When you tally up Luis Valentín’s long tenure at Bodegas Palacio in Laguardia with his 25-plus years at Valenciso, you end up with a lifetime of experience. If you think this makes him part of the Rioja establishment, think again. Members of the establishment don’t fret about exaggerated yields and barren soils or write articles warning of their region’s obsession with low prices, emphasis on time in barrel rather than origin or a marketing strategy that rarely, if ever, talks about vineyards. Luis Valentín is, then, one of Rioja’s quiet pioneers. Before he established Valenciso with Carmen Enciso in 1998, Valentín was part of the Palacio team under owner Jean Gervais that created Cosme Palacio y Hermanos, a ground-breaking wine aged in French rather than American oak—something unheard of in the region then. While much has since changed, the years have done little to soften Valentín’s well-heeled innovatory spirit. This grower was one of the first in Rioja to embrace organic viticulture—even today, it is estimated that only 6% of Rioja’s vineyards are organic—while its forward-thinking use of concrete for both fermentation and aging attracts visiting winemakers from around the world. The success of the Cosme Palacio y Hermano label led, in part, to the sale of Bodegas Palacio in 1997, leading Valentín and his longtime colleague Carmen Enciso to establish Valenciso the following year. They chose Ollauri, pronounced oll-YOW-ree, in the traditional heartlands of the northern Rioja Alta and once home to Hemingway’s favourite producer, Paternina. I asked Valentín what drew him to set up at this place—he could have gone anywhere, right? His answer was typically pragmatic and detailed, taking many detours through his region’s history and wine culture. Foremost, he explained that Valenciso’s blueprint at the time was to make a single Rioja that tasted of where the grapes were grown rather than how it was made. And if you are going to make one terroir-driven wine—and one wine only—it better be damn good. Every year. In other words, placing the winery right where the best Tempranillo grapes were grown made perfect sense. And for Valentín, the greatest Tempranillo wines are grown from old bush-trained vines within the catchment of the Western Sonsierra zone. Here, in lee of the Sierra Cantabria range, the excellent limestone calcário soils and altitudes of up to 600 metres enable Valenciso to craft, in Luis’ words, “wines that shine not out of weight but of perfume”.