2012 Valenciso Rioja Reserva 10 Anos Despues, Rioja

Ten Years After, as a British rock band was called, is a good name for a wine too. This pure Tempranillo from the hot 2012 vintage was fermented in concrete before ageing in Caucasian oak. Spicy and well-structured, with leather, tobacco and dark berry fruit flavours and a sweet, balsamic finish. Appealingly mature. 2024-35.

95 points Tim Atkin 2023 Rioja Report

The subtle, elegant and complex 2012 10 Años Después (10 years after!) matured for four years in concrete followed by four more years in Caucasian oak barrels that polished it. It has an incredible 15% alcohol, which doesn't show at all, and the wine comes through as balanced and elegant, powerful too but with no excess. It finished very tasty.

94 points Luis Gutiérrez robertparker.com

The 2012 is just the sixth release of this wonderful and unconventional Rioja. As before, the Tempranillo here is sourced from Valenciso’s highest parcel of vines, a 75-year-old vineyard in Villalba. This parcel produces exceptional, ripe fruit with high acidity that is perfectly bred for long aging. Fermented wild, the wine initially ages in a 50-hectolitre concrete tank for five years, then rests for 40 months in low-toast Caucasian oak (the same barrels Valenciso uses for the Rioja Blanco). It was released in 2022, 10 years after the harvest, hence the name 10 Años Después (‘10 Years After’).
 
Interestingly, the extended aging in concrete results in no loss of colour and has only seemed to intensify the wine’s fruit purity and aromatic expression. Again, tasted in Spain this year, it looks so fresh and vibrant with radiant raspberry sweetness, pine-scented fruit, and a deep core of iodine-like complexity underpinned by silk-spun tannins and a classy, gliding finish. Sheer brilliance that—like all the wines from this exemplary estate—should not be missed.