Started in 1998 by two Rioja natives working in the wine industry but lacking ancestral lands, the name of the winery is a blend or their names, Luis Valentín and Carmen Enciso, and would be pronounced val-en-THEECE-o in Castilian Spanish, but feel free to use American Spanish pronunciation, val-en-SEES-o. We do. Anyway, the winery makes just one wine for each category of white, rose, and red, with the red always falling in the Reserva or Gran Reserva category, depending on the year, as they only release the wines when they are ready. This 2011 is the current vintage! The farming here in the farthest Northwest part of Rioja is organic, and the hand-harvested fruit is rigorously selected to give aromatics over physical weight and alcohol. The 100% Tempranillo grapes are fermented in cement, which allows a little oxygen and evens out fermentation temperatures, and is aged for a long time in French oak, with one third being new. This is a wine that would be a perfect accompaniment for a strongly spiced, braised pork shoulder.