Phinca Hapa Elvillar Blanco

Phinca Hapa Elvillar Blanco is an organic barrel-aged white wine made by Bodegas Bhilar with the Garnacha Blanca, Viura and Malvasía varieties in the D.O.Ca. Rioja.

David Sampedro and Melanie Hickman are the people behind the Bhilar Winery. He is from Elvillar and she moved from Hawaii to start a new life surrounded by the vineyards in the heart of Rioja Alavesa. They make various different collections, including three wines under the Struggling Vines label. These wines come from old vines rescued when this American invested her pension money and named them after her beloved deceased dog Hapa. They are cultivated using sustainable and biodynamic viticulture.

Phinca Hapa Elvillar Blanco comes from 2.9 hectares of vineyards located in Elvillar, Alava. These are old vines, aged over 50 years old and planted in calcareous soil about 646 metres above sea level. They are cultivated using sustainable, ecological and biodynamic viticulture and work horses are used instead of tractors. The harvest is carried out manually in 10 kg boxes.

When the Phinca Hapa Elvillar Blanco grape reaches the winery, it is destemmed and fermented with its skins in 2,000-litre concrete tanks for two months. The resulting wine is then pressed and transferred into 600-litre foudres for 12 months. Finally it is bottled, adding a minimum amount of sulfur.

Phinca Hapa Elvillar Blanco is a very original white made in the “orange wine” style with native white grapes and their own skins. A very small production from a very special vineyard that can be hard to get your hands on.