Victor Ausejo

Garnacha Blanca 2024

In 2018 richtte de jonge Spaanse wijnmaker Victor Ausejo zijn bodega op in de prestigieuze wijnregio Rioja. Zijn doel: topwijnen maken die laten zien dat Rioja meer te bieden heeft dan alleen tempranillo. Met zijn ‘Garnacha Blanca’ was hij meteen succesvol en trok hij de aandacht van internationale wijncritici.

Precise, driven by acidity, chiselled, elegant… a wonderful expression of Garnacha Blanca. It has developed beautifully in bottle without losing any of its freshness of limey, lemony saltiness that sits on top of stony minerality....electric tension. It offers the freshness of northern Spain with the herbal, ripe apple and pear of Riojan GB. Amazing value for a wine of this quality. Produced entirely from the commune of Clavijo.

I tasted the whites from 2024 and the reds from 2023. The 2024 Garnacha Blanca, a white of great varietal purity, is focused and clean, with textbook varietal aromas of waxy apples. It has 13.5% alcohol, as the grapes achieved good ripeness and more development of aromas and flavors and kept the freshness and acidity that provide balance. It was produced from two hectares of vines planted in 2016 at 546 meters above sea level on sandy soils with clay and limestone with a western exposition. The vines are worked organically but are not certified. The grapes were picked the 24th of September, and the full clusters were pressed and let to settle for two days, then the juice fermented in five 500-liter oak barrels with indigenous yeasts for 14 days. The wine matured in those barrels, four of them French and one Hungarian, for 10 months. The palate reflects precision, purity and elegance, freshness and focus. It's really good now and should also make old bones. I think it's one step up from the previous vintage. 3,314 bottles produced. It was bottled in September 2025.

One of two Garnacha Blancas from Víctor Ausejo from the same vineyard at 546 metres in Clavijo, this iteration is fermented in 40% new 500-litre French oak. The sort of wine that will appeal to Burgundy lovers, this has toasty intensity, flavours of lemongrass and tangerine and undertones of acacia honey and brioche. 2026-32