Characteristics of La Maldita Tinto
La Maldita Tinto is a monovarietal Grenache Tinta wine from the D.O.Ca Rioja produced by La Maldita.
La Maldita produces exclusively Grenache monovarietals. The name of the winery refers to how the Grenache variety was called by the oldest folk in the area. They called it that because it was difficult for them to make quality wines. Currently, thanks to the winemaking techniques that we know, it has been shown that it is indeed possible.
La Maldita Tinto is made with grapes from the vineyards of La Rioja Baja, planted at 700 metres above sea level, and with a fairly high planting density of 3,000 to 3,500 plants per hectare. A high density can help to balance the plants and ensure they produce grapes of a better quality. The La Maldita Tinto bush plants are about 40 years old, while those that are trellised are between 10 and 15 years old. The soils are of gravel.
The grapes for La Maldita Tinto are harvested manually. The grapes undergo a cold pre-fermentation maceration in stainless steel tanks to extract the fruity varietal aromas. Alcoholic fermentation is performed at 28 ºC for about 10 days, while practising soft pumping over. Malolactic fermentation is performed in stainless steel tanks. Lastly 30% of the wine undergoes ageing in French and American oak barrels and the rest stays in tanks in contact with the fine lees.
La Maldita Tinto is an easy, fresh wine with lots of fruit, that makes it clear that Grenache can give us quality wines in Rioja.