2018 Azpillaga Urarte "Vina El Pago" Rioja

2018 Azpillaga Urarte "Vina El Pago" Rioja

Azpillaga Urarte is a small, quietly radical Rioja Alavesa estate out of Lanciego, where the Azpillaga family has been farming vines for generations. They sold fruit until the 1970s, then began bottling their own wines, with Viña El Pago marking the transition to estate production. The modern story turns in 1993 when Eduardo Azpillaga returns from study inspired to farm differently. Chemical treatments are phased out, organic by 2001, then pushed further into regenerative farming with plant extracts, ground cover, and full ecological self sufficiency. Today the brothers farm about 12 hectares across high elevation parcels, working Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano, Viura. Wines lean fresh, lifted, and soil driven, more about vineyard voice than cellar gloss.