Archive for the ‘Excellent’ Category
Spotlight on Rhone Valley White Wine: Domaine Auguste Clape St. Péray 2007
Posted by Shea in $20 and under, Excellent, French Wine, Marsanne, Rhone Valley White Wine, Rousanne on August 25th, 2010
From History to Obscurity
St. Péray may be the most obscure region in the entire Rhone valley. Once as famous as regions like Cornas and Condrieu, it has now dwindled to a near obscurity. Situated directly south of Cornas, St. Péray is the most southerly of all the Northern Rhone appellations, except for a small piece of the large Croze-Hermitage.
Napoleon Bonaparte once described the still wines of St. Péray as his first wine discovery – much like many wine lovers today have that moment that opens their eyes and palates to wine. But since the excitement of the 19th century for the wines of St. Péray wore off, the region has seen a continuing decline in interest. Today there are only a dozen growers and a handful of negociants, with half of the wine being made at the cooperative of Tain L’Hermitage. All the more rare it is, then, to find a wine from the caliber of a producer like Auguste Clape, who is probably the leading producer in Cornas. Accordingly, Clape’s St. Péray vineyards are just south of his Cornas vineyards and comprise a miniscule 0.23 hectares. As a result, Clape only makes 100 cases of this very rare dry white.
Youthful Terroir
Clape’s vineyards are sited on acidic soil, with quartz granite and patches of clay limestone on the lower slopes. The granite tends to produce wines that drink better young. The Marsanne, which comprises 99% of the wine (1% Roussanne), is picked mostly from 55-65 year old vines, with about 1/3 of the fruit from 15 year old vines.
There has also been a trend in St. Péray to increase the use of oak, which tends to cover over the more terroir driven aspects of the wine, which are quite delicate despite the commonly robust alcohol. Clape, on the other hand, ferments in concrete and stainless steel, and allows malo-lactic fermentation to complete naturally before bottling in April. This vinification methodology also reflects that the oaked whites need more time in bottle to come together. With Clape’s terroir favouring younger wines, it makes little sense to produce an oakier style of wine.
St. Péray – its Own Terroir
The pale colour of the wine belies its richness and its luminescent nose of pear, apple and a touch of honey nut. The palate presents tremendous minerality with deep orchard fruits. This has impeccable structure for a 14% ABV wine, and it holds the alcohol extremely well. The richness is outstanding given the complete lack of oak – and this is perhaps why the wine is so balanced. The finish is very persistent given the price point. Overall this is a distinctive terroir based wine that shows more minerals and spice versus the more honeyed and floral tones of its St. Joseph counterparts. The price I paid for the quality is astounding – it is worth four times as much.
Excellent
$17 at K&L Wine Merchants in SF.
Spotlight on Rhone Valley White Wine: Pierre Gonon ‘Les Oliviers’ St. Joseph Blanc 2005
Posted by Shea in $40-$60, Excellent, French Wine, Marsanne, Rhone Valley White Wine, Rousanne on August 23rd, 2010
A return to elegance and complexity as I return to this spotlight – lost amongst distractions and digressions. Run by two brothers in their 30’s, Domaine Gonon is one of those dwindling producers only making one red and one white wine. With the infection of the prestige cuvee both in the southern and the northern Rhone, it is rare and exceptional to find a producer with some incredible terroir who see simplicity as the way to the heart of good wine.
A Simple Take on Terroir
As wines made in the St. Joseph appellation, some might place the Gonons’ creations into the unfortunate realm occupied by the highly cropped and poorly made wines from the regions with little terroir. This would be a mistake. The Gonons’ father was one of the first to pursue white wine seriously in the modern generation, planting his Marsanne vines in 1958. This makes the vines some of the oldest in the Northern Rhone.
These days, the white Gonon is made with 80% Marsanne from these vines and 20% Roussanne from vines planted in 1974. The vines sit above Tournon, 200 metres above on the Coteau des Oliviers – a site renowned since before the creation of the St. Joseph appellation. As for soils, you will find stones and red clay with some sanded granite.
