Baigorri

 Having sought for years (!) a true new-style Rioja - and it should be emphasized that despite much hype there are in reality very few indeed - we are delighted to have reached an agreement with Bai Gorri, in Basque Rioja Alavesa.

 
Bai Gorri is a modern, epic but minimalist establishment, brainchild of pharmacologist Pedro Martínez, who lavished some 22 million euros on its creation, and it occupies several levels of a panoramic hill on the fringes of the village of Samaniego.
 
It produces wines of no uncertain colour but unlike many of the so-called new wave Riojas which are invariably over-extracted, over-oaked, and seeking somehow to emulate Ribera del Duero – Bai Gorri’s wines are a pleasure to drink because they are properly balanced: with a judicious combination of lively, primary fruits and clean, perfumed, vanilla oak.
 
This is thanks to the efforts of soft-spoken oenologist Simón Arina, who in his high-tech den - built within the afore-mentioned hill in order that gravity (and no pumping) be a truly major factor - ferments his  
highly selected, unpressed berries whole, employs a combination of top-notch French and American oaks, and uses the lees from his mallolactic fermentations to soften the wines, make them approachable and pleasurable to drink. The fruit comes from some 20 local growers, who have old, low-yield vineyards and benefit from the help of 3 full-time technicians who work under Simón’s supervision and is subject to further rigorous selection processes on arrival at the winery.
 
The Crianza is the simplest: dark but of medium intensity, zippy, and most approachable, with very attractive coconut vanilla overtones; the Reserva is altogether rounder, deeper and more layered; and the top wine Garaje – fermented in conical French oak vats – brims with wild blackcurrant flavours and significantly toastier oak.