The 2010 Baigorri Blanco is a blend of 95% Viura and 5% Malvasia from 45- to 70-year-old vines, raised in French oak for eight months. The nose is intense with a carapace of creamy, vanilla-tinged oak that is in synch with the fruit (passion fruit and white peach). The palate is rounded and slightly honeyed on the entry with fine acidity, leading to a viscous finish that is furnished with tropical fruit, guava and lemongrass on the aftertaste. This is a well-crafted white Rioja that will garner international appeal. Drink now-2017. If Lopez de Heredia, steeped in history, cobwebs and black mold, lies at one end of the spectrum, the Bodegas Baigorri lies at the other. They represent the two sides of traditional and modern Rioja in 2012. Fortunately, they both make rather good wines. Although you cannot taste architecture, the multi-million euro winery of Baigorri cannot pass without mention, carved deep into the rocky hillside with panoramic views across Rioja Alavesa and its magnificent giant steps leading from its Zen-like glass entrance. However, it is first and foremost a functional design, its seven tiers over 24 meters allowing unimpeded winemaking by gravity. Indeed, that is just one facet of winemaking here, where clearly no expense is spared. Baigorri makes most Bordeaux chateaux look like run-down shacks and the winemaking is finely tuned. And I must confess that I feared this would be a vanity project, cosmetic winemaking with plenty of money but negligible soul. I found this not to be the case. While the winemaking is analyzed down to every last detail and the wines are comparatively expensive, there is patently a passionate winemaking at its concrete heart and the wines are delicious. Here, approximately 25% of the vinified crop is out-sourced under long-term contracts, with the vinification under the control of the winery.Importer: The Artisan Wine Company (US) and OW Loeb and Moreno Wines (UK)