Originally Posted by
andyonthego
Hi all, hope it is okay to post this question here...
My niece and god-daughter's birthday is coming up shortly and I'd like to get a case of wine from her birth year (2012) to put away for her until she is an adult. Budget = ~$400.
I have bought a lot of wine and mixed cases in my time, but never a case of a single vintage of wine that I intend to save for 20 years. I'm leaning toward Riojas for family tradition reasons.
Any recommendations for how to go about this? As far as I know, many 2012 wines aren't even on the shelves yet. I'm not wed to rioja but apparently 2012 was not a great year anywhere and so it is not a great loss to avoid other regions to maintain a family tradition.
Thanks.
Generally speaking, Any Riojas intended to be ageworthy are not bottled prior to spending at least two years aging in Oak barrels. And Rioja in particular is a region where the best and most age-worthy wines - typically called Grand Reservas, are not released to the market until they have been aged for a full five years, much of that in new Oak barrels. As you said that 2012 is not a highly reputed vintage, so there are not even likely to be any Grand Reservas and very few Reservas released from the 2012 vintage. So as a result, the vinification process for these wines is not yet even complete, and those wines which will be available from the 2012 vintage are probably going to be best drunk well before they are 20+ years old. It would be tough to recommend anything based upon anything other than the long-term reputation of the winery/vineyard at this point in time.
In general, some of the best, most ageworthy wines from the area come from the following producers:
La Rioja Alta - one of the oldest producers of ageworthy Reservas and Grand Reservas
Bodegas Muga - a newer, more modern winery, and my particular favorite winery in the region
Marques de Riscal - another famous old line producer - but my experience is that the wines below Grand Reserva class are nothing special - while their Grand Reservas can be great, I would doubt you'll ever see one from 2012.
Bodegas Lopez de Heredia - another old line artisinal producer.
That being said, you are probably at least 3 and a half years away from being able to buy any 2012 Rioja that's distinguished and ageworthy enough to improve for 20+ years. But those 4 wineries would be a good starting point.