From The Wine Exchange
La Rioja Alta is one of Spain’s greatest and most beloved wineries. It produces classically elegant and polished Rioja wines that are always released after quite some time aging in their cellars. They do all the work, you don’t pay the price.
It’s a treat visiting them. It’s kind of like wine church when they throw open the doors of their massive aging cellars and you get the rush of decades of greatness just sitting there…waiting…for you. The only difference being most folks generally don’t have the Pavlovian reaction of uncontrollable drooling when actual church doors are opened.
And, honestly, this estate, which was already the pinnacle of Riojano winemaking, has taken their game to another level.
Case in point? The La Rioja Alta Rioja Reserva Viña Ardanza Seleccion Especial 2010, one of the finest wines ever made in Rioja, and virtually historically unmatched for the price.
The winery only produces their Viña Ardanza in outstanding vintages and they only make the wine a ‘Seleccion Especial’ in the greatest of greats.
How picky are they? Since 1964 there have been exactly four Viña Ardanza Seleccion Especial wines, 1964, 1973, 2001…and this wine, the epic 2010.
The 2010 harvest is indeed going to go down as an all-time great one in Rioja. The quality here is easily that of other legend harvest like 1964, 1994, 2001, 2004 and a couple others I’m probably leaving out. In short, perfect growing conditions lead to what may be the perfect example of classic Rioja.
How did we get to this point? We’ll let the folks at La Rioja Alta tell you.
The Tempranillo grapes (80%) come from our 30-year-old La Cuesta and Montecillo vineyards, located in Fuenmayor y Cenicero. The Garnacha (20%) comes from La Pedriza vineyard in Tudelilla (Rioja Baja). This 70 hectare property offers unbeatable conditions for growing this variety. Its nutrient-poor soil, covered with boulders, results in low grape yields and significant varietal typicity, rich in aromas, with a pleasant, elegant structure.
In March 2011, the selected wines were put in barrels to start ageing separately: the Tempranillo for 36 months with six manual rackings in American oak barrels averaging 4 years in age and the Garnacha for 30 months with five manual rackings in American oak barrels with two and three wines. The final blend took place after barrel ageing was completed. The wine was bottled in May 2015.
After that, the wine rested in bottle for several more years until the winery deemed it fit to release. Honestly, even at almost 10 years of age the wine remains remarkably embryonic, it is certainly still basking in the glow if its youth, quietly chuckling at those that would even assign a ‘drink’ or ‘full maturity’ date to it. Those dates simply don’t exist in this wine’s world, all of us will be able to enjoy its delight for the next half century…at least.
It’s certainly up there with the 2001 and 1964 as a pinnacle Rioja experience considering the absurdly reasonable price charged. There’s a reason us ‘normal’ folks drink buckets of Rioja, and this wine’s price/value is it.
