Valenciso Rioja Blanco 2023

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.

White Rioja is (back) on a roll and today is responsible for a sizeable proportion of Spain’s finest white wines. Valenciso was one of the first of Rioja’s modern classicists to recognise the vast potential of the region’s patrimony of old-vine Viura and Garnacha Blanca planted in the stony soils of the Rioja Alta. This super-classy white from 100-plus-year-old vines of Viura (70%) and Garnacha Blanca (30%) was grown on four small pockets of ancient, low-yielding highland vineyards around Rodezno, Haro and Villalba, all within a short drive from Valenciso’s cellar in Ollauri.

Fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged on lees in steam-bent, untoasted oak barrels, it’s an engagingly silky white redolent of stone fruits, crushed citrus, chalky saline elements and a silky, fleshy and vibrant palate. Luis Valentín believes this wine performs best in the trickier, cooler years, and 2023 has obliged. Look out for the creamy mouthfeel shot through by invigorating balancing acidity and a lengthy finish tinged with salty minerality and scented chamomile blossom. A shout out to Luis Valentín’s friend, the late Denis Dubourdieu (nicknamed the ‘Pope of white wine’ in Bordeaux), who played a key role in redefining a white which stands out as one of the purest, most vineyard-driven white Riojas on the market.

92 points, jamessuckling.com“Light meringue on the nose with hints of marzipan, wet stones, fine lees and white fruit. Fresh and effortless on the mid-weighted palate, showing nice fluidity, good freshness and balance. Lightly minerally and creamy in the finish. Viura and garnacha blanca. Drink now or hold.” 

RRP $79   Our Special Price $62.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine