Valenciso Rioja Selección Especial Reserva 2020

Valenciso's Selección Especial Reserva is the estate's flagship, made from old-vine Tempranillo of at least sixty years across seventeen organically farmed plots.

Valenciso works out of Ollauri, a village in the far north of Rioja Alta four kilometres from Haro, in what Alberto Gil and Antonio Remesal Villar have proposed as the Western Sonsierra zone. The seventeen plots behind this wine lie within a five-kilometre radius of the winery, spread across Villalba, Gimileo, Rodezno, Briones and Haro, on clay and limestone soils at altitudes reaching 600 metres. All are farmed organically and picked by hand, and the Tempranillo in this cuvée is no less than sixty years old. Fermentation is natural and takes place in concrete vats, after which the wine spends eighteen months in mostly low-toast Radoux French oak barriques, with around ten per cent in low-toast Caucasus oak to reduce the wood signature further. It then returns to cool concrete for a further twenty-four months to settle, and is bottled without fining or filtration.

Drinking now after its long pre-release rest and capable of fifteen years or more. Serve at 16-18°C with roast lamb, grilled ox cheek or a mature Manchego.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.