Valenciso Rioja Reserva 10 Años Después 2012 (6 Bottles) Rioja, Spain

$597.00 GST Included

AUSTRALIA WIDE SHIPPING INCLUDED

This is just the third release of this unconventional Rioja and arguably the finest to date. This time around, the Valenciso team (Luis Valentín, Carmen Enciso and Ana Ruiz) selected three small parcels of fruit from 75-year-old vineyards in the north of Haro, and then aged the resultant wine in a single 50-hectolitre concrete tank for five years. It was then rested for 40 months in low-toast Caucasian oak (the same barrels Valenciso use for their Rioja Blanco). It was bottled in 2018, hence the name, which translates as ’10 years after’.

Interestingly, the extended aging in concrete results in no loss of colour and has only seemed to intensify the wine’s fruit purity and aromatic expression. Meanwhile the striking palate is both silky and savoury with a wonderful harmony of all components. It remains incredibly fresh and youthful, with blackcurrant and pine-scented fruit and a deep core of iodine-like complexity and fine tannins to close. Something very, very special.

“The purity of the  Años Después transports me to the Rioja wines from yesteryear, even if the élevage was quite different from those wines. This matured in concrete for four and a half years and the spend five and a half years in oak barrels from the Caucasus. It seems to have more stuffing than the 2007, and the oak is also better integrated. It feels young–you wouldn’t guess it’s already ten years old–and it has the textbook aromas from Rioja. This should have a long and positive development in bottle.” 94+ points. Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate

“As its name indicates, this small cuvée of 4,000 bottles is released ten years after the harvest. Made from just three top parcels, it’s more structured and robust than the Valenciso Reserva, with slightly marked oak but the same freshness and vivacity. This will live for some time yet.” 94 points, Tim Atkin, 2019 Rioja Special Report

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Description

ABOUT VALENCISO WINERY

Valenciso (val-en-THEECE-oh) was founded for the 1998 vintage by Luis VALENtín and Carmen EnCISO (hence Valen-ciso), Rioja natives with extensive experience in producing quality Rioja wines. Their objective was to produce a single wine of the highest quality and authenticity, released as Reserva.

Only the best Tempranillo grapes are used, from mature, low-yielding vineyards. Of the available fruit from the grower-partners, only a small percentage is selected. Careful harvesting is timed to capture the intensity of the fruit, while avoiding over-ripeness or excessive alcohol levels. Aromatic volume rather than physical weight – in the manner of French Burgundy and the greatest Rioja Altas of the past – is the Valenciso ideal.

Valenciso’s impeccable sense of proportion demonstrates rare winemaking maturity. Perfect balance offers early accessibility, while the evident structure, fresh acidity and fruit intensity promise many years of positive bottle evolution. This is as close as Spain gets to the wines of Burgundy, pure mouth perfume.

It is at once classic Rioja Alta Reserva, yet somehow more polished, more alive, with the only innovation being the use of French as opposed to American oak. And, as always, the wine is better for it!

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