Farming and vinification practices are thoughtful and attentive at this estate. For instance, all the vineyard work is manual and they don’t use wire training for any vines. They also select cuttings from their own rootstock to avoid importing clones. In the cellar, they use all indigenous yeast and ferment in open wooden vats.
A Perfect Balance
The brothers report that their white wine can age up to 20 years in great vintages, a rarity for whites made from Marsanne and Roussanne. I tasted it at a mere 4 years of age, but it was showing perfectly. The nose was soft and clear with minerals and stone combined with citrus zest. This is basically textbook St. Joseph Blanc – it marries suppleness and elegance with intense flavour and tremendous versatility for a low-acid wine. I would pair this with a main course, but the pear, apple, honey, nuts and caramel flavours are also lush and wonderful by themselves. Full bodied, clean, but not overly sweet, the aromatics and texture are enticing beyond addiction. This is the complete package and you could not hope for better quality from a white at this price.
Excellent
$50 at Marquis
Spotlight on Rhone Valley White Wine: Domaine Yves Cuilleron St. Joseph Blanc ‘Le Lombard’ 2005
Posted by Shea in $40-$60, Excellent, French Wine, Marsanne, Rhone Valley White Wine on July 30th, 2010
As with most wine regions in Europe, in St. Joseph there is a tension between the old and the new. At what point does a producer cease being traditional and become modern? One point of comparison might be to look at vinification practices, but who is to say when any one technique bridges the purportedly vast gap between memory and anticipation.
When History Becomes Modern
If Domain Courbis attains venerability with its history dating back to the 16th century, then Domaine Yves Couilleron must look elsewhere for like wisdom. Within itself the Domaine lives its own tradition, with its oldest syrah vines being planted in the time of Yves’ grandfather in the 1930’s and 40’s. If we see things from the vine’s perspective – the oldest vines in the world top out at around 100 years – wisdom and time acquire a different meaning. And, indeed, the Marsanne vines for this wine were planted in 1967, thus sitting comfortably amongst the most venerable of its peers.
So what makes Yves ‘modern’ in the eyes of critics? Perhaps because his partnership with Pierre Gaillard and Francois Villard in planting old vineyards and focusing on fruit has earned him and his partners the reputation of New World influenced upstarts. Gaillard, for instance, was the first in the Northern Rhone to use oak for his whites. It could also be because he carries an American style passion for inventiveness and risk – which could also be why he is shaking up the region and helping to breath new life into some underdog styles, such as this white St. Joseph.
When is a Wine Natural? And Does it Matter?
There is much talk these days of ‘natural’ wine making. For Yves, ‘natural’ must be considered in context. If, for example, he eliminated all weed killing chemicals, he would have to increase his work force and increase the price of his wines about 35%. He feels this is untenable in the current economic climate. Furthermore, while he likes to use only natural yeasts, he does find that he cannot make his white wines dry without the addition of yeast towards the end of fermentation.
The question some might ask, then, is at what point do his wines cease being ‘natural’? For Yves, on the other hand, he is simply attempting to add his touch to wines so they can best express their terroir. He believes that the 6-7 grams of residual sugar that would result in naturally fermented whites would mask the terroir of the various plots in St. Joseph from which he makes his wine.
He also cask ferments his whites, using 25% new oak, but does not stir the lees. The fermentation lasts up to four weeks, to fully maximize the sugar in the fruit, which is often picked fairly late.
A Taste of the New
The Lombard, pure Marsanne, presents itself in the glass with a deep rich golden-hued yellow. The nose provides honey, toast, apples, and a hint of quince. One simply feasts on the palate, with its honey-apple spice and lonely rocky undertones. A delicate and structured wine, the Lombard is also elegant while holding more weight on the palate than the Courbis. I suppose if the Courbis is ‘traditional’, then this is ‘modern’ St. Joseph – but the differences are all those of perspective as both wines are delicious.
