The White Maturana

The vocation of the whole team at Palacios Vinos de Finca is not only to make the most of the heritage of the past but also to ensure a future for the wine-growing heritage that is being recovered. From the beginning, the White Maturana, a variety that was practically extinct in the territory, has been one of the pillars of Nivarius, our winery of white wines from La Rioja.

White Maturana is a variety that is beginning to recover from old vines. At first it was known as Ribadabia, vines that were found in the village of Sotés, at the foot of Moncalvillo. There is written evidence of it in the glosas millanenses de San Millán de la Cogolla, which is why it is considered one of the oldest varieties in Rioja.

In the studies that have been carried out on the Maturana Blanca, no similarity has been found with other varieties, although we could say that the closest relative, according to DNA, is the savagnin from the Jura. If we study the classification of vines, it is similar to the Galician Albariño or Riesling. It has a leaf with hardly any lobes, quite rounded and with small, tight clusters.

In the work we are carrying out at Palacios Vinos de Finca to find the most suitable plots and soils for each variety, we work with White Maturana at altitude, always around 700-800 metres, with clay and sandy soils. It is on the latter that White Maturana performs best. It gives the white wines roundness in the mouth and more balance, unlike clay, which always gives a little more alcohol.

In the countryside, being at high altitude and in very ventilated and cool areas, the grapes are grown organically, and in our case, we are in the process of certification. The wide day and night time range allows for slow ripening. Moreover, if we take into account that it is a long-cycle variety, the harvests, both alcoholic and phenolic, go hand in hand.

In the winery we work mainly in stainless steel tanks for long ageing, such as Albariño and Reisling, although we also play with foudres, concrete, wood of different sizes and vats. The experience of Palacios Vinos de Finca teaches us that with wood it is a variety that behaves very well, achieving a lot of extract, good acidity and freshness. It also gives it a high aromatic intensity, adapting very well to different volumes. The ageing on lees is giving us really surprising results.

It is, therefore, one of the most interesting native varieties of Rioja that shows its best expression in our Nivarius Edición Limitada.