2006 Bodegas Berceo Los Dominios de Berceo 36 Rioja Reserva 750 ml

Nearly a full century ago, Spanish workers planted Tempranillo vines in one of the highest spots in the Rioja Alavesa village of Elciego. 

The gnarled, bush-trained vines on the site, known as Vineyard 36 because of the year of its founding, eke out a tiny amount of precious Tempranillo every year—and the historic Dominios de Berceo taps it for one of their top wines.

Dominios de Berceo was named after the medieval poet Gonzalo de Berceo. Their estate vineyards, predominantly planted with Tempranillo, are situated in an area characterized by chalky-clay soils and influenced by the Sierra de la Demanda mountains' microclimate.

Their 36 Rioja Reserva is undoubtedly one of the highlights of their intentionally limited production: Unlike Gran Reservas that see extra-long aging in oak, which can dry out the wine, Dominios de Bercero makes this bottling with an élevage that would be just at home in Pauillac as it is near the Ebro river.

That starts with winemaking decisions that prize fruit quality—yields off the 1936-planted vines are tiny, and so they’re hand-harvested by a select team within their harvest staff. Hand sorting the grapes into small, 12kg boxes to prevent any of the bunches from being crushed, they’re carefully transported to the winery and then fermented in stainless steel with twice-daily pumpovers to ensure extraction without harsh tannins.

Finally, the finished wine is moved into French oak barriques—where it ages for a full 24 months to tame Tempranillo’s sometimes fierce tannins. If that was the end of the story, it would still be noteworthy. But these bottles were laid down in the winery’s cellar in 2008 and then sat until recently, when we secured a small tranche.