Excellent
$45 at Marquis Wine Cellars
Spotlight on Rhone Valley White Wine: Francois Villard “Les Terrasses du Palat” Condrieu 2006
Posted by Shea in $60+, Excellent, French Wine, Rhone Valley White Wine, Viognier on July 9th, 2010
Sometimes one sibling can overshadow another, leaving it underappreciated. Oftentimes fame outweighs any appreciation of subtlety and personality. In the world of wine this is all too common an occurrence, even as the lesser known can become somewhat of a cult itself. Neither fame nor underground notoriety has christened the white wines of the Rhone Valley, and so it is even more surprising that the wines have grown in popularity over the years.
Flash back to 1971 and you would find that only about 12 hectares (30 acres) of Viognier were planted in the entire Rhone Valley, including the Condrieu sub-appellation. That’s barely enough grapes to make 2500 bottles, a mere pittance even for a single producer. By 2005, however, Condrieu expanded to 135 hectares – a far cry from 30 years prior. Part of the reason for this is the extreme steepness of the slopes, which makes planting and tending the vines not particularly cost-effective, and also the difficulty the vines have penetrating the topsoil, which, if they don’t do, relegates them to producing bloated fruit. The deepness of the vines is essential for great Viognier.
Unlike all the plantings in the new world, Condrieu is now populated with mostly old-vine pre-clone material, which for the non-geeky essentially means vines that often produce grapes with more character and depth. The other side of this were the crappy replantings in the 1980s where many producers started cropping their vines at yields far too high to produce anything of interest. As with any region, Condrieu is all about the growers and producers who do it right.
Condrieu is also the perfect example of why wine growers and makers need to treat their varities right. In the 1990’s it was common for producers to make wines in a ‘lighter and fresher’ style, much like Sauvignon Blanc. This is not the nature of Viognier, the best expressions of which are rich, dense and sensuously textured. Fermenting the wine at low temperatures became the norm and this killed the character and balance in the wines. Why go for up front zing when you can get density and an endless finish? That’s what trends can do.
Francois Villard is a new wave kind of Condrieu producer. He generally lets his grapes get to the point of a certain percentage of noble rot before vinifying and always uses oak. The Terrasses du Palate Condrieu has 20% new and 80% used oak and sees about 3-5% noble rot. These are overt wines, almost in the style of new world examples like that of John Alban from Paso Robles. The fact that Villard learned wine making on his own from books and trial and error? Well, that’s just a bonus.
The wine itself pours a lovely burnt yellow, looking much like an aged Riesling. On the nose I got apricot, honeysuckle, peach and toasted coconut. The palate is glycerous, rich and honeyed. Peach notes develop quickly, but the wine is also very long and deep in flavour. It is also elegant for such a rich wine, but in the end this is not a wine about tightness, clarity or precision. Rather, this is a wine about luscious texture, expressivity and exotic richness. And, the glycerous palate does nothing to interfere with the intense, flowered, wafting scents that speak purely of sensuous pleasure. This truly is a great wine wine and is a good indication of how excited I am about this spotlight.
Excellent
$60 at Marquis Wine Cellars
Winery Profile: Brick House
Posted by Shea in $40-$60, Chardonnay, Excellent, Gamay, Oregon Wine, Pinot Noir on June 27th, 2010
Oregon’s wine country can sometimes seem to fit into a very restricted mold. The sense of repetition derives not just from the fact everyone is making Pinot Noir (that happens in Burgundy too), but more from the seeming lack of myriad exciting terroir driven expressions of the grape. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that Oregon has the potential for variety and distinction. Brick House is one of the wineries that has started to develop a strong sense of terroir, which manifests simply in the fact that their wines don’t taste like what everyone else is making.
My visit began by pulling into a small unassuming patch of land with a simple and very unpretentious little space set up for tasting right on top of the barrel aging cellar. While sipping on a surprisingly outstanding 2007 Chardonnay, my host Alan explained to me the sedimentary terroir of the Ribbon Ridge AVA where Brick House is located. Ribbon Ridge lies within the larger AVA of Chehalem Mountains but has received its special designation because of an ancient flood that deposited sediment carried from thousands of miles away (fossils of animals not indigenous to ancient Oregon are consistently found here).
