Vina Valoria Rioja 1968

Rioja is one of the world’s most famous wine growing regions and this winery, Vina Valoria, can brag that they’ve been producing wines from the area since the 60s….1860’s that is! That makes Vina Valoria the fifth oldest producer in the region and one of only ten producers to be allowed to release “old vintages” from before 1980.

NZ Master of Wine Steve Bennett regularly travels through Europe sniffing, swirling and spitting his way through thousands of wines to find the best and the best of the best to chuck on a boat and bring into Aotearoa.

This is their mightily impressive 1968 Rioja. At 51 years of age and still going strong this is older than anyone in our office – and more than a couple of the younger warehouse boys put together! Only 3,000 bottles of this vintage were released with the wine decantered and re-labelled from its original bottles. NZ received a little over 5 dozen in total of those 3,000 bottles! This is a rare opportunity to try a wine of this kind of age with each bottle individually numbered too.

Dust off the cork screw (you’ll need it here!) and pair this Spanish beauty with roasted and grilled red meats, especially lamb, as well as mature cheeses and hearty stews. Open this one up and let it breathe for an hour or so before pouring – then enjoy!