Description
“If you asked me to name just one producer from Rioja that you should buy, it would be Valenciso … A small treasure in the great sea of Rioja.” Jesús Barquin one of the most influential wine critics in Spain who co authored the Spanish wine bible The Finest Wines of Rioja and Northwest Spain.
From humble beginnings, Valenciso have become a leading light amongst Rioja’s small, yet growing, band of micro, terroir-focused producers. Leaving behind excellent careers at Bodegas Palacio, Luis Valentin (Valen) and Carmen Enciso (…ciso) started Compania Bodeguera de Valenciso in 1998. The vineyards and cellar are located in Rioja Alta in Ollauri, Spain, a small village 4-km away from Haro. Only the best Tempranillo grapes are used, from mature, low yielding vineyards in the Rioja Alta. Valenciso is all about aromatic volume rather than physical weight – in the manner of French Burgundy and the greatest Riojas of the past. Ageing for the reserve takes place in French oak barriques, one-third replaced each year, while the white wine is raised in low toast Caucasian oak so as not to mark the wine.
The pair’s wines are much sought after by the top restaurants in Spain – Valenciso count the likes of Arzak and Racó de Can Fabes as key clients. Today, the wines can be found on some of the best wine lists Australia has to offer. Valenciso’s wines are complex, savoury, terroir-driven (as opposed to brand driven) Rioja, revealing Luis and Carmen’s preference for subtle, elegant and super refined wines.
Released only when the vintage suits, this delightfully unconventional Rioja is sourced from a selection of Valenciso’s highest parcels of Tempranillo in Villalba. With a minimum age of 85 years, these old-vine parcels produce the winning combination of concentrated fruit with the high acidity required to craft this unique style. Fermented with indigenous yeasts, the wine initially ages in a 50-hectolitre concrete tank for five years, then rests for 36 months in low-toast Caucasian oak (the same barrels Valenciso previously used for the Rioja Blanco). Polished for a final year in French oak, this was released in 2024, 10 years after the harvest, hence the name 10 Años Después (‘10 Years After’).
The classical 2014 vintage was superb for Valenciso, and the wine combines the texture and velveteen mouthfeel of traditional Rioja with the focus and precision of this grower’s wines. The extended aging in concrete results in no loss of colour and has only intensified the wine’s fruit purity and aromatic expression. Despite the age, it remains incredibly vivid and youthful with typical blackcurrant and pine-scented fruit, a lick of oak spice and a deep core of iodine-like complexity before closing with fine, melting tannins and an energising finish. It’s drinking beautifully and should hit its peak in another five years.
94 points, Tim Atkin, Rioja Report “The latest release of 10 Años Después, deliberately released after a decade in barrel and bottle, is still remarkably youthful for its age. Grippy and firm, with notes of damson and Christmas cake, spicy Caucasian oak, an earthy undertone and a backbone of acidity.”
RRP $150 Our Special Price $134 .99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine
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