Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

5 minutes with… Olga Verde, technical director, Lagar de Fornelos

Published: 21 May, 2026

The 2021 was our first Lindeiros vintage. La Rioja Alta is an expert in aged wines. They looked for years and years around how to make a great white wine with the potential to be aged the same as our reds. It took five years to find what was our best plot to make an aged white wine. After many experiments, in 2021 we did Lindeiros. The wine comes from Troviscoso. It’s a plot that we have in Cambados, and it is our oldest vineyard, planted in 1987, which is quite old in terms of Rías Baixas. We decided to try different vessels and materials to ferment and to age: 50% stainless steel, 25% concrete egg and 25% 500-litre, second-use French barriques. We age it for 12 months and keep it in bottle for at least one more year. 2022 was the warmest and driest vintage that we can remember in Rías Baixas. I used to think the best vintages to age white wines were fresh ones like 2021. But now I don’t think the same. After drinking very old white wines, I am realising that warm and dry years have the potential to age well because they have a lot of structure. We have the acidity even if the year is warm. If you try both, 2022 is more powerful and full bodied. We work with the same philosophy, so everything we did for 2021 and 2022 in the winery we did in the same way.

Lagar de Fornelos: Rioja ageing nous for Galician whites

Published: 20 April, 2026

At Shoreditch’s buzzy Legado, Olga Verde (pictured), technical director of La Rioja Alta-owned Rías Baixas estate Lagar de Fornelos, guided Harpers through the winery’s latest vintages. This included the second vintage of the super-premium Lindeiros wine, which highlighted the ageability of these whites from this region.

Torre de Oña unveils new 'vino de autor'

Published: 19 March, 2025

Leading Rioja winery Torre de Oña has released the inaugural vintage (2021) of its new flagship cuvée: El Camino.

Spain Report: Evolution and discovery

Published: 21 October, 2024

Andrew Catchpole speaks to champions of Rioja about the opportunities and challenges presented by such a diverse and dynamic region.

Majestic enhances own-label range with La Rioja Alta and Kanonkop

Published: 02 May, 2024

Majestic has revamped its Definition wines, now known as the Definition by Majestic range, with the additions of La Rioja Alta, Kanonkop and La Commanderie de Peyrassol.

La Rioja Alta reaches new heights

Published: 15 February, 2024

La Rioja Alta, a leading Rioja wine producer, is to plant new vineyards at high altitude in the mountains of the Rioja Alavesa sub-region, company chairman Guillermo de Aranzabal has revealed.

Spain Report: Rioja Q&A

Published: 08 November, 2023

James Bayley speaks to a handful of key producers driving Rioja in export markets and what initiatives they have to take this forward…

Hallgarten Wines named UK on-trade distributor for Grupo La Rioja Alta

Published: 17 January, 2023

Specialist wine importer, Hallgarten & Novum Wines, has been appointed as the new UK on-trade distributor for iconic Spanish producer Grupo La Rioja Alta.

Galicia: Spain's Atlantic challenger

Published: 04 November, 2022

Spain’s north-west corner challenges the cliché of full-bodied, fully ripe wines associated with the country. Galicia is the gateway to Atlantic storms and Rías Baixas, its largest DO, a succession of estuaries that allow the ocean to penetrate inland and one of the world’s wettest wine regions with an average rainfall of 1,400–1,600mm. Its lush vines trained mainly in pergolas yield small, thick-skinned Albariño berries that are behind some of Spain’s best whites.

Tim Atkin MW: Singling out Rioja's merits

Published: 02 November, 2022

Modern and traditional are surprisingly slippery terms in Rioja and should be handled with caution. Techniques, ideas and debates that are considered contemporary turn out to have strong historical precedents. Reading Ludger Mees’ new book The History of Rioja Wine (Routledge), I was struck by how often the present echoes the past. As early as 1771 – long before Rioja became a famous wine region – people were grumbling about excessive yields and low prices, the very subjects that still exercise commentators, growers and producers today.

Armit releases ‘crown jewel’ Rioja

Published: 03 April, 2019

Armit Wines has announced the release of the third Gran Reserva from La Rioja Alta SA - Viña Arana Gran Reserva 2012, making La Rioja Alta one of only a few wineries in the region to have three Gran Reserva wines on the market.