When Roberto Oliván turned 16, he inherited 6 hectares of vines from his Grandfather in the village of Viñaspre in Rioja Alavesa. He became the fourth generation of his family to work the vines in Rioja and soon thereafter he became the first to bottle wine from those vineyards. Like many modern winemakers in Rioja, Roberto is looking to other wine regions for a model. He is not making the Riserva and Gran Riserva wines. Rather he is making site specific wines. Custero is from a vineyard that he and his wife planted on marl and sandstone soils with selection massale vines from the family property. There are numerous root stocks and 9 different varieties interplanted. The elevation is around 600 meters. The wines look more to Burgundy or Beaujolais (although with more biodiversity) than to 1980's Rioja, Bordeaux or Napa. Custero also looks specifically to the traditional Cosechero wines of Rioja. It is the type of modern winemaking we champion. Organic farming, native yeast fermention, very low intervention in the cellar, some oak aging but very litte noticeable oak flavor and minimal SO2. All the fruit is harvested together and co-fermented whole cluster. This is a new look at what 'modern' Rioja can be.

Custero is new step for Roberto Oliván. It is a project together with his wife Leyre Ruiz that attempts to make a modern version of an old style of wine. A Cosechero wine. These were wines made for early drinking by the winemakers and grapegrowers themselves. They used carbonic maceration to make a fruity, easy to drink wine. Just as carbonic macertion in Beaujolais has graduated from the early, very simple examples of Beaujolais Nouveau to some of the top examples on the region today, Roberto and Leyre are raising the bar here too. Many houses still make this style of wine but it is rarely exported. Custero is an attempt to capture the charm of this style but with more refinement and complexity. It is whole cluster fermented but with more extraction than with fully carbonic wines - just like you find in many partial carbonic wines around the world today.

+ Technical Details

VARIETIES: Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano, Monastrell, viura, Malvasia, Malvasia Riojana, Garnacha Gris, Calagraño
CLASSIFICATION: Rioja
VINEYARDS: Young, selection massale vines on Calcerous Marl and Iron rich Sandstone. 600 Meters Elevation. Goblet trained.
FARMING: Organic
WINEMAKING: Hand harvested. All varieties cofermented together with whole cluster, partial carbonic fermentation by native yeast in open top fermenters. Aged in 2nd use barrique and concrete. SO2 at bottling only.