Vina Alicia Tiara 2021
Riesling 50%, Albarino
40%, Savagnin 10%
Tiara is ethereal and mystical. Crisp and clean while being textured and complex. Sophisticated while being extremely whimsical. Utterly delicious!
Alberto Arizu Snr is one of the most respected vignerons in Argentina. To be in his company, talking about wine and walking through his vineyards, is a memory to cherish. Their home vineyard at Vina Alicia serves as a nursery for 50-60 different species of grape, under vine at any given time. Experiments are run with as few as 50-100 plants, and for as long as 10-12 years per section. The vineyard is like a proverbial patchwork quilt and it is unlikely that the average industry person has even heard of some of the different grapes they have planted here. Information about each grape’s performance as a plant and ultimately as a wine is cataloged and then shared with the industry. Over the years, the Arizu family (otherwise known as the Mondavis of Mendoza) have found certain grapes and/or wine styles to be to their liking and have produced a small production wine from them. Tiara is such a wine. Ethereal and mystical. Crisp and clean while being textured and complex. Sophisticated while being extremely whimsical. Utterly delicious!
93 points Descorchados
The fruit for this wine is all grown in the same sandy, loam soils on the home property. It is picked by hand – typically, all three components ripen around the same time. After bunch selection, the fruit is destemmed. It then flows through a hydraulic press. The pressing is soft and slow, in order to achieve a good extraction of the juice, but not the bitterness from skins. This juice goes into stainless steel tanks, which are kept around 59 degrees F – where it co-ferments. Following the fermentation, racking is done and the wine remains in stainless steel vats for a period of one year, on its lees. Batonage is done periodically in order to build texture in the mid palate of the wine. Prior to bottling, the wine is cleaned up with coarse filtration and fined with Bentonite. It then rests for 6 months before release.
