I get lots of questions about cellaring wines and the best time to drink our various offerings. The Rioja wines offer a lot of potential if you really like to lay your wines down. Here is a general guide as when to drink the various styles from this offering.
Un-oaked Whites – This includes the 2010 Oiz Blanco and 2010Munnarate.These wines are stainless steel fermented and designed as “young wines” which means you should try to drink them within the next 2 years.
Oaked Whites – This includes the 2009 Valserrano Blanco, which is a barrel fermented “oxidative” style. These wines normally aged quite well and it should peak in around 2 years and drink well for a further 3-4 years.
Crianzas – This includes the 2007 Solabal and 2007 Launa Plus wines. This category has changed significantly over the last 10 years in Rioja. It was originally designed for wines not of “Reserva” quality but the 12-18 month barrel maturation seems to really suit Tempranillo based wines. So much so that I prefer many of the Crianzas to the Reservas out there. Drink now and over the next 6 years.
Reservas – This includes the 2006 Launa, 2005 Valserrano and 2006 Solabal wines. These wines have already seen a good deal of time ageing in barrel and bottle, but are often so robust that additional time in necessary before drinking them. I would start drinking them in 2 years and they will continue to drink well over the next 10 years.
If you have any cellaring questions or comments we’d love to hear from you!