'The 2020 Norte is the top-of-the-range red from a north-facing plot in Laguardia at 720 meters in altitude on limestone soils with the mother rock 50 centimeters below the surface. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel and matured in French oak barrels and concrete for 12 months. It has 14.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.48 with 6.15 grams of acidity. This keeps the powerful but fresh and balanced profile, ripe and concentrated. This is still young and needs some more time in bottle to polish the abundant chalky tannins, but there is more restraint and even a touch of austerity, showing a cooler vintage. 11,000 bottles produced.

Pujanza is one of the leading names in modern Rioja. It was created by Carlos San Pedro in Laguardia where he owns 40 hectares of vineyards and produces some 200,000 bottles. I tasted mostly 2019s, a very warm and ripe year with very high ripeness and all the wines (except the Hado) are above 15% alcohol, because he saw green notes in the grapes and waited for the ripening of the grapes but the alcohol was quite high. But the wines are not overripe; it's a ripe but compensated year. 2020 is cooler and the wines are fresher and have more contained alcohol, but both years are low yielding, for different reasons, but both with moderate crops.' Luis Gutierrez-Wine Advocate

95/100 Wine Advocate