The Chardonnay, by the way, was outstanding, with stone, pear and quince on the nose. However, what made this work where so many Oregon Chards fail is its great structure (full oak aging and malo) supported by ripping acidity that makes this very easy to drink and gives it the backbone to age 3-4 years before consumption. For the price, there is little around in New World Chardonnay that can match it. Very Good+. $24 at the winery. The 2008 was just as structured, but needed more time in the bottle. I would not hesitate to recommend both.
But terroir means little without the vineyard practices and farming philosophies to match. Brick House is a fully biodynamic winery and is certified as such by Demeter. This means no artificial chemical fertilizers on the vines and no chemical additives (other than sulfites) in the wine. It also means picking with the cycles of the moon and all those other unscientific accoutrements. Many of the vines are also own-rooted. To me what matters more than any certification are the actual practices of the farmers and the wine makers, what they believe in and what they do. From what I observed at Brick House, the fundamental concerns of wine making are well considered, well respected and thought about both ethically and in terms of quality and terroir.
The soul of the winery’s achievements lies with their Pinot Noirs, which taste unlike most of the Pinots being produced in Oregon today (with some important exceptions). The 2008 Boulder Block Pinot Noir is made from Pommard clones imported from Burgundy. This was an immediately accessible wine with spicy red fruit jumping right out at you from the glass. The palate has great balance, acidity and length, coupled with an easy to like prettiness and the taste of raw unadulterated red fruits. This is real Pinot Noir. Excellent. $42 at the winery.
The second Pinot was also my personal favourite, although this choice is more a contrast in style than quality. The 2008 Les Dijonnais Pinot Noir was made from Dijon Clones 113, 114 and 115 and it was the most intellectual of the wines on offer. This was densely packed, with restrained fruit and a deep mineral and earth core. It also changed tremendously with air and time in the glass, showing subtle notes of dill, chocolate and restrained red fruits. If I had to rate this I would give it an excellent rating and note that it is $45 at the winery.
Both of these wines stay out of the dark fruit territory that I find too many Oregon Pinot Noirs venture into. But the difference between these wines highlights the crucial importance of clonal selection in wine making. It is almost meaningless to grow Pinot Noir without knowing what clones you are growing, where, and why. The Dijonnais is the wine to lay down and the Boulder Block the wine to drink now. Both are outstanding.
My last taste was a barrel sample of the 2009 Gamay Noir. This is the only Gamay I’ve tasted from anywhere in the world that approximates a very good Beaujolais Cru. There is more depth and weight here than you find in many of the Crus, but I would compare this most with a Morgon from a good vintage. It had stone, mineral, bright strawberries and that wonderful clean, pure and supple earthy texture that makes great Beaujolais Cru so great. This is proof that with the right sort of vineyard treatment, Gamay Noir can be made into some extremely good wines in Oregon. Excellent. I think ~$19.
Pinot is king in Oregon, but Brick House proves that it is not everything. Both their Chardonnay and their Gamay Noir are outstanding wines at reasonable prices (which is increasingly rare) and are unique wines with character rather than ‘different grapes’ made into wine that tastes like canned fruit. That said, what Brick House is doing with their Pinot Noir also shows that, when done right, site can truly become terroir in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
Les Pallieres ‘Les Racines’ Gigondas 2007
Posted by Shea in $30-$40, Excellent, French Wine, Grenache on June 23rd, 2010
Les Pallieres is one of the most dependable names in Gigondas. After many years in the hands of a single family, in 1998 it was purchased by the famous importer Kermit Lynch and the Brunier family of Vieux Telegraph. This is a wine that consistently brings both great depth of flavour and balance to the table, which is something that cannot be said of all wines from the Southern Rhone, particularly these days.
