When it comes to Rioja, everyone associates it with red wines first, but at this winery the emphasis on the white varieties is at least as great. Viura and Malvasia are grown on a total of 11 hectares of Vina Tondonia, and the Blanco is put on the shelves after 10 years of ageing. This is one of the handful of cult wines in the world, even more sought after than the estate's reds.

The best alternative to this unattainable cult wine is Gravonia Blanco, whereby the method and variety are the same, but the vineyard is different. The bunches are hand-picked while crouching and they are put into the old destemmer from the wooden hods. The crushed grapes go into the press together with some stems, and fermentation starts in wooden vats. They are not trying to be careful when it comes to ageing here either, Gravonia Blanco spends the first four years in barrels, then goes unfiltered into bottles, where it ages for another 2-3 years before hitting the shelves.

The wine has a straw-yellow colour. Alongside Tondonia, it appears to be bonier and tauter. It has unlikely zestiness for such a lengthily-aged white wine. Ginger, citrus, honey and stone fruit.

• 100% Viura
• 45+ year-old bush vines
• spontaneous fermentation in open vats
• 4 years of ageing in barrels made by the winery
• fining with egg whites (as in the old times)
• filling unfiltered
• a further 2-3 years of ageing in the cellar