You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Rioja’ category.
By Miguel and José, Co-Editors
Our co-founder Miguel Álvaro de Campos is about to retire to his country estate in Alentejo and he has decided that he will no longer write about wine, from now on he will only enjoy it. Apparently all he wants to do is write verses, albeit inspired by wine. We wish him all the best in his new form of poetry… We are deeply grateful to him for his support launching this blog and for some of the most memorable posts ever published (“Dating the Super Douros”, “Bairrada: wines for life, and not simply for a one night love affair”). On his advice, Iberians on wine is proud to announce that Miguel Poiares Maduro will take his place as Editor. Miguel needs no introduction to Portuguese readers (not just chefs and vignerons), and he is also well known to any European law connoisseur (his love for wine and European law are not necessarily related even if that’s a topic we might research in more depth in the future). To welcome him into this brotherhood, we tasted together this week two splendid Riojas, Oscar Tobía 2004 and Finca Valpiedra 2004. They both share tremendous elegance and yet they are very different. Oscar Tobía evokes the story of the local boy who works hard until he makes it locally and then his descendants become gentry. But it remains a wine that tastes locally. It is faithful to its origins and hopes the world will embrace it. It deserves so. It is elegant in a very Coco Chanel way, who understood this virtue as refusal. Finca Valpiedra is exotic and cosmopolitan, eventhough its combination of species reminds you of the best Rioja tradition, its elegance is therefore more Yves Saint Laurenesque, “forgetting what you are wearing”. Both wines have somehow followed T. S. Eliot dictum that one travels around the world just to go back to the place where one started and know it for the first time. Just like our blog and its journey from Miguel to Miguel!
I have recently tried two Rioja wines, both from 2006, Monte Real of Bodegas Riojanas and Vallobera by Javier San Pedro. They were both amazing, each in its own distinctive way. To use a Chinese metaphor, Monte Real was the Yang and Vallobera the Yin. And of course both wines come from the very same part of Rioja, following the Tao principle of complementarity of opossing forces.
Monte Real Crianza 2006 is one of the best buys in the region, a serious young wine full of tradition, light and capable of bringing you closer to heaven, very Yang like. Rioja Vallobera is femenine, misterious, seductive, down-to-earth wine, a Yin experience all the way. Two different friends have introduced me to each of these wines and I am looking forward to a single conversation with both of them, very Tao like, different wines but only movements and transformations of form.
by Guest Editor Pablo Echenique
Every month of January I like to hop on my car and get away for a couple of days, by myself, to any place where nobody knows me and, ideally, where there is no network for cell phones, Blackberrys and “other irritating gadgets” (according to a brilliant sign I once read in a small and quiet London hotel, asking clients to turn off such gadgets).
Last January I had the chance of visiting a new and cool Spanish architecture landmark, the new Marqués de Riscal cellars in Elciego (Alava’s Rioja), designed by the eccentric Frank O. Gehry clearly following Bilbao Guggenheim Museum’s traces. I was not lucky enough to go for a swim in the “vinotherapie” spa (the place also includes a hotel), but I experienced a cool sensation when I first saw those impossible purplish titanium structures right in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by small hills and wine stocks.
This cellar is a good example of a new trend followed by some wine makers. Just like every city in Spain seems to be willing to have its flashing architecture symbol no matter its cost and final use, certain wine producers (and not just new labels such as Cepa 21 in Ribera del Duero) are spending fortunes in hiring superstars to design impressive buildings. Read the rest of this entry »
This week I had the chance of spending time in Seville. Thanks to the hospitality of friends that are true aficionados and know everything about the fiesta, I watched a very good bullfight from the best seats in the ring, those of the Real Maestranza. Before, my friend had introduced me to the complexities of bullfighting today, in a memorable lunch where we drank Contino Reserva 1998, a Rioja I have already written about with passion before.
As I enjoyed the company and the wine, I was told that most bulls in Spain today, with some exceptions, are bred so they can endure a full corrida, running and dancing along. They are supossed to engage in the fight beyond the initial moments. The animals are expected to be somewhat predictable and fully participate in a ritual that experts compare to opera or ballet, a sort of dialogue that can be full of beauty. Some bullfitghters have oficio (technical expertise) others (yet only a few of them) have personality and class. But most of the matadors do not want bulls that create terror and awe and are thus difficult to understand. Well, the wine we drank had exactly the qualities of the perfect bull that most bullfighters demand today. It not only shows strength when you taste it, but it keeps on displaying its noble qualities until the end of the meal, so you can have a long conversation with it and with your friends. It’s then up to you to talk with more than oficio, the somewhat boring knowledge of facts and tricks.
In England in the Xth century people considered February 11 to be “the day the birds began to sing”, an early sign of spring and new life. I had a similar experience of renewal when I tried a few days ago Valenciso Reserva 2004. I have already written in this blog about the fantastic Valenciso project in Ollauri, Rioja, but let me add that the wine they have just put on the market surpasses anything I have tried in the last years.
