Normally, Viura produces pleasant but unexciting white wine. It is often used as a blending grape to stretch a cuvee utilizing a portion of more expensive grape varieties. However, Bodegas Bagiorri’s 2005 Blanco Fermentado en Barrica is a singular exception. The wine is 100% Viura from 70+-year-old vines fermented with native yeasts and aged for 12 months in new French oak. Medium straw-colored, it exhibits a stylish bouquet of toast, smoke, vanilla, mineral, hazel nuts, apple, and poached pear. This leads to a creamy textured wine with the oak nicely integrated. Ripe and full-flavored, it is reminiscent of a mid-level white Burgundy from a good vintage. The wine’s finish is long and pure. It should be drunk over the next 2-3 years. Bodegas Baigorri is said to be one of the showplace wineries of Rioja, designed by Basque architect Inaki Aspiazu Iza. The Bodegas ferments its wines with native yeasts and uses only French oak.Importer: F.L. Navarro, Quality Wines of Spain, New York, NY; tel. (212) 842-8181