Cinderella, the famous fairy tale adapted by the Brothers Grimm which has become deeply rooted in popular memory, shows us that the golden dream of going from extreme poverty to luxury through innate beauty has been with us since ancient times. Extrapolating this to the world of wine we find a long-suffering Grenache. Until half a century ago the second most important grape variety in the D.O.Ca. Rioja has been mistreated and subjected to giving more grapes than is wise and consequently to being replaced by more profitable varieties such as Tempranillo. However, although cursed for a long time due to the difficulty of producing high quality wines, it has returned large and generous to take its rightful place on the throne of the red varieties.
Under this concept, Bodega La Maldita, a separate project of the Riojan winery Vivanco, is committed to recovering forgotten heritage. Old, secluded vines, hidden in difficult-to-access rocky terrain, are worked hard to regain their height. This is demonstrated in La Maldita Revolution. A 100% Grenache red wine from old vineyards with sandy soils located in the village of Tudelilla, in the Rioja Baja (La Rioja), 700 metres above sea level. In the winery, it first undergoes a cold pre-fermentation maceration in stainless steel tanks in order to preserve all the varietal character of the grapes and then ferments at a constant temperature for at least 12 days with gentle pumping over. Finally, it undergoes malolactic fermentation in 500-litre French oak barrels, where it remains for 12 months.
With the intention of turning around concepts which have been poorly stipulated for a long time, La Maldita Revolution is a hymn to the Garnacha from La Rioja which shows the world that it’s neither poor nor cursed, and can perfectly well be the queen of the varieties.