2018 Proelio Garnacha Vinedos Viejos Rioja 750 ml

The Proelio Vinedos Viejos takes an extraordinary amount of trouble and effort to make. Is it worth it?

To anyone who tastes the sophisticated, silky 2018, there’s no question.

Proelio manages 60 individual micro-plots of old vine Garnacha, spread across the villages of both Badarán and Cardenas in Rioja. Each one requires time and attention. Those vines were planted as far back as 1910, and age brings concentration, complexity, and character—but not yields. Paltry clusters of tiny berries hang on those vines, but they take just as much work to farm and harvest as younger plants would. The resulting wine is a stunner. 

While Rioja is most famous for Tempranillo, Garnacha (Grenache) has been a mainstay of the region for centuries. But as modern tastes have moved toward darker and more structured wines—and as modern viticulture and clonal selection increased yields in Tempranillo vines—much of the Garnacha has been ripped out.

Like with old Zinfandel vineyards in California, the old-vine Garnacha that’s survived this transition is special stuff: There was no other incentive to keep it in the ground. Unfortunately, many of the plots are tiny—picture glorified home vineyards, kept around because their fruit was exceptional. 

Proelio is backed by the powerful Palacios family—one of the most important winemaking clans in the world—and they have the financial heft to pursue quality at all costs. In this case, the result is a wine with beautiful red-fruit flavors, floral tones, and a hint of wild herbs—one that pairs as admirably with a rosemary-accented crown roast of pork as it does with takeout hummus and falafel.