2022 Quiñón de Valmira, Álvaro Palacios, Rioja, Spain

Tank sample. 85% Garnacha, 15% other red grapes. From the village of Yerga, a Viñedo Singular on Monte Yerga. Vineyard of 3 ha, yield 14.5 hl/ha. 5,552 bottles produced.

An eye-opening Rioja which, despite its youth, seems open and inviting already. Smooth, ripe fruit on the palate but retains lovely elegance and freshness. Restrained notes of sappy wood and savoury characters all add to great complexity in the mouth. Violet and crushed rose on the nose. So much going on here. I think this is worth the price.

Drink 2024 - 2034

The 2022 Quiñon de Valmira, Perez’s wine from Eastern Rioja, is a blend of 85% Garnacha and a mixture of other varieties, cropped at 14.5hL/ha. It has a light, airy bouquet with black fruit, chimney soot and subtle sea spray scents. The palate is medium-bodied with a smooth and velvety opening. Plush tannins, lightly spiced, fresh and focused with a twist of bitter cherry and soy towards the finish. This is going to be very seductive. I adore its seamlessness.

Drink 2024 - 2038

The 2022 Quiñón de Valmira is a single-vineyard wine composed of 85% Garnacha and 15% other reds, sourced from Monte Yerga in Rioja Oriental and aged for 12 months in French oak foudres. Displaying a purple-red colour, the herbal nose showcases elder and sour cherry, along with mint and chamomile notes against a faint and delicate cedar backdrop. Dry and cleansing on the palate, the fairly chalky texture leads to a compact, long-lasting, Worcestershire sauce finish. This is a unique and tasty expression of Garnacha.

Drink 2027 - 2040

5,552 bottles produced.

Quiñón de Valmira is not just a wine. As Palacios’ top Rioja, it leads the transformation of Rioja Baja, now known as Rioja Oriental; puts the overlooked Garnacha back centre stage; and highlights the Sierra de Yerga as a fine vineyard origin. The palate is very appealing: succulent with a resounding red fruit and dark cherry ripeness, plus a lift of orange zest. Vivid, penetrating and long. Alvaro Palacios says Valmira is ‘all about the aftertaste and the length’—Viñedo singular.

Drink 2024 - 2028

This is exceptionally pure, nervy, and fragrant, with bright and incisive aromas that bring to mind red fruits with lavender and Mediterranean herbs, grapefruit zest, white pepper, and exotic spices. These make me think of mezcal. Formidable aromatics. The palate is equally seductive, fluid, and elegant. There is a bit more tannin presence this year, but it is still quite fine and silky, which enhances the elegance of this wine.

Drinkable now, but it will hold.

It comes in at 14% alcohol, with a pH of 3.5 and 5.3 grams of acidity. 5,680 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2024.

I tasted the 2022 Quiñón de Valmira that I had already tasted before bottling last year, but this time I tasted it from bottle and next to the 2023. The year seems to have marked a change in the weather and even the aromatic profiles of the wines, but the Garnacha seems to resist. It delivered what it promised but, unfortunately, suffered in the comparison with the superb 2023. It has a pale ruby colour with purple tints of youth.

It's 85% Garnacha not 58%, as I wrote last year), with the remaining 15% from other traditional varieties, fermented with a long maceration and some full clusters and matured in oak foudres for 17 months, after which it rested in concrete for another six months. It's floral, expressive, elegant and open, a little shier than the 2023, with ripeness, juicy red fruit and very fine tannins, just slightly dusty. It finishes dry and with some stony austerity that I loved.

Drink 2025 - 2040