In 2023, Contino celebrates its 50th anniversary. However, the brand is so deeply rooted in the collective memory of Rioja that it is often associated with some of the appellation's most established names.
The old manor house that dominates the property in Laserna, a hamlet next to Laguardia in Rioja Alavesa, reinforces this feeling. The sea of vines in front of it, only interrupted by a few trees —including the ancient olive tree from which the estate's top red wine takes its name—, lies in the San Rafael meander, just eight kilometres from Logroño, at the point where the Ebro River divides the provinces of Alava and La Rioja.
Along with Remelluri, Contino led a nascent move towards terroir-driven wines at a time when Rioja was experiencing a boom in export markets based on blend wines and the emergence of large companies. "There was a time, about 15 years ago, when Contino commanded a higher retail price than Imperial Reserva," says Víctor Urrutia, CEO of Cvne. Now the two are on equal ground.
The bodega was founded in 1973 by his uncles, Luis Vallejo and José Madrazo Real de Asúa, president and director of Cvne respectively. It was a joint venture between the century-old Haro winery and the Sánchez Pérez and Pérez Villota families, owners of the San Rafael estate and suppliers of grapes to Viña Real. All agreed that the quality of the site merited that it speak for itself. "At that time there were just over 20 hectares of vines, some cereal crops and olive trees, but it was soon agreed that the vineyards should be expanded," explains Urrutia.
José Madrazo Real de Asúa, great-grandson of Cvne's founder, defined the style of the wine as a Reserva aged for two years in oak barrels, followed by the required bottle ageing. He was a captain in the merchant navy who gave up a life at sea to get involved in the wine business.
Those who know the property or have had the opportunity to work at Contino agree that its most distinctive feature is the extraordinary levels of ripeness of the grapes grown there. Basilio Izquierdo, who was head winemaker at Cvne between 1974 and 2006, also mentions the low yields. According to Jesús Madrazo, son of José Madrazo, who was Contino's technical director between 1999 and 2017, "the quality lies in the peculiarities of the site, with the sheltering effect of La Mesa hill behind it, well-defined soils distributed on three separate south-facing terraces, and the fact that it is a relatively old, goblet-trained vineyard. It's in Rioja Alavesa, but somehow it feels like Rioja Oriental.”
Thanks to its location and features, it escaped the frost that affected the region in 2017, as well as most of the rain that marked the 2014 harvest. 2013 was a different story, with hail hitting the vineyard at the beginning of September. Despite this, Cvne has only seen a few bad vintages in a decade, with most of the good ones being really good.
Winemaking changed hands in 2017. It was a four-handed harvest, shared by Jesús Madrazo and his successor, the Aragonese oenologist Jorge Navascués. A Garnacha specialist with a solid background in Cariñena and a consultant to the highly dynamic Viña Zorzal winery in Navarra, this was Navascués' first foray into Rioja. And 2017 was a particularly warm, early vintage that left no doubt about the effects of climate change.
"The days of summer holidays in Rioja lasting all the way through August are over," Navascués notes wryly. But he also mentions few important facts: "The harvest starts earlier, but we also have a longer growing season because budding comes earlier. This is what happened in 2017: the harvest started two weeks earlier, but budding also occured one month earlier". Much of his work now consists of monitoring the estate in this changing context.
Among the measures adopted during his tenure are a new soil study and classification, conducted between 2017 and 2020, which has made it possible to farm smaller land units, fermenting these plots separately and exploring the different nuances of Tempranillo. "Contino is a site made up of micro-plots," explains Navascués.
The arrival of Jordi Francés (pictured below with Navascués) in 2020 consolidated the winemaking team and shifted the focus to analysing ripening processes and different winemaking methods. A third phase will focus on the ageing process.
"The Contino vineyards are exposed to both northern and Mediterranean influences. Its location next to the Ebro River means high humidity, which has a cooling effect at night and contributes to lower pH levels," explains Navascués.
Broadly speaking, the most productive area of the vineyard is next to the winery, then pebbles and stones with some clay in the middle, and sandstone on the lower terrace next to the river. In essence, Contino is a low yielding, warm site. "The formula of one bottle per vine doesn't work here," says Navascués. "Yields of 3,000 to 3,500 kg/ha are preferable to 2,000 kg/ha. In fact, we are changing the whole extraction issue because, particularly in warm vintages, the grapes tend to become more concentrated," he explains. Víctor Urrutia agrees: "It's a property prone to overheating because of the stony soils and the exposure of the vineyard. The challenge is to tame this natural force".
The search for refreshing tools to compensate for ripeness is not new. Jesús Madrazo believes that his main contribution to Contino was "to introduce Graciano to balance the warm character of Tempranillo". This is indeed the thinking behind Viña del Olivo.
