José Ignacio Junguitu — www.junguitu.com
English translation of the article originally published in Spanish on junguitu.com.
The white wine scene in D.O.Ca. Rioja is going through a quiet revolution, moving away from clonal, commercial winemaking towards a search for identity in the most extreme terroir. A few days ago I had the chance to get to know the new project of Rubén Provedo, a winemaker whose career I follow closely and who represents a model radically opposed to mass production. In this article I want to break down, from my perspective as a specialist in sensory analysis, a conceptual journey through remote plots, honest microvinifications and a firm resistance to climate change. Provedo showed me that Rioja has the perfect conditions to stand alongside the world’s most prestigious white wine regions if it commits to value, Atlantic acidity and the nobility of long ageing.
The model: a new intention
Rubén’s project sets out to be different from the usual idea of a winery. He has a range of his own small-production wines. But the search for a new niche has led him to make wines for the end customer: Rubén makes an exclusive wine for each client according to their tastes and preferences, so they can draw on the winemaker’s knowledge while keeping the buyer’s own personality, through follow-up and visits during the winemaking.
Project philosophy: the Atlantic challenge against climate change
Rubén Provedo’s winegrowing philosophy is built on exploring the geographical and climatic limits of the region. Faced with heatwaves and the distortions that global warming imposes on ripening cycles, Rubén has focused his strategy on locating exceptional plots at high altitude and set within woodland, specifically on shaded slopes near Daroca, on the flanks of the Toloño or in the upper Najerilla. His primary aim is clear: to demonstrate and preserve the Atlantic profile of Rioja.
Extreme terroir and vineyard management
To obtain age-worthy whites with vibrant acid tension, Rubén pursues a precision viticulture that replaces conventional yield-driven practices with analytical, painstaking management of the vine:
- Soils with a geological identity. The selected vineyards sit on distinctive formations, ranging from glacial beds of pure rock in the higher areas to ferruginous clay (“red earth” and stone) in sites in the Najerilla basin, towards Cárdenas. These soils bring a latent minerality and organic salinity that defines the skeleton of the wines.
- Vigour management and canopy architecture. The winemaker stressed to me the absolute need to protect the bunches from direct sun. Rubén is harshly critical of the widespread habit of severe topping in vigorous varieties such as Tempranillo Blanco — often motivated by nothing more than saving on trellis wire management — which exposes the fruit, halts its aromatic ripening and burns off the acidity. A dense canopy and natural shade, helped by the nearby woodland, act as an indispensable thermal shield.
- The yield paradox. Against the widespread belief that ultra-low production is the only route to quality, Rubén argues that, in order to keep balance and freshness at altitude, the vineyard must carry a reasonable volume of grapes. This delays ripening, holds back potential alcohol and makes it possible to stretch the biological cycle into October, achieving impeccable phenolic ripeness with stable levels of natural total acidity.
The soul of the winery
This project has none of the corporate rigidity of the region’s big names, operating under a “garage wine” model focused on maximum oenological freedom. Rubén Provedo brings formidable empirical and scientific baggage, having been technical director of century-old Rioja wineries (such as Franco-Españolas, handling millions of kilos of grapes) and having cut his teeth in the southern hemisphere across several consecutive harvests. His approach is thoroughly analytical and non-conformist: “I’m a chemist, so I don’t believe anything until I’ve proved it”, he told me during our conversation. His mathematical obsession is with the architecture of the wine on the palate.
I could not help connecting his technical discourse with the harsh commercial reality of our region. During the meeting I agreed completely with Rubén on a crucial socio-economic point: the qualitative future of Rioja depends unfailingly on paying growers a fair and decent price for their grapes. If growers keep being paid a pittance per kilo, they will be forced to chase volume, perpetuating a model of mediocrity that buries the potential of the local varieties. We were both in tune on the urgency of eradicating the easy, crowd-pleasing whites made for drinking within the year, in order to reclaim the throne of the great fine wines with real ageing capacity.
