This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Why a giant water balloon is the secret behind an award-winning Rioja
Taking inspiration from centuries-old techniques, Remírez de Ganuza patented a new production process to make Trasnocho.
The process for Trasnocho, the innovative wine from Remírez de Ganuza, may not look much like classic Rioja winemaking. The oak barrels are there, admittedly, and the wine still relies on carefully selected grapes from old vines. The gigantic water balloon, however, is hardly typical.
Yet the unusual wine, first made in 2001, evolved from years of winemaking experience. In fact, the equipment behind Trasnocho answers a question that has perplexed many winemakers over the centuries.
While free run juice is often lauded as the best ingredient for fine wines, Remírez de Ganuza saw potential in the rest of the batch. Realising that potential, however, was not simple. As owner Jose Ramón Urtasun comments, it required thinking outside the box.
“The wine that is in contact with the skins at the bottom of the fermentation tank is high quality wine,” he says. “By pressing the skins in the pressing machine you ruin it, producing a second quality wine, but it’s important to understand that the problem is not with the wine itself but with the technique.”
Under pressure
The solution, as the bodega discovered, was to apply consistent, gentle pressure to the skins in the fermentation tank. It took inspiration from centuries of winemaking. The name Trasnocho, meaning late night, refers to the long-established practice of leaving grape skins in a lagar overnight so that the concentrated wine could slowly drip out.
The patented technique, however, is very modern. Once the free run juice has been removed, the winery team places a large empty bag in the tank. It is slowly filled with air and water, gently pressing against the skins and releasing the concentrated wine.
The final product shows a markedly different character to free run wine. “We could say it’s more intense in every way, in terms of aromas and flavours,” Urtasun explains, “but it’s also more tannic.”
“These are polished and round tannins, not green or aggressive, but no doubt they are present.”
The process, he believes, is ideally suited to Remírez de Ganuza’s Tempranillo, sourced from very old vines located in the northern part of Rioja, close to the Sierra Cantabria. Their combination of freshness and complexity is enhanced by the method. It means, in keeping with Remírez de Ganuza’s broader philosophy, the wines can be kept for decades.
Keeping an open mind
With more than 20 vintages behind them – the wine is made every year – the technology is no longer quite as shiny and fresh as it once was. Yet it remains a one-of-a-kind creation, and a strong example of the attitude that guides the bodega.
“Since the very first steps back in the 1990s,” Urtasun says, “Fernando Remírez de Ganuza questioned everything that was done by tradition. That is why we were immediately considered to be a modern producer.”
Thus the producer is never content to rest on its laurels: “Every year we test a few innovations. These innovations sometimes become part of our winemaking, sometimes they don’t, but we are always trying new methods.”
For Rioja producers such a spirit may prove essential. Exports from the region have recently declined and, as with many regions, climate change looms large as a potential threat. Urtasun, however, still sees plenty of cause for optimism.
“Rioja is, in my opinion, in a beautiful and extreme moment,” he says. “We are having at the same moment the largest sales crisis I can remember and the most beautiful winemaking moment with more diversity, quality and innovation than ever.”
“It’s honestly a beautiful moment in history to visit Rioja and learn from everyone, from the smallest young producers to the most traditional ones.”
Trasnocho secured a Master medal, the top award, at The Rioja Masters 2024. Patrick Schmitt MW provides his tasting note below.
Trasnocho 2009
- Producer: Remírez de Ganuza
- Region: Rioja
- Country: Spain
- Grape varieties: 90% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano, 5% Viura/Malvasía
- ABV: 14.5%
- Approx. retail price: £103
Called Trasnocho – a Spanish term for a very late night – this is certainly a Rioja for sipping well into the early hours of the morning, with its more-ish combination of sweet fruit and fresh acidity. Adding to its lasting appeal are the complementary flavours of stewed cherries, prunes, black pepper, leather and coconut shavings, along with its medium-weight, smooth-textured mouthfeel, as well as fine tannins, ensuring there’s a dry finish.
Related news
Can AI save Rioja's next vintage?