This particular bottle is also part of the story that is the 2007 vintage in the Southern Rhone, which Robert Parker, amongst others, has hailed as the best ever, or something like that. I’ve heard concerns that the wines are over extracted, terse, etc. But, if I’ve learned anything in my voyage through wine, opinions about vintage mean nothing outside of the particular context of site and producer. Great producers are those you follow through the good years and the bad – they make the sort of wine that is worth trying no matter what. For me, Les Pallieres is one of those wineries. The ‘Racines’ is made from a parcel of 60+ year vines and likely saw stem inclusion. The wine is a blend of 80% Grenache, 8% Syrah, 7% Cinsaut and 5% Clairette.
Combining a great producer with what is supposed to be a great year, it is easy to understand why this is such an incredibly balanced wine. In fact, I would go as far to say that this is the most balanced Gigondas that I have ever tasted. There is both tremendous flavour here, but also pert acidity and great expressivity. The flavours are all classic Pallieres – licorice, underbrush, cherry, violets – but there is greater depth and intensity than usual. This is also in no way over extracted or overly rich: it is, in fact, very fresh. It is important not to forget the minerals and earth that guide all the fruit and provide great interest to the mid-palate and finish. This is probably the best Pallieres I’ve ever tasted, and that’s saying a lot given it is one of my favourite wines from the Southern Rhone.
Excellent
$40 at Marquis
Vietti Barbera d’Alba ‘Scarrone’ 2006
Posted by Shea in $60+, Barbera, Excellent, Italian Wine on June 20th, 2010
Barbera is a difficult grape to consolidate into a single stylistic character. It varies from traditional bright and fruit driven high acid styles to richer, darker, more brooding oak aged styles. A recent series of articles by Cory Cartwright of the fantastic Saignee blog saw Cory tasting through a ton of oak aged barberas in Piedmont much to his disliking. In fact, the oak aged style of barbera has come to be quite controversial, with traditionalists believing that barbera’s true character becomes overwhelmed when it is aged in oak.
And, of course, Oak is only one of the factors to consider with Barbera. There is also the site in which it is grown, with Alba providing more of the high quality single vineyard sites than Asti, both in Piedmont. Barbera’s versatility and vigor also makes it possible to plant all over northern Italy, so it is not that challenging to find examples from some of the less famed regions such as Rubino or Gabiano.
Not having had the opportunity to taste through as many of the oaked wines as Cory did on his trip, I have to admit that this particular wine from famed producer Vietti (which was aged in oak) impressed me and piqued my interest in the possibilities of barbera in oak. Perhaps the Vietti example is one of the few that does well with oak, but I found several elements quite enjoyable about this wine.
First off, Vietti managed to maintain some of the classic barbera aromas of black cherry – but this wine also added felt tip marker, a brooding figgy quality and other dark fruits. If barbera could ever approximate nebbiolo, then this would be the wine that does it, being the densest barbera I’ve ever tasted.
The palate offered more cherry, but also chocolate, fig, plum, along with smoke, tobacco, and tea (likely brought to the scene by the oak). The massive structure and dense and as yet undelineated mid-palate makes me think this wine needs another 3-5 years. The big question is, how will it resolve in that time?
If you are curious to see the good things that oak can do to barbera, or at least one of the better examples of the style, you could do a lot worse than the Vietti Scarrone.
Excellent
$60 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars and Marquis [I got mine at Esquin in Seattle]
Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Mont Sec 2007
Posted by Shea in $30-$40, Chenin Blanc, Excellent, French Wine on June 17th, 2010
Domaine Huet is probably the leading domaine in Vouvray, itself a leading region in France’s Loire Valley. These wines are legendary for many, which is interesting given that many ‘legendary’ french wines tend to have much more history than this domaine, which was founded just after the first world war with its Le Haut Lieu vineyard. Today, Huet has acquired two more important vineyards, Le Mont and Clos du Bourg. Each of these vineyards is turned into three different wines, varrying by the amount of residual sugar in the wine: the sec, demi-sec, and Moelleux.
Huet picks everything by hand, and uses five “tries” or passes when selecting grapes. In good years the “Premier Trie” becomes its own wine, often hailed as some of the best Chenin in the world. Each wine is made with grapes selected from vines ranging in age from 10 to 50 years, with the old vines comprising approximately half of most of the blends.
