Bagordi

An unassuming bodega just outside Andosilla, Bagordi has been fully organic since 1997 and produces about half a million litres per year. The vines are grown on the plateau to the north, all of them in the Rioja Oriental (originally called the Rioja Baja).

Their main vineyard lies by the banks of the Ega and Ebro rivers, between the towns of Andosilla and San Adrián. The soils are poor, mostly alluvial and free-draining and natural vegetation is sparse and scrubby. Tellingly, nothing is planted across their northern boundary – in Navarra. Owner Luis Carcar is very ‘hands-on’ with the vineyard, while the style of wines owes much to non-intervention wine making, long macerations and cold fermentations. Dry summers followed by cold winters are ideal conditions for growing organic grapes as they allow the winemakers to dispense with the need for chemical compounds. Acidity is correspondingly quite high, with marked freshness in the wines. The red wines are quite dark often with a relatively high proportion of Graciano in the blend, a variety that does well in this drier, more southerly area. Their rosado is traditional; dry with a strawberry pink colour and made entirely from Garnacha.