The epiphany went like this. We had gathered for dinner at home and we were discussing this 2009 “winter of discontent” (“Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this son of York/ And all the clouds that low’r’d upon our house/ In the deep bosom of the ocean buried”).
Friendship and Valenciso did the trick. In the Shakespeare play, Richard, the future king, for a while does not protest his discontent but celebrates his fortunes. Just like him, we did not mourn over the present state of affairs and we enjoyed wine and conversation. The next morning, of course, the birds were singing.
It has been a long vacation away from the blog -urgent things did not allow me to spend time on the important ones. I have just returned from a rather short holiday, spent between the Atlantic coast of Galicia and the Mediterranean shores of Majorca. In these August weeks I have tasted a few different wines, some old friends, some new acquaintances. Here is my list of impressions and feelings about them, with the hope that my comment will re-launch our conversation on wine and more.
I discovered in the beginning of the summer season Baigorri, thanks to my friends from Barolo, the trendy Madrid wine store in Príncipe de Vergara 211, a beautiful place where you can talk and learn about wine without any rush. They recommended Baigorri crianza highly, a new Rioja from Alava, and I am very glad I trusted them. Baigorri is a perfect young red wine for the amazing price of around 9 euros, a modernized version of the best crianzas in the region.
On August 15, big celebration day in my Galician family, we drank Roda I, the up market, trendy Rioja (unfortunately my Conde de Rodas identity has no connection witht this wine at all!) and we truly enjoyed the depth of colour and taste of this Reserva. I cherish the wonderful pictures of my daughter Blanca taking pictures at all of us while we toasted to her and to all the family.
The rest of the days in Monterroso, Galicia, my brother in law provided us with Valenciso 2002, from one of my favorite wine makers. The 2002 edition is very nice but I preferred the amazing 2001 one and I am looking forward to their 2004 creature. Last but not least one of our night outs in La Coruña we drank La Montesa Herencia Remondo, a serious but sensual Rioja for an amazing price.
We then moved to our Mediterranean refuge in Valldemossa and for the first time in my life I ordered a wine that was unkown to my father in one of our outings -so far, I had never been able to surprise him. The lucky strike was Allende Rioja 2004, an elegant and seductive Rioja, very Carla Bruni like and the date was August 23, 2008, just for the record. My father liked Carla, meaning Allende, so much, that he said: “it’s OK”.
The last day in Majorca we had lunch with my cousin Juan and his wife Adela in their beautiful house hanging over the Son Gallard cliffs, overlooking the sea. I brought him “Son Bordills”, Shiraz, a wine from the island that I have commented before and once we started drinking their terrace was paradise, a real one, unlike the one experienced by bored Robert Graves, the writer who retired to the nearby village of Deia saying: “this is paradise, if you can stand it” (in a letter to Virginia Woolf).
The last weekend we flew back to La Coruña, Galicia and we drank the best wine so far this summer, Cortes de Cima, from the South of Portugal, a happy, singing wine that soothen for me the abrupt end of the season.
by Guest Contributor Otto Silenus
Wikipedia, always a reliable source, tells us that Leucade is the name of a greek island where the female poet Sapho allegedly leapt to her death from the 100 foot (30m) high cliffs. Other sources tell us that those who followed her example and survived the jump were more fortunate; thus was the fate of Nicostratus, who emerged from the Ionan Sea relieved from the pangs of disprized love.
Not being so broken hearted, and, at least, unwilling to share those risky activities, some of us decided, a few days ago, to turn our minds to a less exciting but closer Leucade, that of a pre-roman settlement called Contrebia Leucade, near Inestrillas in La Rioja. Contrebia Leucade ows its name –as the greek island- to its white colour; built on white limestone it literally means “white village”.
La Encina Bodegas y Viñedos, a winery in Briñas (Rioja) with products as reliable as Tobelos and Tahon, decided to test how the very same wine can develop and change when aged in French oak barrels and American oak barrels. The result has been called LEUKADE. Using the excellent 2.004 vintage -100% Tempranillo, grown in the hills of Sierra Cantabria, the wine was matured for sixteenth months in different barrels, and then bottled, obtaining 7050 bottles of American Oak and exactly the same amount of French Oak. Sold together in a twin box, it allows you to compare how an excellent wine, with almost identical colour and condition, develops a different aroma and taste. That was the purpose of our meeting.
Popular wisdom pretends that wine matured in American Oak is stronger and less subtle; our experience proved more complex. Read the rest of this entry »
by Guest Contributor Fernando Vigón
Alvaro Palacios is one of the most outstanding personalities in the Spanish wine milieu. Back in the eighties he was the youngest wine maker of the group that started the Priorat revolution. His blockbusters then include Les Terrasses, Finca Dolfí, L’Ermita and Corullon. His mark has always been working with native grapes like grenache, mencia, graciano, and mazuelo.
Luckily for all of us, Alvaro worked also in El Bierzo and Rioja in the late nineties. I had the opportunity of tasting some of his second generation wines during Christmas.
