2014 Tempranillo I’m Going to Take You Places
Rioja, Spain
This is our second release of Rioja with our partner Diego Santana of Valenciso. The first release was the one of the fastest selling wines we’ve released. The 2013 was a pump-monster when it arrived and just continued to get even frothier as it sat in bottle. We’re hoping our second time out will deliver a similar experience for everyone!
Valenciso is based around the town of Ollauri in the Rioja Alta area of northwestern Rioja. The geography is vivid with both the Ebro River and the Sierra de Cantebria mountain range hanging over their north shoulder. The soils here are clay calcareous with a continental climate. The vines are 35 years old, farmed sustainably with a mixture of organic and biodynamic practices. The grapes are hand harvested.
Fermentation takes place in cement with whole berry fruit and aging is in a mix of French and Russian oak for 12 months, with mostly older oak. After its time in wood the wine is placed back in concrete for 36 month before bottling.
The 2014 growing season in Rioja, like much of Europe, was a tricky one. The spring started with warm temperatures bringing early vine activity. But then temperatures cooled over the summer leaving the best producers like Valenciso to reduce crop and hope for some heat.September delivered much needed warmth, but unfortunately October was gray with rain. Overall the vintage has been declared “good” by the Riojans, which means deliciousness prevailed. All of this means badass lunch wine.
The wine itself is a spunky little nugget filled to the brim with smug raspberries and slightly stoic red licorice strips, a fingertip of anise and an eyelash bat of hazelnut drape the background. Totally fine for smashing in a rocks glass as you mow your way though the pastrami on rye you packed for lunch. I always like this style of wine with a slight chill on it. For those who love perfection, decant this daydream for an hour and then chill it for twenty minutes…poof…lights out.
The reckless label we’ve adorned the bottle with this year stems from a snap I took while boarding a plane to somewhere. The lighting was so good and my place in the queue was just right for me to line it up. I of course added a few touches to it once seated. A label on the fly.
Wine is one the rare items on this planet that truly transports you somewhere far away while sitting at home in your sweat pants. A quick smell of a glass and you swear your feet were dangling in the Ebro as you look up towards the Sierra de Cantabria. Pour yourself a glass darling, I’m going to take you places.
Things here are lovely
But over there
They are magical
For allocation requests or a list of available retailers please contact us.