2013 Bodegas Hermanos Pecina Senorio de P. Pecina Rioja Reserva 750 ml

Most define truly traditional Rioja by its aging, or by its varieties, or by the style’s current scarcity. We define it as Bodegas Hermanos Peciña. 

The Wine Advocate called the family-run estate “a new classic,” and this 2013 Señorio de P. Peciña Reserva combines careful winemaking, superb pedigree, and intricate nuance in a bottle that embodies everything we love about classically made Rioja. 

This back-vintage treasure brandishes stunning complexity, with a depth that meshes perfectly with the energy derived from the wine’s cool mountain-foothill sources. Vinous awarded it a 93-point score to this gorgeously cellared Rioja, and it’s drinking beautifully right now. 

Founder Pedro Peciña spent 18 years as vineyard manager for the famed La Rioja Alta estate, where he developed a keen eye for pristine vineyard sites. For his own venture, he selected several small plots at elevations up to 1886 feet, which sit below the Sierra Cantabria Mountains, near San Vicente. 

In the cellar, Peciña is decidedly old school, spurning the vinification techniques that many estates have turned to for faster, larger-scale productions. Peciña gave the 2013 Reserva three years in neutral American oak, during which he employed a painstaking racking technique. Instead of racking his wine from barrel to tank and back (like most wineries), Peciña racks from barrel to barrel twice per year, aided only by gravity. It’s a labor- and time-intensive practice that allows the wine to breathe and develop complex flavors, resulting in gorgeous clarity. 

This is a meticulously handcrafted wine from excellent terroir, a textbook Rioja with a depth you could contemplate all night, matched by an energy that will keep the glass to your lips.