2023 Olivier Riviere Gabaxo Rioja

Olivier’s only wine that blends fruit from a range of sites within Rioja. Grapes are hand harvested, left whole cluster and fermented in concrete vats. Aged 12 months in foudre and 500L French Oak Demi muds. Gabaxo is a not wholly flattering term for a French border jumper – a nickname that Olivier embraces with pride. Along with Bastid, Olivier considers Gabaxo to be equivalent to Côte de Nuits version of Rioja.

Coming from France, Olivier has an innate sense of terroir. Unlike many of his peers in Rioja, he bases his cuvées not on political boundaries or the length of barrel aging but on terroir. He believes in a quality hierarchy inspired by Burgundy with generic Appellation and Village wines at the base and Premier and Grand cru wines at the top. This is how to understand best what Olivier is doing in Rioja, rather than the traditional Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva model or traditionalists versus modernists.