The Singular Vineyard qualification is an official certification of the DOCa Rioja for certain estates and plots which, due to their differential characteristics, are capable of offering wines with unique features and qualities every vintage.
This implies much more restrictive production, winemaking and quality requirements than for other Rioja wines. Only 84 plots have obtained this qualification, totalling 154 hectares of the almost 66,000 hectares covered by the Designation.
The excellent location of our Alto Cantabria vineyard on the high plateau of the Ebro River allows us to obtain the maximum expressiveness of the Viura grape, planted in the 1970s, which we use to make our Conde Valdemar Finca Alto Cantabria, a barrel-fermented white wine. Conde Valdemar Finca Alto Cantabria Sparkling Wine.
The first 84 Singular Vineyards of Rioja
43 are in Rioja Alavesa, 31 in Rioja Alta and 10 in Rioja Oriental.
These are vineyards made up of one or more cadastral plots, with their own unique and uniform agro-geological and climatological characteristics that differentiate and distinguish them from others in their surroundings, from which wines with unique features and qualities are obtained.
Of the almost 66,000 hectares covered by the DOCa Rioja, only 154 hectares are certified as single vineyards.
Thus, quality and geographical traceability requirements are combined to enrich the outstanding range of blended wines that are the basis of Rioja’s reputation.
What must a singular vineyard comply with?
- It may comprise a single plot or several cadastral plots.
- The minimum age of the vineyard is 35 years.
- Cultivation practices must be oriented towards sustainability and respect for the environment. It must be a balanced vineyard with limited vigour, in which only a single pruning is allowed, unless an exception is expressly authorised by the Control Board. During the period of ripening of the grapes, the growth of vegetation must be at a complete standstill.
- Harvesting, which must be notified to the Control Board, must begin by hand. The techniques used in the transport and handling of the grapes, the pressing, the control of fermentation, the oenological practices throughout the Vinification process and the ageing of the wine, where appropriate, shall aim to obtain wines of the highest quality.
- The wine will be made with grapes exclusively from the plot or plots that make up the “Singular Vineyard”.
- The wines produced will be subject to a double qualitative assessment, the initial qualification and another assessment prior to market release, which in the latter case must be excellent in the organoleptic analysis carried out in accordance with the Technical Verification Instruction of the “Single Vineyard”.
- As regards labelling, the words ‘Viñedo Singular’ shall appear below the name registered as a brand, in characters of a size, thickness and colour equivalent to those used to indicate the name of the Rioja Designation of Origin.
- The bottles shall bear specific back labels or seals bearing the words “Viñedo Singular”.
