If Bodegas Juan Carlos Sancha is little known outside of Rioja or even Spain, it is certainly not because of the wines. Rather, it is probably due to the fact that the quantities produced here on just 5 hectares of vineyards are simply too small to be presented to the general public anywhere in the world. In the region itself, these wines enjoy cult status. Juan Carlos Sancha is actually a professor of oenology at the University of Rioja, but for years he has also been producing wine in one of the coolest corners of the Rioja Alta sub-region, in Banos de Rio Tobia. His parcels are located at 450 to almost 600 meters, which provides the grapes with sufficient cooling influences, which in turn ensures elegance and finesse and a subtle mineral freshness in the wines. However, it is not only the extraordinary quality of the wines that has made the bodega famous, but also the fact that Juan Carlos Sancha uses old and traditional Rioja grape varieties for his wines, especially those that are threatened with extinction. The Maturana tinto variety, for example, has been saved, and Tempranillo Blanco is increasingly attracting more attention from other winegrowers. His flagship wine, the Pena El Gato, comes from 95-year-old Garnacha vines in a plot that is so cool that, as Juan Carlos Sancha himself says, "cats don't even go in there". The parcels themselves are of course cultivated strictly according to ecological principles. The wines of Bodga Juan Caros Sancha have a great radiance, are clearly focused in their character and enjoy the highest reputation among experts and Rioja lovers. And, it should not go unmentioned, they are not even expensive.
