Olagar Gran Reserva Blanco 2019

A Rioja Blanco of pure Macabeo, whose stature comes from time rather than power. Dry, calmly balanced at 13.5% Vol., creamy in texture and carried through to the finish by a saline, mineral edge.

The estate is based in Samaniego in Rioja Alavesa and farms 76 hectares across nine municipalities, divided into 246 individual parcels. 70% of the vines are over 70 years old, some over a hundred. The chalky soils of Rioja Alavesa give the wines their minerality. The name Olagar refers to old olive groves.

Macabeo stands alone here. Fernando Remirez de Ganuza, a vineyard broker in Rioja for twenty years, founded the estate in 1989 and built Spain's first mechanical sorting table that same year. Since 2019, José Ramón Urtasun has led the house, while in the cellar Jesús Mendoza, with the estate since 1994 and chief winemaker since 2001, oversees production. The white wines spend ten months in barrel before seven years of bottle ageing.

White peach and quince, underpinned by white blossom, delicate vanilla and toasted almond from the oak. The wine flows creamy on the palate, stays fresh through ripe lemon and melon, and finishes long and saline.

With grilled turbot or sole in brown butter, scallops on pea purée, white asparagus with hollandaise sauce and chicken in tarragon cream sauce. From Basque cuisine, bacalao al pil-pil is a fine match, as is an aged Manchego.

Cellar master Jesús Mendoza was named Rioja's best winemaker in both 2024 and 2025. The extended bottle ageing before release makes this Macabeo a white wine that is already drinking beautifully on release, while still holding real ageing potential.