Rioja, Part 5

 Bodegas Bilbainas control 250ha in 50 plots in Rioja Alta. This points to a typical Rioja blending operation. Two aspects stand out. Bilbainas is organic, and it has vineyards in limestone soil.   

I tasted a white wine and a rosé under the Viña Pomal brand. The white was made predominantly from Viura, the rosé from Tempranillo, of course. These were ok wines, but nothing special.

I then had the classical line-up of Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva. The 2016 Crianza is matured in American oak, and tastes of fresh fruit and vanilla. 80,000 cases of this are drunk mainly in bars in the afternoon, with something to nibble on. The 2014 Reserva is half this volume and sells for an astonishing 12 €. It has more intensity and firm tannins. Then we have the 2011 Gran Reserva. It is a 90/10 Tempranillo/Graciano blend, spends three years in barrel, then three in bottle, before it is marketed. Only 2500 cases are made of this, at 26 € per bottle. This is a more rounded an elegant wine, still quite fresh, with silky tannins.

If you want to experience traditional Rioja winemaking at good quality, this is the winery for you. But now we step it up a bit.

Muga is sometimes described as Rioja's First Growth, and I got to experience why. The winery was founded in 1932. It owns 150ha, and contracts another 150ha. One special feature is its own cooperage.

They build 900 casks per year, 90% from French, 10% from American oak. It is a very laborious process. To start with, the wood gets dried for 5! years. The big advantage is that you can customize the building and toasting to your requirements. And Muga does not do things by halves. They also own 250 large American vats, which have been in use for 50 years for alcoholic fermentation. Total production is 130,000 to 170,000 cases per year.

The 2018 Muga White, made from 90% Viura is fresh and harmonious, with medium acidity. With red wines, Muga makes traditional wines, but also modern ones.

The 2015 Reserva is made in the traditional style. It is a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Granacha, 10% Mazuelo and Graciano. It is matured in their own light to medium toasted barrels. 60,000 cases made. The wine is red fruited, with some spice, smoke and vanilla. I found the finish a little rough. The 2014 Reserva Seleccion Especial is a similar blend. This wine is matured for over two years in French oak (40% new), 15,000 cases made. The red fruit is more concentrated, and the spice and mocca flavours more intense. This is a more elegant and silky wine.

The next wine, the 2011 Prado Enea Gran Reserva is a step up and really a great wine. It comes from special clay-limestone vineyards at high altitude. The wine is picked late. The wine is aged for one year in American oak, then for three years in French oak. This wine tastes of blackberry fruit, with forest floor and cocoa notes rounding out a ripe, yet elegant flavour. The wine provides a big mouthfeel. It is still fresh and balanced with a lingering finish. You have to put 70 € on the table for this.

The 2015 Torre is a blend of 75% Tempranillo, 15% Mazuelo (Carignan), 10% Graciano. The wine is aged for 18 months in 100% new French oak. This wine is a bit of a monster, very concentrated and not totally balanced at this point. It needs time.

Overall, Muga is a very impressive winery. The blending adds to the complexity of the wines, and the oak treatment, while substantial, is quite light.

The last winery visit is at CVNE, sometimes called Cune.  It is one of the original railway station wineries in Haro. So I come back to where I started. It is another large winery with 500,000 cases from many plots in Rioja Alta and Alavesa. It includes in fact five wineries.

Most of the wines made are in the traditional style, but the Contino winery has branched out into single vineyard wines. The first wine I taste is the Viña Real Crianza, a fresh, simple wine of dark cherry fruit. This is followed by the 2015 Contino Reserva. This wine is quite concentrated with strong tannins. The 2012 Cune Gran Reserva is made in the old style with American oak quite prominent.

The Imperial winery is kind of the premium winery with a smaller production of 18,000 cases. The Imperial Gran Reserva is the only Spanish wine which was named number 1 in the Wine Spectator Top 100. It was in 2013, but for a different vintage from the one I taste, which is 2012. This is a very good wine. The vineyards have different soil profiles, adding to complexity. The blend is 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo. This is similar to the other wines. Maturation took place in old French and American oak. Black cherry and forest fruits form the flavour. The tannins are velvety and soft, delivering an elegant mouthfeel.

I then taste the Contino single vineyard wines. This is the chateau concept with a large vineyard surrounding the winery. The wines are made from this 62ha vineyard.

 

The 2017 Contino Granacha is fermented in concrete eggs and then matured  in used large French oak vessels. The result is a raspberry fruity, quite sweet wine. The 2015 Contino Graciano is the last to be harvested. The grapes are thick skinned with intense colour. This wine needs medium to high toasted French oak. Black cherry and eucalypt flavours are packaged in firm tannins and high acidity. It is not easy to make a very pleasing wine from 100% Graciano. This variety is usually added to give Tempranillo additional structure, but on its own, it is pretty tough. 

The final wine is the 2016 Contino Viña del Olivo, a 90/10 blend of Tempranillo/Graciano. The wine is matured for 18 months in  French oak. Dark cherry and blackberry fruit is dominant, but there is also black pepper, anise and mint. This is a very smooth wine of great length. When I tasted the previous two wines, I could not quite see the benefit of the single vineyard concept, but this wine is something special.

OVERALL CONCLUSION: I only touched the surface of the Rioja region. It delivers incredible value for money; Crianza wines at 12 to 15 €, 5-10 year old Reservas and even Gran Reservas at 20 to 30 €. I actually preferred the fruit forward Crianzas in most cases. But a modern style Reserva, such as from Muga can still be fresh, and deliver good complexity. When it comes to single vineyard wines, there is a great variety of styles. I liked the precision of Valenciso, and the modernity of Altari. Pricing varies dramatically, from 20 € up to 300 € for the Altari El Pison. 

