Today we bring you two ultra-rare Spanish reds from none other than Bodegas Artuke, ‘one of the most exciting vignerons’ in Rioja (Wine Advocate). Fewer than 1,500 bottles each of La Condenada and El Escolladero are produced, and we’re happy to offer these treasures as part of a 12-pack, along with their Artuke Tinto 2024 – ‘a bargain to buy by the truckload and drink unashamedly’ (Wine Advocate). The pack also includes their exquisite single-vineyard reds – Finca de Los Locos 2023 and Paso Las Mañas 2023 – and their sole white, Trascuevas 2023.
La Condenada hails from a 0.75 ha plot with century-old vines and has seen numerous 100-point scores and top 10 lists. Serious, subtle and elegant, the 2023 is a field blend of Tempranillo, Graciano, Garnacha and Palomino Fino, built to last at least another 20 years. Artuke’s Condenada was ‘only the second Rioja (and the first red) to achieve perfection in my book’, wrote Tim Atkin of the 2020.
El Escolladero 2023 comes from a high-altitude vineyard planted in the 1950s. This aromatic field blend of Tempranillo and Graciano is ‘voluminous yet weightless’, says Vinous, abounding with violets, lavender, grapefruit and black fruit.
Arturo and Kike de Miguel are the second generation to grow and bottle their own wines. Along with their father, they’ve created one of Rioja’s most admired estates, looking after 30 hectares of organically and biodynamically farmed vineyards in Rioja Alavesa, where their ancestors have been farming for over a century.
Tasting Notes:
Artuke La Condenada Tinto 2023
‘The label of the single-vineyard 2023 La Condenada carries the name of the place where it’s located, Paraje Camino del Ciego, which is in the village of Baños de Ebro. It’s from a 0.75-hectare plot planted with a field blend that in 2023 yielded approximately 80% Tempranillo and the remaining 20% a mixture of Graciano, Garnacha and white Palomino Fino. It’s serious, subtle and elegant, with insinuating aromas. It’s very elegant, with contained ripeness, 13.8% alcohol and a pH of 3.36, a velvety palate with very fine and elegant tannins and with a chalky finish. It should develop nicely in bottle, as it has the stuffing and balance between the components to do so. 1,500 bottles were filled in December 2024.’ – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, 97/100
Artuke El Escolladero Tinto 2023
‘The 2023 El Escolladero, like its siblings, carries lieu-dit information on its label. It’s from the lieu-dit of El Meadero (which doesn’t sound that nice in Spanish), a 0.95-hectare plot on clay and limestone soils in the village of Ábalos that was planted in 1950 at 660 meters above sea level. It’s a little backward and with the seriousness that I noticed in all the 2023s. It’s 80% Tempranillo and 20% Graciano (all the wines seem to have more Graciano this year) that ripened to 14.1% alcohol but keeping a pH of 3.42, delivering a powerful and elegant wine. It’s juicy, round and young, with abundant, very chalky tannins. The destemmed but uncrushed grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in 600-liter oak foudres for 12 months. 1,300 bottles were filled in December 2024.’ – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, 96/100
‘The eponymous 2024 Artuke is a juicy and tasty carbonic maceration red, a modern rendition of the classical “cosechero” wines. It is perfumed, aromatic and heady, with aromas of bubble gum and flowers and a velvety palate with almost unnoticeable tannins. It’s a young and unoaked Tempranillo with some 5% white Viura grapes from the village of Baños de Ebro and was kept in concrete until it was bottled. 80,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2024. This is a bargain to buy by the truckload and drink unashamedly.’ – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, 92/100
Artuke Finca de Los Locos Tinto 2023
‘The label of the single-vineyard 2023 Finca de Los Locos now has the name of the “paraje” where the vines are, Peñaescalera in Baños de Ebro. It comes from a 2.8-hectare plot planted in 1981 on sandy and gravel soils at 120 meters above sea level. This year, it’s 70% Tempranillo, 25% Graciano and 5% white Viura, with more Graciano this time, which possibly contributes to the seriousness of the wine. It comes in at 13.8% alcohol and a pH of 3.42, very good and balanced parameters that imply freshness. It matured in 3,500-liter oak vats for 12 months. It’s perfumed and elegant, floral and herbal, with dark fruit and a medium to full-bodied palate with very fine tannins and great harmony. 10,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2024.’ – Luis Gutiérrez, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, 94/100
Artuke Paso Las Mañas Tinto 2023
‘The 2023 Paso Las Mañas, reminiscent of the 2021 more than the 2022, now carries the name of the lieu-dit, El Chorro, in the village of Samaniego where the vineyard is at 700 meters above sea level below the Sierra Cantabria. The 3.9-hectare plot was planted in 1990 and 2013 on limestone and rocky soils. The Tempranillo grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in 3,500-liter oak foudre for 12 months. It has a subtle and complex nose redolent of raspberries and dark cherries, with spices and herbs. It has a moderate 13.6% alcohol, a pH of 3.38, very good balance and elegant and fine tannins. All of these 2023s have a serious and somewhat austere profile and are balanced and elegant. 8,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2024.’ – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, 95/100
‘The white 2023 Trascuevas Blanco is a blend of grapes from three plots in Baños de Ebro, Samaniego and Ábalos and is 85% Viura, 10% Palomino Fino and 5% Malvasía Riojana. It fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured with equal parts in concrete and 600-liter oak foudres for 11 months. It has moderate ripeness and a floral personality and is clean, young and pale, with some green tints. It has 13.1% alcohol and a low pH of 3.12 that indicates very good freshness in the wine. It’s floral and elegant, with no oak in the aromas or flavors, and it has an elegant profile, with purity and balance. It finishes dry and serious, with a with a chalky sensation. This is very good indeed. 4,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2024.’ – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, 94/100
