Artuke

Rioja, Spain
Artuke
Artuke

Photography and writing by Ted Vance.

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Short Summary

An influential leader in the movement of young Rioja winegrowers, Arturo Miguel focuses on producing single-parcel wines. The second generation of his family to grow and bottle their own wines since the end of the Spanish dictatorship, Arturo converted to organic farming as soon as he took control in the 2000s. Calcareous sandstone is the principal formation in the area with varying degrees of sand, clay and alluvium—similar in soil structure to southern Piedmont’s most celebrated wine regions, Barolo and Barbaresco. Cellar techniques are straightforward with the use of principally older French oak barrels (with some American) of different sizes that highlight the differences of the five specific terroir wines (Pies Negros, Finca de los Locos, Paso las Mañas, El Escolladero, and La Condenada) all dominated by Tempranillo with some additions of Graciano. The exception in the range in general style is the ARTUKE entry-level wine, which is made with carbonic maceration (typical for the region) and aged in concrete.

Full Length Story

More in-depth content will be posted soon. In the meantime, here is a short teaser:

Artuke’s Arturo Miguel is a quiet but influential leader of a new movement of young Spanish vignerons in Rioja, the country’s most historically famous region. The agenda is to bring attention back to specific terroirs and return the power to the growers themselves. He is the second generation of his family to grow and bottle their own wines since the end of the dictatorship, and when he took control of the family’s vineyards, he converted them all to organic farming. His cellar techniques are straightforward, with older barrels of different shapes and sizes that highlight the differences between the four specific vineyard wines, except for the ARTUKE bottling made with carbonic maceration, a long-standing tradition with local wines, and Pies Negros, Spanish for black feet, a reference to the foot-stomping of the grapes, which is a blend of many different parcels. All wines come from calcareous sandstone (similar in structure and mineral makeup to sandstones from Barolo and Barbaresco) with varying degrees of sand and clay.