so small. The share of Garnacha Blanca is also negligible in the global Rioja comparison at 0.09% of the cultivated area. If that isn't a rarity...
The vineyards of La Marciana
The geographical location
The vineyards of the La Marciana winery are located around Andosilla, a small Spanish town that is located on political maps in the neighboring region of Rioja, namely in Navarra. However, political borders do not play a major role in winegrowing, which is why the vineyards and the winery are counted as part of the Rioja Oriental or Rioja Baja .
Mariano
The pride of the Serrano family, co-owners of La Marciana, is the Mariano vineyard. Here is a Garnacha clone/mutation of the red Garnacha grape that grows nowhere else. The vines are 120 years old. Planted in 1900, these vines have taken root since then, developed and now produce crops that deserve special attention. These vines grow on almost white clay soil.
The yield from these vines has never been vinified individually before. Now the yield from these 120-year-old vines from the Mariano vineyard has been pressed with that of the 85-year-old vines from the Ermita vineyard to create a single-varietal Garnacha - the result: La Marciana Red. A wine that has experienced an incredible amount of history and tells a story about it.
bush form
The rest of the winery's vineyards are located in the municipality of Andosilla and, as is common in the area, are not tied up with wires, but stand freely in the form of bushes. This allows even more sun and wind to play around the vines, creating the unique flavors that Spanish wine has to offer.
The team
The team consists of 2 families. The Spanish Serrano family has owned the vineyards around Andosilla in the Rioja Baja for decades. The Central European counterpart is the German-Austrian-French couple, Nadine and Philpp.
Serrano family
The Serrano family is passionate about the La Marciana winery and is fully committed to the vineyards and the cellar. Andrés looks after the vineyards with absolute respect for natural cycles and the best conditions for biodynamic agriculture. Ramón is methodical in the wine cellar and is aware of the quality of each grape. He has the necessary experience to get the most out of each grape variety. Andrés and Ramón are brothers and work in perfect harmony with one another - they call it "Simbiosis de hermanos" or brotherly symbiosis. The younger counterpart, the breath of fresh air, the complementary view is Álvaro . He keeps the brotherly symbiosis of the two older ones in balance and ensures innovation on the winery.
Nadine & Philipp
The multinational couple had long dreamed of owning their own Grand Cru. Both have been at home in the world of wine all their lives. Nadine studied communication at the Sorbonne and later oenology in Bordeaux. Philipp studied viticulture and oenology in Geisenheim. Here he shared a winery with fellow Swabian and fellow student Kai Schubert, himself a celebrated winemaker in New Zealand , shared the flat. After his time in Geisenheim, Philipp went to Bordeaux to further his training as an oenologist. For a long time he worked as an oenological consultant at various wineries until he and Nadine came across the Mariano vineyard. It was then that they realized that an extraordinary opportunity was opening up here.
The Philosophy
Small edition
A team of 5 people works together constantly and energetically on the wines of La Marciana. Everyone brings their expertise and innovative strength to this micro winery, which produces a very small edition of just 1,007 0.75l bottles of white wine in 2020. The work here is done by hand - every grape has passed through at least three pairs of hands. You could say that every grape is known by name.
Biodynamic viticulture
The wines from La Marciana are all organic and Demeter certified. This is due to the biodynamic viticulture that the Serrano family is passionate about. Biodynamic viticulture (also called biodynamics or biodynamics) means that no chemicals are allowed and that natural cycles are respected. On the one hand, this refers to the nutrient composition in the soil, the climate, but also, for example, to the phases of the moon. All processes in nature are connected and thus condition one another. Here, a lot of love and positive energy is given to the plants so that they can give back. What sounds esoteric has tasty consequences. We are excited by so much passion for biodynamics.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape
In their work as oenologists, Philipp and Nadine have naturally been influenced by the great red wines of France. The training in Bordeaux alone creates a greater understanding of red wine than many could wish for. On the one hand, they draw inspiration for the language of their red wines from the focus on individual vineyards, as is known from Burgundy. They let the red wines speak the language of their terroir, which really only relates to this individual vineyard. On the other hand, their further focus is on creating expressive wines, as is known from Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the southern Rhône Valley.
Rioja and yet not - the Mars wines
This creates red wines whose terroir and cultivation tradition speak of Rioja, Rioja and more Rioja. On the other hand, there is the French way of making wine. There are little-known grape varieties and clones. There is a firm conviction to grow biodynamic wine and bottle it in small quantities and of the highest quality.
If you take all these factors together, you get wines that could hardly be more different: La Marciana in red and white and Alma de La Marciana. What they have in common is that they are all nominally from Rioja. In addition to their cooler and more elegant aromas compared to their Rioja counterparts, it is their history and their production that make them seem as if they are from another planet - perhaps Mars.
Summary
The La Marciana winery is a simmering place of the enormous energy required for manual work, years of experience, international training, diverse perspectives, a burning passion for biodynamic wine and family humanity. All of these energies condense into the result that we now have in the bottle. Out-of-this-world Rioja wines that carry aromas that are so untypical of the region that they could be from Mars. These are the Mars wines:
