This fleshy, classy white is crafted from 100-plus-year-old vines of Viura (70%) and Garnacha Blanca (30%). It is sourced from four ancient and low-yielding highland vineyards around Rodezno, Haro and Villalba. After a wild ferment, the wine was aged on lees in Russian, steam-bent, untoasted oak barrels (a fine-grained Caucasian wood that allows for excellent balance between fruit and oak) for nine months.

Laderas de Cabama is 100% Tempranillo, crafted from a single plot of 40-year-old vines in Ollauri. It grows on the classic clay/limestone soil profile of the Rioja Alta. This single-vineyard bottling used to be made in a similar style to Valenciso’s flagship Reserva, in that it was built to age in barrel and bottle before release. From the 2018 vintage, Valenciso has sought to craft Laderas de Cabama in a younger, more fruit-forward style. The fruit is picked a little earlier and the winemaking employs a portion of whole-berry, semi-carbonic fermentation, bringing a more primary, juicy profile. 

No new oak is used. Instead, fermentation occurs in cool concrete, followed by 14 months in used French oak barrels. The resulting wine is spicy and rich, with dark berry and plummy fruit, some spice and tobacco leaf notes from whole-bunch fermentation. It boasts good depth and a tea-scented, full-bodied finish. Great on its own, this will also suit a wide variety of meat dishes.

A distinctive feature of Valenciso’s approach in the cellar has been the widespread use of concrete tanks for fermentation. This practice allows for a gentler extraction of fruit and colour. Concrete vats were once a mainstay in Rioja but by the 1980s, the tradition of fermenting and aging in cement vessels had largely been replaced by stainless steel and oak maturation. Today, thanks to its numerous advantages and a group of specialist manufacturers, concrete is back at the forefront of fashion.

While all Valenciso’s wines see the inside of some concrete during maturation, this new bottling has—as the name suggests—been fermented and raised entirely in concrete vats. It’s 100% Tempranillo drawn from a group of old-vine sites nestled in the limestone-rich hillsides of Haro and Ollauri. All up, this was aged for 30 months before bottling, resulting in a wonderfully bright and complex wine with wild blackberry and red plum characters, laced with hints of black pepper in an elegant, rounded palate with fine, lingering tannins. Terrific.

Valenciso’s flagship Reserva is a selection of handpicked Tempranillo from the clay/limestone soils around Haro. The grapes are drawn from 29 plots spread across the villages of Villalba, Rodezno, Briones, Haro and Ollauri. They all lie within a five-kilometre radius of the winery. 

Part of what has been proposed as the Western Sonsierra zone (by Alberto Gil and Antonio Remesal Villar in Rioja: Vinos Silenciosos), Ollauri’s vineyards are noted for their excellent calcáreo soils, altitudes of up to 600 meters and Atlantic-influenced climate. All the vines are managed organically and cropped well below the regional limits. The youngest vines that make the grade here are 60 years old.

The Reserva fermented naturally in cement vats, and the wine then aged for 19 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 ageing 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 it before bottling.

From an Atlantic-styled vintage, 2015 is a more elegant and finessed release than the years on either side. Tasted at the estate this year, it’s a beautifully cool, spicy and elegant Rioja with plenty of strawberry sweetness spiked with resin, brown spices, blood and anise notes. It has a supple texture and a fresh, racy finish. Super classy

Valenciso's flagship perfectly encapsulates Luis Gutiérrez’s assertion that Valenciso is one of the most traditional of Rioja’s modern producers. From a selection of handpicked Tempranillo from the clay/limestone soils around Ollauri, the grapes are drawn from 17 organically managed plots spread across the villages of Villalba, Gimileo, Rodezno, Briones and Haro, all within a five-kilometre radius of the winery.

Part of what has been proposed as the Western Sonsierra zone (by Alberto Gil and Antonio Remesal Villar in Rioja: Vinos Silenciosos), these venerable sites lie at the heart of Rioja’s grower-producer genesis in the late 19th century.  Key to the quality includes the patrimony of old-vine Tempranillo (no less than 60 years old in this cuvée), excellent limestone calcário soils and altitudes of up to 600 metres. In the right hands, these historic terroirs imbue their wines with aromatic intensity and great structure for longevity. 

The wine ferments naturally in concrete vats before aging 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 is transferred back to cool 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 it before bottling. “We seek wines with aromatic volume, wines that shine not out of weight but of perfume,” explains Luis Valentín. Valenciso’s classy, beautifully poised 2018 Reserva does just that. 

The 2012 is just the sixth release of this wonderful and unconventional Rioja. As before, the Tempranillo here is sourced from Valenciso’s highest parcel of vines, a 75-year-old vineyard in Villalba. This parcel produces exceptional, ripe fruit with high acidity that is perfectly bred for long aging. Fermented wild, the wine initially ages in a 50-hectolitre concrete tank for five years, then rests for 40 months in low-toast Caucasian oak (the same barrels Valenciso uses for the Rioja Blanco). It was released in 2022, 10 years after the harvest, hence the name 10 Años Después (‘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. Again, tasted in Spain this year, it looks so fresh and vibrant with radiant raspberry sweetness, pine-scented fruit, and a deep core of iodine-like complexity underpinned by silk-spun tannins and a classy, gliding finish. Sheer brilliance that—like all the wines from this exemplary estate—should not be missed.