Bideon’s ‘Tempranillo de Laderas’ is part of their regional wine range and comes from Bideon’s youngest vineyards, which are still an average of 30-years-old. The vines are planted on ‘laderas’ or slopes in Rioja Alavesa’s different villages of Villabuena de Álava, Samaniego, Laguardia, Leza, Baños de Ebro, Navaridas, Lanciego and Elciego, yet still show the region’s distinctively tense and mineral personality. The average vineyard size is around 0.75 acres, or one third the size of a soccer pitch. This is a field blend of predominantly Tempranillo, with other indigenous red varieties mixed in there. This wine has acid and drinkability at the forefront, but still plenty of fruit concentration and tannin.
The grapes were hand harvested and then destemmed and placed into a mix of stainless-steel, concrete, and used oak barriques and foudres for fermentation, which was carried out with a mix of indigenous yeast and a house cultured yeast strain. The wine was pressed off the skins and was sent to back to a mix of the aforementioned vessels. After 2-3 years of what Bideona refers to as ‘alternative’ aging, the wine was bottled with a coarse filtration and very gentle sulfur addition. No fining.