Top Rioja Wines for Collectors

The Cosecheros Alaveses winery, under the Artadi brand, produces outstanding wines from Rioja Alavesa: taut, powerful, and built to last! Viña El Pisón comes from a 2.4-hectare family vineyard in Laguardia, planted in 1945 and farmed organically. It needs at least ten years of cellaring after release, and owner Juan Carlos López de Lacalle is confident that his top wines will last at least 30-40 years. In 1985, the founders established the winery as a cooperative, but de Lacalle transformed it into a private business in 1992. When Robert Parker awarded El Pisón 100 points in 2004, the wine’s asking price soared, making it highly sought after today.

Respected Technical Director Jorge Navascués continues to take Contino to new heights; his single-vineyard star wine, the Viña del Olivo, has won awards far and wide for its velvety, supple texture, intense length, and depth of flavor. Part of the CVNE group, the estate’s vineyards surround the historic manor at Laserna. Tempranillo typically dominates the wine, and the winemaking methods are modern rather than traditional, with French oak taking precedence over American. The result is a stunning, balanced, complex wine.

Bodegas La Rioja Alta are traditionalists in a sea of ever-increasing new-wave wineries wishing to abandon Rioja’s historic wine style and winemaking methods. Their celebrated Gran Reserva 904 stands as a monument to the sublime nature of traditional Rioja. The current 2016 is 90% Tempranillo and 10% Graciano, aged for four years in American oak before further refinement in bottle; it has a complex, deep aroma and a deep garnet color with a bright ruby rim. Although approachable upon release, older vintages are highly sought after by savvy collectors of this venerable wine, making them particularly attractive.

One of Rioja’s oldest Bodegas, Marqués de Murrieta was established in 1852 by the great pioneer Luciano de Murrieta, who introduced Bordeaux techniques to the region and produced wines capable of aging and traveling. They remain staunch traditionalists, aging the wines for long periods. At one time, they would bottle the wines immediately from the barrel before shipping. Despite their concession to modernity with the fruit-driven Dalmau, their star wine remains the incredible Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial, made only in exceptional years. At its best, the wine is splendidly rich, complex, and of a different order—a true Rioja icon.

One of Rioja’s historic bodegas, Marqués de Riscal was founded in 1858 by Don Guillermo Hurtado de Amézaga and pioneered Bordeaux-style vinification in the region. Marqués de Riscal has always looked to Bordeaux for inspiration, a philosophy it took to another level with its superstar wine, Barón de Chirel. Made with Tempranillo and other varieties, it remains one of the region’s finest and longest-lived wines: rich, structured, and firm in its youth. It needs at least 5 to 7 years of bottle aging to be at its best. However, given the quality of the offer, the prices have remained reasonable.

Founded in 1987, this impressive modern bodega in Haro’s Barrio de la Estación has produced serious Rioja reds for decades, a fact reflected in the pedigree of Roda I Reserva. This wine is powerful and concentrated, yet it retains Tempranillo’s characteristic freshness and supple texture. However, the super-cuvée Cirsion causes the most excitement amongst collectors and connoisseurs. It is undoubtedly one of the best new-style Riojas – rich, structured, and cedary, a wine of real finesse and breeding.

Fernando Remírez de Ganuza established this top-quality Rioja bodega as recently as 1989. Today, they work with 80 hectares of estate-owned vineyards, made up of more than 200 parcels across nine municipalities. Trasnocho is one of their most distinctive reds, a wine of real class and distinction. It epitomizes modern, supercharged Rioja: opulent, exotic, massively extracted but balanced.