Tempranillo

Food pairings: Rice dishes, pasta, vegetables, stews, sausages, pork, roast or grilled meats and young to medium-cured cheeses.

Winemaking: A young red Rioja. The grapes were fermented in small stainless-steel tanks at a controlled temperature below 25 °C, and after malolactic fermentation the wine stayed in stainless steel until bottling, keeping the focus on bright, fresh fruit.

Vineyards and terroir: The fruit comes from vineyards planted on limestone, clay-rich soils in Rioja Alavesa, as the label states. Gil Family Estates' Rioja winery, Bodegas Rosario Vera in Laguardia, chose the area for its proximity to the Sierra de Cantabria, the mountain range that shelters La Rioja from maritime influence; its vineyards are small plots planted 15 to 60 years ago on calcareous clay at high altitude.

Family and history: Honoro Vera is the Gil Family Estates range that showcases native varieties from its wineries in four Spanish appellations: Jumilla, Calatayud, Rueda and Rioja. The family's first winery was founded by Juan Gil Jiménez in Jumilla in 1916. Its Rioja home, Bodegas Rosario Vera, was founded in 2017 and is named in tribute to the mother and co-founder of the family label more than a hundred years ago. The wines are imported to the US by Gil Family Estates USA.

In the pictures: Vineyards in Rioja Alavesa beneath the Sierra de Cantabria (photo: Gil Family Estates, Bodegas Rosario Vera).