After harvest the wines undergo temperature-controlled fermentation in 225 and 600 litre oak barrels as well as 3000 litre stainless steel vats. The oak is definitely detectable on the palate of the wines, though it is quite subtle and, given the outrageous acidity in most of these bottles, it merely adds structure and depth rather than any dominant characteristics. The wines are racked and sulphured to arrest fermentation when the sugar and alcohol are correctly balanced. In order to maintain freshness there is no malolactic fermentation . Importantly, it is not through vinification, but rather through site that Huet looks to express differentiation in its wines.
This wine gave up quite a dense nose with quince, nuts, lemon and cream. I found the lemon and quince characteristics continued on the palate, but there was also apple, minerals, roots and licorice. The wine is quite viscous for a chenin and I love this density, which is offset perfectly by the wine’s high acidity. This is of medium weight in the mouth and very layered with good length. While this “Sec” had 8 grams per litre of residual sugar I thought this was quite refreshing while also being a full and complete wine. This truly is an exceptional value and lives up to the reputation of this storied producer. Labeled with a Demeter biodynamic classification. Perfect for Japanese food. 13% ABV.
Excellent
$35 at Marquis Wine Cellars
Domaine Baudry Le Clos Guillot 2007
Posted by Shea in $40-$60, Cabernet Franc, Excellent, French Wine on June 11th, 2010
Domaine Baudry produces wine in the Chinon appellation of France’s Loire Valley. But this wine is no ordinary cabernet franc. Whereas many wines from Chinon can be overly thin and green on the palate, despite their often impressive aromatics, Baudry’s wines provide far more extract and structure than one might expect. These are not, however, intensely extractive wines that overbear the senses – the climate ensures that is impossible. Instead, these are wines that combine quiet gravitas with immediate accessibility.
Baudry makes several cuvees, with this particular wine being made from 10-20 year old vines. The grapes are grown on southeast facing limestone hills and are hand harvested. The juice is then fermented in wooden vats and matured in 12 months in old oak casks – though the oak merely provides backbone rather than flavour.
The wine itself is wonderfully balanced and easy to drink but also complex and long. Flavours like blackberry, red cherry, fresh underbrush, graphite, and some mineral and earth give great depth of flavour to this understated dry wine. The lack of dominant wood characteristics, low alcohol, and incredible fresh acidity allows the wine to be both supple and versatile. This wine is so versatile, in fact, that it fulfilled my mission to find a red wine that would pair with Tandoori chicken. This is a wine where simple pleasure becomes a memorable experience. I have no doubt this could lay down for a few years, but when it tastes this good right now, why would you? 12.5% ABV.
Excellent
$40 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars
Spotlight on Spain: Rioja or What Makes Good Wine Great
Posted by Shea in $40-$60, Excellent, Spain, Spanish Wine, Spotlights, Tempranillo, Very Good on April 27th, 2010
Rioja is Spain’s most famous wine region. In fact, to many Rioja is Spain’s icon wine region, reaching that apotheosis where a place name immediately indicates style and quality. But, how did Rioja get to the level of prestige it now enjoys?
Certainly consistency in quality has been a big factor, not to mention a historical connection with the French practice of aging wine in oak barrels (although the Riojans add the unique touch of using mostly old American oak for extended periods of time). There is, too, the moderate pricing compared to most of the world’s great wines – this helps to bring many sommeliers and wine aficionados into the equation, pushing the essential ‘value’ of Rioja. Of course, alongside the relative international value that Rioja offers is its domestic status and high price by Spanish standards.
The prevalence of Rioja on wine lists within Spain cannot be discounted as an important factor, both with the domestic consumers and with tourists visiting the country. The current trend (both climatically and stylistically) towards greater ripeness might also be contributing to the increased interest in Rioja amongst the North American crowd. The ability of the wines to age and improve in nuance and delicacy is also a significant factor.
But all of these elements speak only to how good wine becomes famous or reputable – none of these answers help us with the deeper and much more difficult question: how does good wine become great?
