Valenciso Reserva Rioja 2018
ES00039

Valenciso Reserva Rioja 2018

$69.00
GST inc.

In stock

TASTING_NOTES_HEADING_BLACK

The last cold vintage we had’ is how Luis Valentin describes 2018, a vintage that saw 600mm of rain. This Rioja Alta Tempranillo from the area around Haro is suitably fresh, refined and focused, showing graceful tannins, chalky minerality and flavours of bramble and clementine. Tim Atkin, 2023 RIOJA SPECIAL REPORT
Valenciso's flagship Reserva is a selection of handpicked Tempranillo from the clay/limestone soils around Haro. The grapes are drawn from 17 plots spread across the villages of Villalba, Rodezno, Briones and Ollauri, all lie within a five-kilometre radius of the winery. The Reserva naturally fermented in concrete vats, and the wine was then aged for 18 months in (mostly) low-toast Radoux French oak barriques. In recent vintages, 10% of the wine has also been raised in low-toast Caucasus oak, further lessening the wine’s already minimal wood influence. Following aging in barrel, the wine was transferred back to concrete vats to settle for a further 24 months before release. Luis and Carmen find the wine clarifies so well in concrete that there is no need to fine or filter the wine before bottling. Importer note.

Critic Score:  95 Points
Drink from:  2023
Drink to:  2030
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Producer

Valenciso

From humble beginnings, Valenciso has risen to become a leading light among Rioja’s small yet growing band of terroir-focused producers. The story began in the late 1990s when wine industry veterans Luis Valentín (Valen…) and Carmen Enciso (…ciso) left behind outstanding careers at Bodegas Palacio and rented a small warehouse with barely enough space to produce their first vintage of 2,000 cases. Today, the vineyards and cellar are in the far north of Rioja Alta, in Ollauri, a small village four kilometres from Haro. Believing most of the region’s most outstanding wines derive from commune-specific precincts, Valentin and Enciso chose to focus on Ollauri and its immediate environs. Part of what has been proposed as the Western Sonsierra zone (by Alberto Gil and Antonio Remesal Villar in their compelling book, “Rioja: Vinos Silenciosos”), Ollauri’s vineyards are noted for their excellent calcário soils, altitudes of up to 600 meters and Atlantic-influenced climate. These factors are responsible for imparting depth and finesse into the Rioja Alta’s northern Tempranillo wines. As Valenciso continues to etch out its own distinctive space in the Rioja story, year in, year out, every wine from this producer points to constant progression. A distinctive feature of Luis and Carmen’s approach is the use of concrete tanks for fermentation, which allows for a gentler extraction of fruit and colour. Aging for the Reserva takes place in French oak barriques (only one-third replaced each year). All the Valenciso wines ferment naturally and are bottled unfiltered. In sum, these are complex, savoury, terroir-driven Rioja wines, revealing Luis and Carmen’s preference for subtlety, elegance and refinement.

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