When Pedro Peciña founded his Old School bodega a quarter century ago, Rioja traditionalism was on life support, with only a handful of diehards remaining true to their classical values.

Most of the rest had abandoned traditionalism, adopting materials and methods that made their wines taste more like New World Cabernet than Tempranillo.

But Pedro’s bold wager paid off. Paralleling what’s happened in Piedmont, traditional Rioja is today very much back in fashion. And traditionally made Rioja blue chips dominate any list of the region’s most coveted wines. That has put Peciña squarely in the spotlight.

Arguably the most important voice today on Spanish wines, Wine Advocate’s Luis Gutierrez, calls Peciña a “new classic,” rating his wines at the same level as López de Heredia and CUNE.  And perhaps Peciña’s greatest wine to date is his single-vineyard, old-vine 2010 Finca Iscorta Gran Reserva.

We can offer this gem, shipped direct to us in our own temperature-controlled container, at the ludicrously low price of $42.95 a bottle. And we can do even better with a $240 6-pack

A Great Terroir

In founding his eponymous bodega, Peciña’s goal was to create a great estate loyal to the winemaking philosophies that, more than a century ago, made Rioja among the world's most distinctive and beloved wines.

He enjoyed an important advantage in assembling his domaine: having worked for 18 years as La Rioja Alta’s vineyard manager, he not only knew where the best vineyards were, he also knew their owners.

This enabled him to acquire some of the best vineyards in Rioja Alta, exclusively on the left bank of the Ebro, with its high elevations and chalky soil. And the crown jewel is Finca Iscorta.

Here Peciña farms 50-year-old vines—primarily Tempranillo, augmented by Garnacha and Graciano—on a gentle, north-facing limestone-clay marl slope at 500 meters elevation. The exposure, soils and elevation combine to produce fruit of remarkable harmony and elegance, concentrated by very-low yields.

Thoroughly Old School

And Pedro handles this fruit classically, fermenting with the indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, followed by three years in neutral American oak barricas, with frequent rackings, and three years in bottle before release.

The result is an important new Rioja Gran Reserva, reminiscent of the legendary Viña Reals, Bosconias and Monte Reals of the 1960s and early 1970s, but with a rich yet elegant character that is all its own.  

Poised to take its place with the region’s greats, it can be enjoyed now. Yet, it will age—just as those iconic López, CUNE and Riojanas wines have—for as long as you can keep from pulling the cork.

If you love the soul-satisfying complexity and texture of Rioja’s old school at its best, this is an essential purchase, especially at this price.