THE PRODUCER
Artadi is somewhat of a newbie – established only in 1985 – but quickly rose to
the highest level of quality. Artadi has been hugely successful with vineyards
in Navarra (Artazu) and Alicante (El Segue) and is also among the best of those
appellations.

The range includes excellent village wines and several single vineyard wines,
all exemplary quality. The top wine is Vina El Pison, from a 2.4ha single
vineyard of very old vines near Laguardia. Since 2015 Artadi chose no longer to
use the DOCa of Rioja, rather labelling the wines “Álava”. Regardless of
classification, this is a powerful but extremely elegant representation of wines
from the region, of which it is at least geographically part.

THE WINE

El Carretil is made from a 5,6-hectare single vineyard plot, in Laguardia,
planted in 1975 to Tempranillo. Vines are south-east facing, at 500 meters of
altitude, and in deep clay-limestone soils. 100% Tempranillo, El Carretil
ferments for 10-12 days with daily pigeage and pumping over and is then allowed
to mature for 9 months in French oak barrels. A wine of great concentration, yet
with a remarkably chiselled mineral expression in the fruit, tannins are fine
textured, and the length goes on forever. El Carretil can be kept for decades.

INFORMATION
Type:RedVintage:2017Country:Spain
Region:RiojaSub region:Rioja AlavesaGrape:TempranilloStyle:Rich and Intense
Sweetness:DryABV:14%Drinking window:2019 - 2025Size:750mlFood match:Lamb



CRITICS SCORES
We choose our wines based on a range of criteria(seehow we choose our wines)of
which critic scores is justone. Rather than simply highlight the best score to
promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided
by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do
not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more
weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores
like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a92/100average critic score or
better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a
high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we
offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the
market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and
representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide
to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add
individual critic scores to our website in the future.