Eguren Protocolo Tinto Rosca 2021

Dominio de Eguren was founded in 1870 and is now in its fourth generation. The family runs higher-end Rioja and Toro estates (Sierra Cantabria, Viñedos de Páganos, Numanthia in earlier years) and uses the Protocolo line as a value-priced organic gateway to the family's wider portfolio.

Protocolo's grape sources are unusual: long-term leases on Tempranillo vineyards on limestone soils at altitude in Manchuela (south-east Spain), blended at 10–15% with young estate-grown vines in Rioja and Toro. Those young estate plots are planted with massal selections from the family's best parcels and are used for Protocolo for the first 10–15 years of their life before "graduating" to the senior estate labels.

Fermentation runs through a 48-hour cold soak, native-cellar yeasts, and an eight-day post-fermentation maceration. The line has grown through Tinto, Rosado and Blanco bottlings, all certified organic.