Jarrai iezaguzu
Jarrai iezaguzu
Where to eat
Wineries in the Basque Country
The Amaren winery is much more than just a high-quality wine. It is a veritable ode to hard work, tradition, care for the vineyards and working by hand at home, and all these things rest on one pillar: Ángeles, the mother of Juan Luis Cañas, founder of the modern winery. Hence the name: Amaren means “of the mother”. It is precisely hard work and love of the job of winemaking that characterises the process of making Amaren wines.
The winery has 22 hectares of vines over 60 years old and 30 hectares aged between 30 and 60 years, spread over several plots, most of them less than a hectare and with vines of an average age reaching in some cases up to a hundred years. All of them contain the essence of the passing of time and the unstoppable course of nature. The qualities become properties that can be detected with all five senses. Unique, exclusive vineyards requiring painstaking care that rules out the use of aggressive substances on the crops and encourages organic methods. This way of doing things cares not only for the environment, but also for consumers' well-being, so fitting in with the warm, homely philosophy of the winery, and above all the maternal spirit that comes from the figure of Ángeles.
But warmth is not incompatible with rigour, just as tradition can go hand in hand with innovation. Moreover, Amaren remains true to four singular features. It does not produce its wines every year, but only when their quality allows it; the grapes are harvested entirely manually and each plot is used for a different wine depending on its yield, the direction it faces, where it is, the soil and the age of the vines; also, the grapes are brought in in small plastic crates and upon arrival in the winery first the bunches and then the individual grapes are checked by hand, one by one. The winery also has modern winemaking systems, consisting of wooden vats and small stainless steel tanks, then ageing the wines in top-quality French and American oak barrels. Amaren's cutting-edge techniques are in perfect harmony with the hundred year-old beauty of its premises. The 16th-century rock-hewn cellar in which its wines are laid down is not just an underground marvel that simply has to be seen, but also shows that it is possible to create a wine by hand, keeping tradition alive but adding the latest features.
The winery's five wines represent this harmony perfectly: Blanco Barrica, Crianza, Ángeles de Amaren, Reserva Tempranillo and Monovarietal Graciano. Amaren is a delicious homage to the woman from whom Juan Luis got his love of the countryside and its fruits; but above all, the winery is a declaration of intent. A winery that chooses to keep up the craft approach, the essential, respect for nature and above all quality rather than quantity.
