Barón de Chirel was born as an experimental concept in 1986, using only the finest grapes from low yielding vines over 40 years of age. These trials produced such good results that the wine became a catalyst in the development of a whole new era for Rioja styles. Production is on a very limited scale and only in the best vintages, when the character of the vineyard, the soil and the variety are expressed as part of a single, harmonious whole. From the 1995 harvest onwards, Riscal make a manual selection of the grapes to be used in this great wine with the installation of sorting tables. Riscal was the first winery to introduce this system in Spain, a landmark in the production of fine wine. Fermentation takes place at a controlled temperature of 26ºC and the maceration period does not exceed 12 days. Malolactic fermentation takes place in wooden vats with a capacity of 20,000 litres and the wine is then aged for 20 months in American oak barriques. Finally, the wine spends at least a year rounding off in the bottle before being released for sale.