Administrator: LEDV
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Miguel Ángel Martínez Ruíz

Founded in -0001

The years have been different, especially the first ones of this century, in which the vine-growers of ice of Germany or Austria, and enclosed Canada, have faced to moderate autumns that made be afraid for his crops. Two add cold, specially the latter, and an economic world crisis, they have left on the second plane the worry for the climate and enclosed change the crudeness of the latter autumn has allowed two Riojan vine-growers, Francisco Rubio Martin (Wineries Tritium, of Ashtray) and Michael Ángel Martínez Ruiz (harvester of Them Abuse), to elaborate the first wine of ice of Rioja and the second one of Spain, after the experience of the Viña Claridor in Rueda.

The low temperatures play the role of a concentrating native in the wine of ice (it is necessary that the grapes are between 7 and 8 under zero several days), since the water crystallizes and, on having been too tight, which goes out is only a must: " we Have taken 400 clusters, of which we will extract approximately 40 liters ", Francisco Rubio indicates, which gives a performance grape / wine of 20 %, when the habitual thing in Rioja is 70 %.

This type of production, as different so many people, comes from the chance, of a frost that plundered unprepared the German vine-growers at the end of the XVIIIth. Other methods exist, also natives, to obtain wines concentrated like made famous of noble rottenness of Barsac or Sauternes or the dehydration with the exhibition of the clusters to the Sun of the Pedro Ximenez. In all the cases, there are obtained strong, very aromatic, honeyed and delicate wines. Also it is sucedáneos to the wine of ice (' I saw of gel ' of the Penedés), foreign to the climatic risk, with the process of the crioconcentración, that is to say, with production of industrial cold to freeze the grapes, the must or the wine.

But the certain thing is that in a few months, Wineries Tritium, it will bottle " for friends and clients ", the first wine of ice, native, of Rioja and the second one of Spain. And in the future: "We" "will" "See", answers Francisco Rubio. " If it goes out well, we will return to try with something more grape, but we depend on the climatology and it does not stop being an enterteining experience, for friends and little any more ".