2012 Vina Herminia Rioja Excelsus 750 ml

Historically Low-Yield 2012 Growing Season Puts Rioja Reds Into Power Drive

Rioja’s 2012 vintage produced wines of sheer power, with sumptuous and extravagantly concentrated flavors. Yields in the 2012 growing season in Rioja were among the lowest of the last TWO decades. But the tiny clusters showed a deep, opulent concentration unlike anyone had seen in years. These were big, powerful, swaggering wines, able to go toe-to-toe with some of Napa’s brawniest.

However, the historically low yields, combined with Spain’s quickly accelerating economy, meant the 2012s were selling at a price point above our heads. We’d already moved on to allocating the buzzy 2014s and ‘15s when one of those calls came in to HQ that we wait all year for.

After a deal fell through, the importer was left with the last of his stock of the 2012 Viña Herminia “Excelsus.” Normally these wines — from an exceptional producer nestled in the foothills of the Sierra de Yerga and Ebro River — would go for $24 a bottle. We were getting them for a song. Just by picking up the phone, we’d locked into the easiest sell of the whole week.

Few wines benefited from the hot 2012 growing season as much as the Viña Herminia “Excelsus.” A 50/50 blend of darkly muscled Tempranillo and floral Garnacha, this red is absolutely bursting with red-fruit concentration and massive depth. It is a decidedly modern Rioja, full of New World plushness, shrugging off the local tradition of aging in large American oak casks. Given the almost wild richness and intensity of the wild-berry Tempranillo, there was no reason to pepper the wine with rusticity. Instead this wine sees eight months inside new French oak, leading to a denser, darker profile.

The 2009 Excelsus was #39 on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2013. If anything, the 2012 matches its red-fruit intensity and does it one better. Garnet in hue, with luscious aromas of crushed red cherry, fresh strawberries and savory herbs, tinged with new-wood vanilla. The attack is massive, filled with dark red fruits and white pepper, warm and voluminous, showing unusual depth and superlative fruit-to-acidity balance. A long, chiseled, clearly defined finish.

Antonio Galloni’s Vinous praised its “expressive” dark berry fruit, calling it “plush” with “very good tenacity” and pinned on 90 points.

122 cases. $25 on release. $15.99 for a VERY short while today … ONLY at WineAccess. With grilling season upon us, sock a case or two away and pair with tender, medium-rare lamb chops through the lengthening days of spring and summer.