Bideona Laguardia 'L4GD4' Vino de Pueblo Vinas Viejas, Rioja DOCa, Spain 2021

Description

Bideona’s village wine series highlights the distinct character of historic villages in Rioja Alavesa while navigating a restrictive DO rule that ties village names to winery location rather than vineyard origin. Although Bideona has full vineyard traceability, they use registered acronyms instead of village names—Laguardia appears as L4GD4.

This Tempranillo-based field blend comes from old vineyards at 1,400 feet overlooking the Ebro Valley. It ripens earliest of the series and produces the most elegant, perfumed, and approachable wine, with velvety tannins and bright, juicy freshness.

Grapes are hand-harvested, manually sorted, and fermented in stainless steel with indigenous and cultured yeasts. Gentle pump-overs preserve finesse, followed by 12 months aging in a mix of stainless steel, concrete, and new and used oak. Bottled unfined, lightly filtered, and with minimal sulfur.