Small vats, including six concrete fermenters, are working well. The premium range wines -Viña del Olivo, Contino Graciano, Contino Garnacha and the Gran Reserva- are all fermented in oak vats, with malolactic fermentation taking place in the same vats or in barrels.
With around 300,000 bottles produced, the Reserva remains Contino’s flagship wine. That's why Navascués is delighted to have an optical sorting machine and cold storage chambers enabling the team to work unhurriedly and pay attention to detail. When it comes to ageing, he tries to limit racking to the bare minimum. "Perhaps it's better to do the malolactic fermentation in the barrel, so that the wines are cleaner when they start ageing and less racking is necessary," he points out. There is also a clear focus on French oak - American oak is most prevalent (up to 20%) in the Gran Reserva - and a final stage of three to four months in concrete before bottling.
Among the recent vintages of the Reserva, 2018 is fresh and elegant; 2019 is deep-coloured, broad, fruit-driven and powerful; the yet-to-be-released 2020 is somewhere in between, with the structure of 2019 and the freshness of 2018, plus some fine tannins and pleasant notes of Mediterranean herbs. Tempranillo is blended with 15% Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha. Although 2020 was rather uneven in Rioja due to mildew, Contino shows depth and volume. As for Jorge, it was his best vintage on the estate, along with 2021.
Viña del Olivo (around 15,000 bottles) stands out in the 2020 vintage. It's fresh, juicy, balanced and not heavy at all, probably because the Graciano makes up 23% of a blend that also includes 8% Mazuelo.
Among the single-varietal reds, the 2020 Garnacha (just over 10,000 bottles) is fragrant, fruit-driven and with silky tannins, while the slightly herbal 2021 shows good depth. This wine is now maturing in an Austrian foudre, 500-litre barrels and concrete vats.
I enjoyed a vertical of Graciano (just over 3,000 bottles), including a rather concentrated 2017 with plenty of acidity to offset the warmth of the vintage; a lovely, refined 2018 that kept power under control; and a youthful, slightly wild 2019 with plenty of herbaceous and black pepper notes. The icing on the cake was a vibrant 2011 from the winery's library, with incredibly deep colour and remarkable length. Time is Graciano's best ally.
According to Navascués, Graciano doesn't thrive in stony soils, which retain and reflect heat, because it needs to ripen slowly and retain its balance. On the other hand, white soils rich in limestone add minerality, while clay adds finesse.
New developments
Jorge Navascués feels that the white Contino and the Gran Reserva are his most immediate challenges. The former is a blend of Viura with around 10 to 15% Garnacha Blanca. Recent changes include using Burgundy-shaped bottles from the 2017 vintage, bringing forward the harvest date and reducing the amount of new oak to 50% from 2021. The wine is still fermented in stainless steel tanks, but up to 30% is aged in concrete vats. The goal is to ensure it ages as well as the red wines.
The Gran Reserva aims to reach the same level as Viña del Olivo. First made in the 1996 vintage, some of the grapes come from the El Olivo plot, but, as Víctor Urrutia puts it, they try to "express the terroir with a classic approach". In fact, the rest of the blend is a selection of the best grapes from each new vintage. For a few years it was only available in magnum, but the introduction of the 75cl bottle has brought regularity to the brand. The current 2017 vintage is a good introduction to the style, with classic aromas on the nose but plenty of fruit, fine texture and good acidity on the palate.
Contino's latest release is Don Vicente 2019, a single-varietal Mazuelo priced at the same level as Viña del Olivo, which is sold exclusively in the UK. It is a much more exuberant wine, with blue flowers and lavender, savoury, with good tension and delicious to drink. Víctor Urrutia sees the single-varietal range as a way to showcase specific nuances of the property, with prices dictated by the market. "Setting a 'starting price' doesn't usually work. You have to make the best possible wine, sell it at the best possible price and let the market set the price," he says.
What is Contino's current position in a group that has grown considerably in recent years, both in terms of the number of wineries and the distribution operations? "Cvne has eight different companies and Contino's goal has always been to understand and explain the estate. The idea was to find a way to limit barrel ageing -it adds new layers to the terroir- in order to have a better appreciation of the vineyard's personality. The first vintages are indeed floral and light, reminiscent of Burgundy," Urrutia points out.
Thanks to highly rated vintages such as 1981 and 1982, one of Contino's traditional selling points is its ageing potential. Like Cvne, Contino has its own wine library, stored in an underground cellar dating back to the 18th century. Given that 1974 was the very first vintage, the 50th anniversary celebrations are planned for next year. We can only hope that the bodega uncorks bottles from different periods and lets the wines do the talking.
FIVE THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT CONTINO