The wines (barrel samples)
Tempranillo Blanco 2025
100% Tempranillo Blanco from high-mountain plots on shaded slopes with a strong woodland influence. Ageing in second-year French barrels, bought through agreements with Bordeaux châteaux, with an expected two years in wood before release.
Rubén Provedo points out that his obsession with this variety centres on structure on the palate. He believes that although Tempranillo Blanco has a very obvious innate aromatic load, the real challenge is giving it volume and unctuousness and pushing the acidity out to the sides of the tongue to give it greater structural longevity during its time in wood.
I have to admit publicly to my long-standing scepticism and historical incomprehension towards Tempranillo Blanco, a variety I consider frequently mistreated in the trade. Yet on tasting this sample I was impressed: this is an “Atlantic baby” with a hugely attractive saline profile and a tasty palate that dignifies the variety.
- Appearance: straw yellow with pale greenish reflections, clean, with dense but agile legs.
- Nose: medium-high intensity dominated by subtle vegetal notes, tree bark and crisp white stone fruit, wrapped in a mineral-saline background that tempers the primary aromatic sweetness.
- Palate: frank entry with notable volume. An unctuousness and glyceric richness that coats the palate stand out. The acidity is lively but integrated, running laterally and stretching the wine towards a dry, sapid, markedly saline finish.
Viura “Gran Reserva Objetivo”
50% Viura from the high zone bordering the woodland and 50% Viura from old vines on the red earth and stone soils of Cárdenas. Fermented in barrel and destined for long ageing in both wood and bottle. Very limited yields: barely 1,500 kg in total from the selected plots.
Rubén seeks to extract maximum tension from Viura by pushing for late ripening on cold soils. He explained that during ageing the variety tends to be shy and closed on the nose, but that it is in the bottle where it unfolds all its tertiary complexity and its lactic, buttery notes. Pure on the palate and with perfect acidity. Tremendous length and verticality, with those noble vegetal touches that bring freshness and keep it away from heavy or overly oaked profiles.
- Appearance: pale golden yellow with steely glints, bright and clear.
- Nose: serious, austere and elegant. Notes of seasoned white fruit, chalky nuances and faint hints of green nuts, with the oak perfectly integrated and silent.
- Palate: striking for its perfect acidity, which works as the wine’s backbone. The palate is sharp but with enough breadth in the middle. Long and persistent, moving between citrus tension and a subtle noble bitterness that extends the aftertaste indefinitely.
Maturana Blanca 2024 (a resilience trial)
100% Maturana Blanca from a large plot worked under a strict trial protocol: 18 to 19 microvinifications varying crop loads, leaf removal and picking dates. A surviving sample from a single barrel after two years of ageing. Technically early picking to dodge the variety’s usual 14.5% abv, settling at a fine 12%.
Rubén describes Maturana Blanca as a “very difficult” variety because of its extreme tendency to build sugars quickly and lose acidity. This wine is the result of a study in resilience against climate change. After testing multiple options, early picking proved to be the only way to isolate the elegance of the grape. He admitted that the wine stayed intractable and closed throughout its first year, and has only recently begun to develop its organoleptic complexity.
I was won over by this wine’s conceptual argument and by its insulting youth despite more than 24 months in wood. For me the discovery is “brutal”, given the fruit’s enormous capacity to resist oxidation and keep a stately, impeccable profile. A minority variety with an overwhelming technical case.
- Appearance: straw yellow with bright lemon reflections. The complete absence of evolved tones or heavy golds despite the time in wood is surprising.
- Nose: clear and complex aromatic profile. Hints of ripe white fruit (pear, tart apple) combined with citrus notes of grapefruit and bitter orange peel, and subtle touches of fine baking.
- Palate: fine, flowing entry of aristocratic elegance. In the mid-palate it is compact, with sensational citrus liveliness. Its distinguishing feature is a subtle, refined bitterness on the finish, harmoniously integrated, which brings persistence and an extremely stately close.
