2017 Bodegas Casa Primicia Vina Diezmo RV Rioja Reserva 750 ml

In medieval Laguardia, the church collected two taxes from the vineyards around town: the diezmo, a tenth of every harvest, and the primicia, the first fruits of the season. Both were gathered, and pressed into wine, inside one stone building at the town's heart—the Casa Primicia. Centuries later, the winery that occupies it named this bottle for that tithe.

The building still stands. It's the oldest civil structure in Laguardia, the capital of Rioja Alavesa, and the winery it houses is considered the oldest original winery in Spain, with roots reaching back to the 15th century. The Madrid family took it over in the 1970s and began making wine the old way again, in the centuries-old stone vats the building still holds, above its ancient underground cellars.

The Viña Diezmo is the family's tribute to that history—the range they point to when they talk about where Casa Primicia came from. It's also the label that first carried the estate onto the world stage: the 1987 Viña Diezmo Reserva won the Grand Prix d'Honneur at the Challenge International du Vin in Bordeaux, one of the top distinctions in a fiercely competitive field. That recognition convinced the family to invest in new barrels and chase a higher standard, and they've pursued it ever since.

The fruit comes from the higher, cooler reaches of the estate, in the foothills of the Sierra de Cantabria at the edge of the appellation. It's classic, elevated Rioja Alavesa terroir—altitude and mountain air that hold onto freshness and lend the Tempranillo its finer edges.

The 2017 vintage was officially rated Very Good in Rioja, a small, concentrated year shaped by an early spring frost and a dry summer that pushed the region into its earliest harvest on record. The upside of a lean crop is intensity, and the best 2017s marry that concentration with real elegance and the structure to age.

Made from 100% Tempranillo and aged 18 months in a mix of French and American oak, this is Rioja in a traditional register: savory, structured, and built to reward a little patience.