Hacienda del Carmen Arlanza 2015

Sometimes, for some inexplicable reason, a city becomes a hot bed of culture encompassing so many significant minds, when it’s over you need to take a step back and ask yourself, did that really happen? Like in Vienna at the start of the 20th Century; within a 2-mile radius there was Freud, Klimt, Franz Ferdinand, Hitler, Tito, Trotsky and Stalin. Was somebody handing out, like ‘dictator soup’ or something? A much less despotic but equally significant time and place was Manchester in the late 80s. Bands like New Order, the Stone Roses, the Happy Monday’s and the Smiths; you could see them all in one week! There was one thing perhaps at the centre of this cultural explosion; the Hacienda club. The birth place of house and the spiritual home for all 24-hour party people.

Hacienda del Carmen isn’t from Manchester yet there is a similar buzz around Arlanza. Although Arlanza was virtually unknown, wines such as this, an incredibly elegant expression of Tempranillo displaying notes of black berries and violets are challenging the institutions of Rioja and Ribera del Duero. There could be a winemaking revolution coming; let the party begin.

Hacienda del Carmen is made in Arlanza; a region that is not well known, located between Ribera del Duero and Rioja, inn the Burgos area. It comes from the same creators at Bodegas Cillar de Silos. This family winery are proud of the vines and have a strong passion for the land they use to grow their Tempranillo grapes.

Amalio Aragon founded Cillar de Silos in 1994, though he started purchasing small plots from his neighbouring vine growers in 1970 with the dream of producing wines in his home village, Quintana del Pidio.

Amalio's three children, Roberto, Oscar and Amelia, now run the winery. In addition to their vineyards, they also own an underground cellar which dates back to the 17th century. The natural temperature and humidity are constant throughout the year, providing the perfect environment for their products to finish ageing in the bottle.