Compañía Bodeguera de Valenciso: with both feet firmly on the ground

01/02/2012

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“One bodega, one wine. Rioja Reserva”. These words paint a very clear picture of this bodega’s current state of affairs, whose name is derived from the harmonious union of the surnames of the two individuals who founded Compañía Bodeguera de Valenciso in 1998, and who still run it today: Luis Valentín and Carmen Enciso. However, in order to understand the road travelled since then, the motto written on the bodega’s coat of arms should also be added: ‘Fortune favours the bold’. After working for 15 years in management positions in a prestigious, centuries-old Rioja bodega, Carmen and Luis decided to “build our own bodega and make our own dream wine”. From that moment on, quality and consistency have been the bodega’s invariable trademarks.

To manage and run a bodega which produces just one wine, and not just any wine but a ‘Reserva’ to boot, requires not only courage, but also very firm ideas. Luis and Carmen learnt the tricks of the trade from Jean Gervais, the French oenologist and one of the pioneers behind the modernisation process of Rioja winemaking during the final decades of the last century. In 1998, with this wealth of knowledge under their belts they founded the Compañía Bodeguera de Valenciso; just the two of them together with 100 barrels, in rented premises, and with bought grapes, managed to produce a total of 30,000 bottles with their first vintage.

Little by little, giving priority to the wine, and trying not to get into debt (although some of the bottles produced from that first vintage were sold under the label of ‘Crianza’, as, understandably, some return on investment was needed in order for the company to find its feet), the venture went from strength to strength founded on quality. Ten years later, in 2008, they finished building their own bodega in the town of Ollauri, which is very close to Haro, in Rioja Alta. Currently, six individuals work full-time in its outstanding facilities, 80 per cent of the grapes are grown in their own vineyards, and they make 100,000 bottles per year (although the bodega has the capacity to make and age up to 150,000).