Valenciso Rioja Cemento 2020

 A distinctive feature of Valenciso’s approach in the cellar has been the widespread use of concrete tanks for fermentation, a practise which allows for a gentler extraction of fruit and colour. Concrete vats were once a mainstay in Rioja, yet by the by the 1980s the tradition of fermenting and aging in cement vessels had largely been replaced by stainless steel and oak maturation. Today, thanks to its numerous advantages and a group of specialist manufacturers, concrete has found itself right back at the forefront of fashion.

 While all Valenciso’s wines see the inside of some concrete during their élevage, this new bottling, as the name suggests, has been fermented and raised entirely in concrete vats. It’s 100% Tempranillo drawn from a group of old-vine vineyards nestled in the limestone-rich hillsides of Haro and Ollauri. All up, this was aged for 30 months before bottling, resulting in a wonderfully bright and complex wine with wild blackberry and plum characters, laced with hints of black pepper in an elegant and rounded palate with fine, lingering tannins.