The dark and opaque, almost black 2012 Trasnocho epitomizes the modern style of concentrated and generously oaked Rioja. However, in a warm and dry year like 2012, the wine feels fresher than the one from the previous year. The fruit is dark, and it has plenty of spices and smoke. The palate is full-bodied, and there are abundant but fine-grained and quite round tannins. There is stuffing and balance for a long and positive development in bottle.

The 2011 Trasnocho, a blend of 90% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano and 5% skins of the Viura and Malvasia grapes that had been used for the whites, all fermented together. As with many of his other wines, only the destemmed grapes from the top half of the bunches are used, following one day in cold storage. It fermented in a combination of stainless steel and oak vats and aged for 20 months in new French oak barrels. It has the harmonious, clean and well-oaked profile of the reds from the house, with perfectly ripe fruit without any hints of over-ripeness. The palate is generous and voluptuous, with spicy flavors and fine tannins. A very nicely crafted modern Rioja. 12,000 bottles were filled in August 2013.

The 2010 Trasnocho is sourced from old vines, mostly Tempranillo with some 5% Graciano, fermented together with the skins of Viura and Malvasía used for the whites. The wine matured in new French oak barrels for 20 months. There is a sweetness of fruit here that is quite captivating, but the wine feels young and undeveloped. These wines are drunk too early. Most people miss the complexity that the wines would develop with time in bottle, because they are often consumed in their voluptuous years, when the puppy fat covers the character of the wine. Judging the future of this wine has to be by the balance of all its components-by the texture and quality of tannins that can help you predict a long life ahead. 12,000 bottles produced.

Could it be that a red wine smells of petrol? That was my first impression when I put my nose in the glass of 2009 Trasnocho, a very special red form Fernando Remírez de Ganuza. Well, serious and mineral it is for sure. It also smells of bacon fat a la Northern Rh?ne, and has all the wild berry aromas you could imagine. The palate does not show the age, it's still a baby and very primary, with a little harshness, but also showing the stuffing and balance to develop for ages. With time in the glass it develops a special peach-like perfume that, intermixed with that mineral Riesling-like aroma, makes it really captivating. 11,200 bottles produced.

The 2008 Trasnocho is a blend of 90% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano and the remaining 5% comes from the skins of the Viura and Malvasia grapes that have been used for the whites. I think it’s worth taking a minute to explain the name and origin of this wine, as the grape blend might sound a bit weird. The Riojan tradition in the old times was to ferment whole bunches in open concrete pools, which produced a sequence of different quality wines: the first wine, lighter and less alcoholic, was called lagrima (tear). The next one, slightly denser was called medio. These two were obtained by gravity. The third wine was the repiso (over-trodden) obtained by foot-treading the bunches. Once trodden, the bunches were left overnight in the lagar and a wine flowed from them which they call trasnocho (free translation: ‘overnight’) which was the cleanest of all wines, obtained slowly without any intervention through the night. The bunches were then taken to the press to extract the press wine. The trasnocho wine was drunk at Christmas in the families of the cosecheros as it was the first to be ready, falling clear naturally, and showing the character of the vintage. The negociants would buy that year’s wines based on the quality of the trasnocho. The modern interpretation of this process that Remirez de Ganuza makes is a little more complicated and is as follows: only the destemmed grapes from the top half of the bunches are used: the bunches are selected on a sorting table, cut in half and only the top half is destemmed and its grapes used to produce wine in a vat, letting the fermented juice flow down from the vat naturally. Around 85% of the wine is extracted like this. The skins are then pressed gently through their self-invented press: a PVC water-filled bag that is introduced into the vat and left to slowly extract about 70% of the liquid remaining in the skins overnight. That is what, after aging for 22 months in new French (80%) and American oak, they call Trasnocho. The 2008 version of it is very dark-colored, young-looking, with a bright purple rim. It feels young and a little backward, and takes time to start revealing itself. The nose is very spicy, with notes of cinnamon and clove that reminded me of a Moroccan pastille, dark chocolate, bright, ripe and very clean fruit, blueberries and cherries with a fresh herbaceous note that lifts the nose. It develops a beautiful floral note of violets with time in the glass. The palate shows a very balanced wine, round, with very fine, sweet tannins. A superbly crafted modern Rioja that should age slowly and gracefully but that can be drunk now. Drink 2014-2028. Fernando Remirez de Ganuza, who never stops inventing things (a sorting table that washes the grapes, four wheels to rotate one barrel and stir the lees), only had three new wines to show this year. But I also had a mini-vertical of the as yet unreleased white Reserva (but two vintages have already been reviewed here!) which has a much more classical profile than any of his other wines. I’m looking forward to the wines coming onto the market and following their evolution, as I think the 2010 is great and should develop beautifully. The first vintage to be released will be 2008, but only 1,800 bottles exist. I had an interesting conversation with Ganuza and he reminded me of one thing I always say about Burgundy: the most important thing is the producer. When I say that, most people look at me and say: “How can you say that? Burgundy is the essence of terroir, the place on earth where the concept has been most studied, best understood and defined!” It is indeed, and I completely agree, but the vineyard, the Grand Cru has the potential to produce world class wines, but it’s up to the producer to realize that potential – or kill it! That’s why, yes, the vineyards, the terroir are extremely important, but human intervention is key. This is all because one of Fernando’s points was that people say “Wine is produced in the vineyard,” an