Culture and history likely play a part here – but historically the current form of Rioja is as much a product of the downfall of French vineyards in the 19th century than it is of anything distinctly Spanish. Then again, how far can one go in looking for ‘roots’ to ground the greatness of a wine. As global warming is making inescapably apparent, the meaning of place is also ever changing, and ‘culture’ – one of the bugbears of Europe – is not always about tradition.
Great wines also seem to need a profound difference and distinctness from everything else that is out there and, often, a unique, singular and important contribution to the international world of wine. What is Rioja’s contribution? It offers a unique expression of Tempranillo and uses methods unlike those used most elsewhere. However, these traditions are being lost in the wave of internationalism. And, despite what I have read about Rioja, the traditionalists are, at least in my experience, losing the battle. Too many of the modern style wines are making it onto wine lists and consumers’ shopping lists.
In fact, I might even venture to claim that Rioja is becoming emblematic for Spain not just for its traditions, but more for the evisceration of historical methods and grapes in favour of internationalism. In fact, this is a trend that has come to dominate the majority of Spanish wines available. While certainly offering more variety in the ‘value’ category than places like Argentina and Australia, the momentum towards internationalization has had the effect of dumbing down the wines of Spain and of giving increasing prevalence to such unfortunate varieties as Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay. The recent changes to the Rioja DOC will allow some of these international grapes to be grown and blended into the wines.
Rioja’s structure of thousands of small growers supplying the larger houses does not help this situation since growers tend to be beholden to the giants. Of course, and luckily, there are a few staunch traditionalists that will help to maintain some of the most important aspects of Rioja’s tradition, and there is probably no danger of Tempranillo losing pride of place to other grapes. However, other regions of Spain, such as Somontano and Jumilla are already capitalizing on the appetite for international varieties. But, at what cost?
One of the saddest experiences I had in Spain was the sheer volume of boring internationalized wines I came across and the relegation of the truly interesting wines to a handful of specialty shops and high end restaurants. The grass is greener adage seemed apropos to many of my experiences in the country.
So, wherein lies Rioja? Rioja is still bobbing its head higher than the majority of Spanish wine regions, but it seems to me that it is also succumbing to some unfortunate trends. The modernization of Rioja should be about distinctiveness and about finding contemporary expressions of traditional techniques, methods and beliefs. If Rioja goes to the point of no return by increasing the use of new wood, by over-expressing the consistently greater ripeness of the grapes today compared to a decade ago, and by playing to certain perceptions of international palates, then it will be the beginning of a painful decline for the region. That there are only a handful of traditionalists left in a region with hundreds of wineries is the pronouncement of an unwelcome herald. Luckily, for now, there is still hope, and I managed to taste quite a few excellent wines from Rioja while in Spain. Here are some of my favourites:
Montecillo Reserva 1998: Subtle, earthy and beautifully silky drinking. Not as complex as the other two wines on this list, but the perfect example of classically made Rioja that pairs perfectly with subtly seasoned meats. Still showing fruit and acid. Very Good+ and about 30 euros on restaurant wine list (15 retail).
Muga Prado Enea Gran Reserva 2001: A truly exceptional wine with the potential for much longer aging. This was the most complex Rioja I tasted on the trip, and also the Rioja demanding the most contemplation. I find wines with this much nuance are often difficult to pair with food, not because they can’t combine to create very tasty harmonies with the right food, but because such pairings often mute some of the more interesting and exciting characteristics of the wine. That there is so much going on here, though, is certainly not a bad thing. Excellent and 34 euros retail.
Marques de Murrieta Reserva 2004: My favourite Rioja of the trip. This was exuberant but still soft and perfectly balanced. Exceptional fruit combined with restraint and a softer, more playful mouthfeel than many of the red wines I had in Spain. This wine is about sheer deliciousness more than anything else, but this is a deliciousness that derives from balance and aromatic expression rather than power and impact. Excellent and 35 euros on restaurant wine list (about 22 retail).
