We are going to end our four-part series on the different ageing categories for wines from the Rioja D.O.Ca. on a high note.
Today, it’s time to talk about Gran Reserva; the highest echelon. There is nothing that comes above; anything that exceeds the minimum periods of ageing and laying-down that we will outline below would still bear the name of “Gran Reserva”.
To do so, as always, we will start the current requirements of wines that boast this distinction in legislative terms.
White and rosé wines must have spent a total ageing period of 48 months between oak barrel and storage in bottle, as a minimum, with a period of at least six months ageing in oak.
As for reds, the ageing period required is 24 months in oak barrels, followed and complemented by 36 months’ bottle ageing.
So, added together we are talking about a total of 60 months, 5 years. Once again Montecillo exceeds these requirements, and, what’s more, we do so with two different wines as we have two red wines with this classification.
Firstly we have the «simple» Gran Reserva for which the grapes are selected at their perfect stage of ripeness from the oldest vineyards in the area.
This is important as only the highest quality grapes in perfect health can survive ageing in oak barrels for 26 months followed by another 36 months in the bottle-ageing cellar without becoming «maderized».
Going back to simple mathematics we are talking 62 months. This is what we demand for our Gran Reserva. Even so, the latest vintage of the exceptional Montecillo Gran Reserva is 2008. Back when the Spanish football team had not even won their first World Cup!
More than eight years have passed since we released our most exclusive wine that is produced on a recurring basis.
Even so, we have another wine that is even more special, or, better said, exceptional: Montecillo Gran Reserva Selección Especial.
If we spoke before about the best grapes, this wine is only released in vintages of legendary vine quality, of the required level in our estates to justify allocating them to another wine: the “Selección Especial”.
Aside from this, if the contents are insurmountable…the barrel can be no less, for this wine we only use the best Bordeaux barrels. As we told you it gives resinous and balsamic notes to the wine, as well as giving the structure required for its epic storage.
Recently we opened a Montecillo 1987, and we able to check that the lifespan of this wine is more than several decades, without any problem.
Currently, the wine on sale is the 2001, one of the greatest vintages in the history of the D.O.Ca. Rioja, without doubt of the quality of 1994, 1982, 1970 and 1964.
Knowing how to enjoy the passage of time with wines as special as these is priceless!
And the fact is that Spain does not suffer as much in terms of market volatility, as we are not so dependent on the price fluctuations that are created in other regions through the unfortunate speculation that occurs on certain labels considered to be «Collectors’ Items.»
In our country, when wines are released to market they tend to be priced similarly to the previous vintage, and the product only gets more expensive with the passing of time.
Search on Google for the price of a 1982 Montecillo and you can see for yourself.
However, in other regions, such as Bordeaux, there is already a difference in release price according to the classification of the vintage, as they are wines that are so orientated to international markets that are only interested in the sales potential, increasing considerably the significant value of those that are not excellent.
It is not unusual for a winery in Bordeaux to sell one vintage at half or double the price of the subsequent one (depending on the way you are looking at it.)
This, fortunately, does not occur in Spain.
