2018 Bodegas Casa Primicia Carravalseca Rioja Crianza 750 ml

We weren’t worried, per se, but we weren’t quiiiiiite sure we could find our way back out of the tunnels.

Our host for the tour of Casa Primicia’s extensive passages had disappeared around a corner, though which one was the cause of some disagreement. That left us to ponder the possibility of spending the rest of our lives in Primicia’s vaulted medieval tunnels, which boast a half-millennium of human history—and are now one of the most impressive barrel cellars in the world.

Thankfully, he returned before things got too bleak, bearing a sample from one of the multitude of casks that lined the walls. We’d been at it for an hour—each taste better than the last—and we kept wondering: “How were these wines not well represented in the States?”

It was a problem we had to solve…and we did, which is why we’re able to offer our members access to Casa Primicia’s 2018 Carravalseca Rioja Crianza.

This is a single-vineyard bottling from their famed Carravalseca Vineyard. This jewel of Rioja Alavesa, set on the shores of a natural lagoon, produces intensely concentrated wines that are a trademark of the best sites in the region.

Once the organically farmed grapes get hand-harvested and field-sorted into small crates—a labor-intensive step designed to minimize crushing the berries before they get to the winery—they’re cold-soaked to draw out all the Tempranillo’s rich fruit without extracting excess tannins. After fermentation, the wine is given a spare-no-expense 14 months in top-of-the-line new French and American oak barrels before aging further in bottle.