THE END 

 

 

 

Rioja, Part 2

 My first stop in Haro was at Rioja Alta. This winery was established in 1890 to fulfill the requirements of Bordeaux merchants. There is a lot of tradition here, but also modernity, demonstrated, as an example, by this flashy showroom.

Spanish inheritance law means that fortunes have to be divided equally between children. Wine growing has been going on in this region for close to a thousand years. As a result, individual vineyards are small. Rioja Alta had to source grapes from many vineyards to meet the thirst of the Bordeaux merchants. It was obvious that wines had to be blends from many vineyards, 150 today. Rioja Alta controls over 550ha in Rioja.

The second key aspect is oak. Rioja Alta owns more than 20,000 barrels to accommodate long ageing processes. This is simply astonishing and mind blowing.

It is not surprising then that Rioja Alta has its own cooperage, which forms the American oak to its specifications. 

I tasted the classic range with the winemaker.

Torre de Oña on the left, Rioja Alta on the right

The best wines are the Ardanza Reserva, an 80/20 Tempranillo/Granacha blend, which is quite powerful and spicy; the Arana Gran Reserva 2012, a 95/5 Tempranillo/Graciano blend, which is still fresh and elegant, with good complexity and a long finish; and the 2010 Gran Reserva 904, first made in 1904. This is a 90/10 Tempranillo/Graciano blend. The wine spends four years in barrel and three years in bottle before release. It is a mature wine, but the fruit is still good with a serious expression of minerality in the wine.

In 1995, the company bought a winery in Rioja Altavesa, Torre de Oña. The vineyards sit at an altitude of 600m and are grouped around the Bodega. There is an opportunity to produce single vineyard wines here, but at present, the three wines are picked from different plots and made in the Crianza or Reserva style. 

Rioja Alta is a traditional winery in that its key wines are Reservas following the regulatory regime of maturation. At the same time, it has a strong quality focus, for example 13% of grapes are discarded from the sorting tables. Modern techniques are employed, such as gravity principles, and an innovative racking system.

My second stop is Roda, just across the road. There are differences here. This winery is much smaller than Rioja Alta, and only 30 years old. It uses only grapes from bush wines, and everything is matured in French oak. Roda makes about 10,000 cases per year.

Roda on the left, Corimbo (Ribera del Duero) on the right

The first wine is the 2016 Sela, a blend of 87% Tempranillo, 7% Graciano, 6% Granacha. The wine comes from 15 to 30 year old vines, and is matured in larger, used French oak. This wine is all about fruit and freshness. It is elegant with silky tannins, made in the Crianza style.

Roda is made with a focus on red fruit, it is floral and fresh, a similar blend to the Sela, but with more fruit weight. It is influenced by the Mediterranean climate. In contrast, the Roda I is black fruited, and more influenced by the cooler Atlantic climate. I tasted the 2013. I was impressed with the complex profile of black fruit, spices, licorice, and how these long flavours came together.

The Cirsion is the flagship wine, made from the oldest parcels, only 400-600 cases per year. It is aged in 100% new oak, but only for 8 months. Roda does not want the oak to take over. It is like a best barrel approach. The 2016 is a dark, brooding wine, big volume with smoky and earthy elements. At 150 Euro, it is not cheap. 

Roda does not use the Crianza and Reserva descriptions. There is definitely an emphasis on fruit here, as opposed to oak, and the Cirsion is certainly not traditional.

To be continued... 

  

Marques de Riscal Rioja

I am not the world's greatest expert on Spanish wines, but generally there are three things I don't like about them
1)  Lack of vitality in the wines
2) Tempranillo is a boring grape variety
3) The authorities in many regions, including Rioja, do not allow single vineyard wines, as they say they do not have the resources to police it. Obviously, trust is not an option.

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to test my preconceived view against the 2009 Marques de Riscal Rioja Reserva, from one of the most respected wineries in Spain.

There is good intensity in this cherry fruit, but not much else on the palate, other than the vanilla from maturing the wine in American oak. The wine is a bit dull, and not very polished either. The tannins are quite soft, and as there is not much going on, the alcohol comes through on the finish.

Preconceived ideas confirmed! (at least on this occasion)

Later in the year, I will spend a couple of days in the Ribera del Duero region to get more of an insight.

Score: 87/-

Spinifex Taureau

The Taureau is quite a rare wine and has been abandoned by Peter Schell in 2010. He found the Tempranillo grape 'uninteresting'.

The 2008  Spinifex Taureau is a blend dominated by Tempranillo, with Graciano, Carignan and Cabernet Sauvignon added in. The colour of the wine is dark crimson. The lifted flavours are quite strong, with cherry and mulberry dominating. It is a fresh wine, but there is enough tannin to provide a solid structure. The finish is satisfying and balanced.

This is a perfect example of the master blender Peter Schell at work. The Graciano provides tannin and grip to the Tempranillo. This is often done in Spain. The Carignan and Cabernet Sauvignon provide extra body. I find this an interesting  wine.

Score: 92/++

Tscharke Tempranillo/Graciano

Damien Tscharke is making a name for himself with so called 'alternative' varieties in the Barossa Valley. The 2008 Tscharke Only Son is a Tempranillo/Graciano blend. This is a pretty full-bodied Son, I must say. The dark cherry fruit flavours are quite ripe. The Graciano element adds some tannin structure to the Tempranillo, and it works well in this wine. The tannins are fine grained and lead to a satisfying finish. Overall, however, the mouthfeel is not of a very refined wine - a bit in your face.

Score: 91/0