Vinos del Panorámico (Rioja, Spain)
I am elated to bring Panorámico to the US for the very first time, particularly given their prominence on Michelin-starred tables across Europe and the UK — most notably as a longtime glass pour at the legendary El Cellar de Can Roca in Girona.
Daniel Rodriquez began Panorámico with his cousin, Alejandro, who left his post at Pingus to begin this project focused on reclaiming tiny parcels of old vines in La Rioja Alta. Their small lots are made alongside Daniel’s father Miguel Ángel Rodriquez of Bodegas Vinícola Real. Accessing several half-hectare parcels of indigenous varieties across the high elevation “Alto Najerilla” (above 720 meters) and “majuelos” (old vines, many over a century old) in the more complex and structured terroir of the “Iregua Valley”.
In addition to organic farming, hand-harvesting, rigorous selection, and everything else you’d want from a true vigneron — particularly Daniel’s aversion to American oak and preference for 500-liter lightly toasted French oak demi-muids that elevate the terroir and offer Rioja with juicy, drinkable fun.
Tasting his current vintages I was completely shocked at how juicy, refreshing, and delicious they are (not words I would have previously used to describe any wine from Rioja) :
Vinos del Panorámico 2019 Rioja Blanco (pdf tech sheet)
80% Viura and 20% Malvasia at 750+ meters elevation, these are old gobelet-trained vines with an average age of 40+ years. After a three-week cold maceration in tank, 4-month spontaneous fermentation and aging in French oak 500L demi-muids bring forth a reductive, fresh style of wine that highlights this unique limestone terroir.
Vinos del Panorámico 2019 Rioja Tinto (pdf tech sheet)
Sourced from two opposite terroirs, “La Rad”, with Mediterranean southern exposure and red clay soils at 550 meters, and “Las Yasas” on slopes at 720 meters and colder, stony limestone. Daniel and his father are big believers in Garnacha as a dominant force in the Rioja of old, and while many are ripping out the old vines, they seek them out. This particular cuvée has over 20% included for an aromatic liveliness one can only get from old-vine Garnacha.
Vinos del Panorámico 2021 Rioja Clarete (pdf tech sheet)
70% Viura from 750 meters that is gravity bled into concrete egg with whole clusters of 30% Garnacha Tinto from 80-year vines. These are co-fermented for a Rioja that tastes as if the ghost of Marcel Lapierre was somehow involved.
Daniel also produces three single-parcel bottlings, from the hills of Rioja Alta, each under half a hectare of old vines planted in the previous century:
Vinos del Panorámico 2018 Rioja Tinto “Caracuesta” (pdf tech sheet)
Caracuesta is planted to 100+ year-old bush vines of pure Garnacha grown at 650 meters elevation and shows the darker and spicier side of Grenache, which Daniel believes to have been the predominant cépage here before phylloxera.
Vinos del Panorámico 2017 Rioja Tinto “La Rad” (pdf tech sheet)
The majuelos at La Rad are predominantly Garnacha with roughly 10% white Viura co-planted among them. After one year in concrete egg, La Rad is racked into new French 500-liter"bocoys (demi-muids). Given the concentration of flavors from the 100-year-old vines in this remarkable parcel, the purity of fruit is mind-expanding.
Vinos del Panorámico 2018 Rioja Blanco “Tierroya” (pdf tech sheet)
Tierroya has 85-year-old vines of Viura at high elevation. A pristine example of how white Rioja can age with a golden "noble reduction" quality that might be mistaken for white Burgundy. That coupled with a long saline finish, indicates even more to come after further decades in the cellar.
