Miguel Merino Blanco is made from Garnacha Blanca and Viura grapes. The Garnacha Blanca comes from La Loma vineyard (1’4 ha planted at 534 metres of altitude in 1946) where –apart from the red Tempranillo and Garnacha vines- we have a little treasure: a few vines of Garnacha Blanca that give us grapes of floral aromas, great complexity, body and deepness. The Viura vines are spread among all our old vineyards, and therefore they are planted in very different soils. In 2022 we bought a small plot of Viura planted in 1965 in Briones.

2022 was an extremely hot and dry year in Rioja Alta. We suffered the hottest month of June since there are records, and we didn’t get any rain until mid-August. Harvest came really early in some our neighbour villages but not so much for us. We started our harvest for white grapes in Sept 21st, with long, sunny days and cool nights. In general terms, 2022 was a vintage of balanced wines for us, with acidities a bit low, content sugar levels, good fruit and concentration.

We harvest, ferment and age each grape variety by separate. It is only before bottling that we blend them together. The grapes were harvested by hand early in the morning and then taken to the winery in small crates, where they were selected and pressed. After a 24h settling the must was racked into 500-litre barrels of French oak, where they went through the alcoholic fermentation. After the fermentation, the wine remained in the same 500-litre barrels on its fine lees for 10 months. We have selected the oak types and coopers that respect the identity of our wine.