Valenciso Reserva Rioja 2015

As always, this is 100% handpicked Tempranillo from the clay/limestone soils around Haro. The grapes come from 11 plots, including Villalba, Rodezno Briones and Ollauri, all managed under strict culture raisonnée guidelines and cropped at well below the regional guidelines (of 38 hectolitres per hectare). Valenciso ferment in cement vats with native yeasts, and the wine is then aged for 16 months in low-toast French oak barriques, one-third replaced each year.

Although many ‘traditional’ Rioja are aged in US oak, you might be surprised to hear that French oak has a much longer history in the region. Records show that French and Bosnian oak were the norm before WWI. The hardship that followed saw the adoption of the cheaper and more plentiful American equivalent.

When you taste a wine like this it is easy to see what was lost with this change.