2010 Bodegas Vinsacro Dioro Rioja is sold out.

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  • 92 pts Wine Advocate
    92 pts RPWA
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2010 Bodegas Vinsacro Dioro Rioja 750 ml

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  • Curated by unrivaled experts
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  • Temperature controlled shipping options
  • Get credited back if a wine fails to impress

Greatest Vintage in 50 Years: The High Ground of Rioja Baja

We first discovered the astounding Riojas of Bodegas Valsacro nearly 10 years ago at a Penin tasting of the top wines of Spain at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park. The Spanish wine market was exploding in NYC. The hall was packed — no surprise, given the names of the producers in attendance.

There was a crowd huddling around Señor Escudero’s table and, like the Palacios and Vega Sicilia booths, few seemed particularly interested in moving on. The wine responsible for attracting the horde of sommeliers, importers, and retailers was a 200-case lot of the Bodegas Valsacro Dioro Selección from the superb 2001 vintage, on the heels of a much-deserved 96-point review from Robert Parker in The Wine Advocate. Like all seasoned New Yorkers, we elbowed our way to the front of the line for a taste of what would turn out to be one of the two or three most astounding wines of the afternoon.

As we’d learn that day at the Met, the Es­cud­ero fam­i­ly owns nearly 150 hectares of vine­yards in Rioja Baja on the south­ern slope of Mount Yer­ga, at al­ti­tudes be­tween 1,200 and 2,000 feet above sea lev­el. While the vines av­er­age 50 years of age, many are more than a cen­tu­ry old. We were shown pictures of vineyard rows littered with pebbles, helping to explain both the small yields and extreme concentration of the superb 2001 vintage.

The Escuderos would be obliged to wait almost a decade for a vintage that would trump 2001. As was the case at every world-class estate of Rioja, the 2010 harvest — rated the “best in 50 years” by Wine Spectator — made for one of the most extraordinary Riojas in the 160-year history of this historic property, a wine that once again brought Parker’s Wine Advocate to its knees.

Drawn from an old-vine field blend of Tempranillo (50%), Garnacha (20%), and 30% a mix of mainly Graciano (10%) & Mazuelo (10%) with a little of Monastrell (5%) & Bobal (5%), the 2010 Vinsacro Dioro is a gentle monster. Inky purple with explosive aromas of blackberry and mountain blueberry, violets, and new-wood cooperage. Modernistic in style with almost Napa Valley flair, this a brilliant effort from Señor Escudero that takes us back nearly 10 years to the packed house at the Met.

$30 on release. Just $18.99 today, shipping included on 6. The last 40 cases are now up for grabs.