The “Burgundian blend”: Chardonnay 2023 & Tempranillo Blanco 2024
A majority base of 2023 Chardonnay, from a vineyard over 50 years old planted in the 1960s, combined in a masterly blend with high-altitude 2024 Tempranillo Blanco. The Chardonnay spent two years in extra-fine-grain barrels in the purest Burgundian style. Clean winemaking, limiting excessive lees work and additives during fermentation to avoid heavy aromatic profiles.
Here Rubén used a real viticultural jewel: an old Chardonnay at 14.5% abv, untameable, rich and deep. To bring lightness and temper the opulence and buttery notes of this Burgundian profile, he decided to blend it with the white flowers and vegetal freshness of Tempranillo Blanco. He avoids at all costs saturating the wine with commercial yeasts or excessive bâtonnage, aiming for the finesse of the oak to respect varietal purity.
A profile you would never place in Rioja. It is a wine that fascinates me for the absolute nobility of its ageing. To me it is the perfect translation of the concept of the great traditional fine whites for keeping of the early 20th century. The Tempranillo Blanco works brilliantly here: it cleans the palate of the Chardonnay’s opulence, acting as the “wings” that lift the whole.
- Appearance: bright straw yellow with subtle white-gold glints.
- Nose: enormous initial impact, where the fine grain of the noble oak can be felt holding back any excess of fruit. With aeration, notes of fresh butter and green hazelnut emerge, combined with the clarity of the white flowers contributed by the Tempranillo Blanco.
- Palate: majestic entry, broad and enveloping, with a texture that comes across as velvety in the centre of the tongue. Even so, it has no heavy edges at all. The acidity breaks through and rises in the final stretch, cleaning the palate, bringing verticality and a mile-long length that invites you to keep drinking.
The reds: typicity, finesse and rustic resilience (still barrel samples)
Garnacha 50/50
50% Garnacha from pure-rock glacial soil, which makes it possible to delay picking as long as possible, and 50% from the highest, coldest areas of Labastida, on the flanks of the Toloño. Destined for very respectful ageing in used oak to prioritise fluidity.
Rubén made it clear that he steers away from excessive ripeness and from the aggressive extractions of the past, driven by the fashion for high international scores. For him Garnacha represents the highest form of fluid elegance, and it is achieved only through measured intervention and soils that allow late picking well into October.
This is Garnacha in its purest state. It shows an explosion of extremely clean seasoned red and black fruit, free of excessive oak make-up. On the palate it stands out as a tasty, flowing wine of astonishing finesse.
Graciano 100%
100% Graciano from old vines on ferruginous clay slopes. Long barrel ageing to tame its untameable polyphenolic nature.
Graciano is one of Rubén’s most complex bets. He confessed that it is a rustic variety that demands years in wood to polish its edges and its marked acidity, but that in the long run it becomes the “perfume” and the soul of great wines for keeping. Its aromatic core is impervious to the passing of time.
This wine gives off a deep nose evoking dark chocolate, damp earth, liquorice and an unmistakable, extremely elegant liqueur-like undertone. On the palate it is a cannon of enormous power and tannic concentration, but with a silky progression and imposing freshness that promises a masterly evolution in the years ahead.
The future of Rioja and the value of the niche model
D.O.Ca. Rioja stands before a historic opportunity in the prestige white segment if it decides to break away from the industrial, commercial formulas of other regions. The potential of high-altitude terroir, combined with the empirical knowledge of winemakers who master the chemistry and the history of traditional ageing, opens the door to a very high-value niche market alongside demanding international investors and consumers. Wines with marked identities, limited productions priced between €28 and €48 at the winery, and which shun immediacy, represent the real route to placing Rioja whites at the top table of world viticulture. As I always argue, the key to success lies in understanding the nobility of time, interpreting the vineyard with scientific rigour and shielding Atlantic typicity against tomorrow’s climate challenges.
