Artuke Winery and Vineyard, named after the two brothers who own it, Arturo and Kike, aims to make interesting, unique wines in the heart of Spain’s Rioja region, something they succeed in doing with great aplomb.
Inspired by France’s Burgundy region, their wines take inspiration from the region while remaining well and truly their own.
Artuke Vineyard began as a family affair. Arturo and Kike de Miguel Blanco, the owners of Artuke, learned how to make wines from their grandfather and their father when they were growing up. Their family decided to buy a vineyard in 1991, stopped selling wine in bulk and began bottling and selling their own wines, which they then sold throughout the region.
Arturo, who studied Agriculture Engineering and has a Master’s degree in winemaking, joined the family business in the 2000s and worked to turn the vineyard from the very traditional, regional ways of wine production, to a more modern, balanced solution. Arturo’s persistence in this matter has managed to turn the winery from one among many, to a singular, unique producer within the Rioja region.
Arturo’s brother Kike began working at the vineyard in 2010, since then the two brothers have studied the soils, turning unproductive plots of land into fertile ones and making a name for themselves in the world of Spanish wines.
One of Artuke’s flagship red wines, Finca de los Locos, was named in honour of their grandfather. Their grandfather had always wanted to purchase a plot of land overlooking the River Ebro, but the locals at the time thought he was crazy to buy a sandy, gravelly plot of land that wouldn’t produce anything worthwhile. He persevered, however, and now that exact plot of land is one of the vineyard’s most productive.
Artuke Winery and Vineyard has decided to eschew the local certifications for their wines, so none of them carry the village or Vinedo Singular labels. This is due to the fact that the brothers find the specifications to be too strict and that there are too many obstacles in the way of acquiring these certifications. Arturo and Kike would much prefer to make interesting, creative wines without the certificate, rather than wines that seem like something people are able to find all over Rioja.
Artuke Vineyard sits on a 22-hectare estate, which is spread between 32 different plots of land between two villages, Banos de Ebro and Abalos. As per the region as a whole, they grow primarily Tempranillo grapes, as well as Garnacha.
The winery produces about 160,000 bottles of wine a year. 140,000 of these are their village wines of Artuke and Pies Negros, the other 20,000 are limited production single-vineyard wines.
Each of the plots owned by Artuke Vineyard are organic and harvested in the traditional way. When making their wines, they aim to balance between traditional and modern methods, which helps make their wines stand out from the crowd. They do not use of trellises in on their vineyards, with all of the vines they own are bush vines.
True to the region, which was inspired by the wine making process of Bordeaux, the brothers age their wines primarily in oak casks, though they do take advantage of cement containers and stainless steel tanks when they see fit. Kike has been quoted as saying that there is no reason to force things at the winery if the vineyard produces moderate yields and you work the land well, which seems to encompass their entire ideology.
The grapes are not destemmed before being processed and they use external yeasts when their own are not up to their high standard. However, the whole of their range of wines from 2018 were fermented using yeasts gathered from their vineyards.
Wines from Artuke Winery and Vineyard are generally bold, modern wines with the particular style granted to it by the village’s terroir and climate. Each wine has a distinctive personality with a firm sense of place.
For you, we have selected the 2015 Bodegas y Vinedos Artuke K 4, a single vineyard wine.
