Bodegas Ysios, Grano a Grano, Rioja, Alavesa, Rioja, 2019

Grano a grano means 'grape by grape', a name to illustrate the painstaking care that is taken with the harvest here – grapes handpicked and then hand-destemmed to select berry by berry. The fruit comes from the La Pedrera vineyard in La Guardia, an 0.8ha block planted in 1962 on clay-limestone soil. The dry-farmed bush vines of Tempranillo are co-planted with Garnacha, Graciano and Viura plants, and the yields are naturally low at just 12hl/ha. After destemming, the whole berries are fermented in open-top barriques. Wild yeasts are used, and no temperature control. The wine ages for 12 months in used French oak barriques, and in this 2019 vintage has produced a gorgeous wine. Deeply fragrant, complex and complete, this is redolent with red plum and red and black cherry fruit, a hint of violet, liquorice and blueberry, and a sprinkling of wild herbs. There's real concentration and power here, but it remains lively and fresh, and has a good few years life ahead of it.