To my mind Petalos de Bierzo 2006, Descendientes de J. Palacios, D.O. El Bierz, was the best of them. 100 % mencia (reportedly a 50-80 year old vine). Aged for 6 months in French oak, it is a knock out wine for a price of only 17 euros. Opaque ruby and purple coloured. It reveals an astonishing breath of minerals and raspberry. Medium bodied, round in mouth, powerful, fruity and well balanced. A bit too early to drink, in two years time it should explode.
From El Bierzo I also strongly advice you to have a go at the Dominio de Tares Cepas Viejas, 100 % mencia and Pitacum Aurea Roble 100% mencia , of course without forgetting Alvaro’s master piece Villa de Corullon, 100 % mencia.
Then we have Alvaro in La Rioja: Finca La Montesa 2003 Bodegas Palacio Remondo, D.O. Rioja. Aged for 12 months in French and American oaks. An unusual blend of 40% grenache, 45 % tempranillo, 5% mazuelo and 10% graciano it shows a medium to dark ruby coloured with a purple edge , a very elegant aroma: fresh fruit, cacao (well, others tasters dixit), round in mouth with pure and long finish, but it lacks the complexity you always look for in Alvaro Palacio.
I enjoyed however very much the Propiedad 2005, Bodegas Palacio Remondo, D. O. La Rioja. A blend of 60 % grenache and 40 % tempranillo. Aged for 14 months in mostly French oak. Deep ruby-cherry coloured with scents of ripe fruit and hints of toasty oak. On the palate it is a delicious medium to full bodied wine, powerful and moderately tannic. It can be drank now as well as over the next decade.
All the wines were magnum bottled and it is well worth remembering that 2003 was very good in La Rioja, 2005 excellent in la Rioja and 2006 was also excellent in El Bierzo. In any case, I vote for spending more time (and money) in El Bierzo.
Yesterday I went to a wine tasting of Spanish wines in Luxembourg. It was a group of close to 12 persons of different nationalities tasting Spanish wines. What was remarkable for all of us was how different all these wines were. The great majority were made with tempranillo grapes but the different wine making methods and the regions in which the wines were made really translated into diversity. And it was a fascinating diversity, capable of fitting the most disparate tastes. Never did I saw such a diverse set of opinions: one would love a wine that another one would criticize just to see the positions reversed regading the following wine. I understood how much these Spanish wines reflected the diversity of tastes that one can find in the wine world. And this is a good thing.
Let me talk you about my favourite three and how much they reflect the diversity I mentioned. The first was Petalos (Bierzo, 2005), a wine of the new Spain. An emerging wine region and a wine made for the new world. While tasting I mentioned that this would be a wine to please Robert Parker, just to hear the Sommelier tell me that it had indeed obtained 93 points from Parker (what an investment at the low price it sells…). It is powerful but immediate. Rich, opulent but elegant at the same time. The second was Clos de Berenguer (Priorat, 2004). This is the new old Spain. A wine region that has become famous in recent years but whose wines still appeal to the old fashioned Spanish wines. Plenty of tannins but of high quality. Made to last and to impress. It is old Spain in a new bottle. The third was a classic (Baron de Ley, Gran Reserva 1998, Rioja). This is old Spain at its purest and highest form. It’s an aristocratic wine, full of complexity and elegance and yet not afraid to announce its presence. A wine with layers of history to tell. In these three wines I found the Spain of today with all its diversity but also with all this diversity has in common.
One of the things I really liked about my new house was the wine cave in the basement, underneath the stairs, a fantastic cozy space to collect and store wine… until heavy rain came to Madrid. My basement was flooded and the wine bottles I kept there got too much humidity -nothing I could do to save them. So much for years of collecting special wine bottles! Tragedy? I am triying to look at the bright side and I am enjoying the thrill of starting over. Here are the three wines I have chosen to re-start, just in case you need ideas to do so:
My friend and benefactor Juan Jimenez Laiglesia, the best Antitrust lawyer in Spain, came to the rescue actually withouth knowing I had lost it all. Some weeks ago he offered me a case of Contino Selección Especial 2004. This is a wine that sings, a top Rioja well looked after by a few families that stands out for its delicacy and smoothness.
The second addition to my born again wine cave -now in a very different location- comes from Portugal. I had the chance to teach in Lisbon for a few days and I bought some bottles of “Cortes de Cima Shyrah 2003”, from Vidigueira, Alentejo. Shyrah is one of my favorite grapes. This Southern Portugal wine is full of sunshine. I am just enjoying it until my friend Miguel Alvaro de Campos, co editor of Iberians on wine, who introduced me to the Cortes de Cima wines some time ago enlightens us with his comments.
Last but not least I have added to my new-new wine cave some bottles from Guitian, Godello, a miracle Galician white wine from Valdeorras. This has been a suggestion of another friend, the historian and policy wonk Charles Powell, who raves about it. I drank it for the first time yesterday with my father -he of course knew about this wine since its inception in 1992, it is very hard to surprise him. Guitian was the perfect wine to taste in the garden before lunch, in a beautiful autumn day. Guitian has the same yellowish colour of some fallen leaves and yet is lively and its wit never dies, like a good after dinner conversation.
Iberians on wine 
You must be logged in to post a comment.