On Wednesday night, 3 friends and I continued our extended engagement at a local watering hole, with an all-Spanish line-up, dominated by a range of styles and vintages from Rioja.
N.V. Txomin Etxaniz Getariako Txakolina. This wine has a crisp, sharp nose of chalk, green apple, skunky fern and fresh squeezed lemons. After a while, though, it begins to display subtle undertones of mustiness, with speculation that this may be very mildly corked. In the mouth, it has a tart entry with some orange sour ball and lemon Napoleon candy flavors. It stays crisp and minerally through the middle, with sour apple flavors. The next night, the corkiness in no more evident, but the wine is mellower, with a bit more creaminess and flesh through the citrusy middle, but not quite as much zing. It was pleasingly cleansing with homemade tacos.
1978 Bodegas Muerza Rioja Vega Tinto Fino Reserva. Ed’s price tag showed that he paid $3.95 for this once upon a time. Not a bad investment, as this showed real pretty for a few hours before fading fast toward the end of the night. It is a light, translucent red, with rusting at the rim. The nose right out of the gate is shockingly fresh, with dried flowers, dried orange peel, soft mulling spices, and dried red fruit. Later on, notes of dusty earth, old leather and cranberry creep in. Even later, just as it begins to die, it throws out some aromas of caramel and maple syrup, too. In the mouth, it is crisp and tart, with a spiny beam of lovely old red fruit and soft spices. It is lighter-bodied, but very pretty overall, and it manages to have enough concentration of flavor to provide a good, persistent finish. The acids take over after a while, though, and the bottom falls out as the wine cracks and fades away. A fun treat, though.
1994 Bodegas Riojanas Rioja Monte Real Gran Reserva. In comparison, this wine showed solid and steady throughout the whole evening. The nose offers up leather, horse hair, black raspberry, fruitcake spices, soft nuts and persimmon notes that combine in a sort of rustic old-world elegance. In the mouth, it is showing fairly young to my taste, with black and purple fruits lurking beneath top notes of bright cherries. There is very solid concentration of fruit that hangs in all the way through the persistent finish. It is medium- and maybe even full-bodied, with surprisingly voluptuous layers of ripe warm fruit, but always with an elegant balancing and freshening acidity. As the night progresses, it seems to get better and better, feeling increasingly zoned-in and engaging. I’d say this can go a while longer—there’s no hurry here—but it can be enjoyed now, too. My #4 wine of the night.
1994 Senorio de San Vicente Tempranillo Rioja San Vicente. This begins with very open and distinctive aromas of soft balsa wood, crushed fresh mint and dusty tomato leaf lying over a core of red fruit preserves. With some air, it brings in more of an old-world animal hide and leather sensibility, as some of those initial American oak accents fold in and become more secondary. In the mouth, it is beautifully balanced, with generous layering to the waves of coffee and deep red fruit flavors. It has a very silky and seamless mouthfeel, with no rough edges in just a very engaging mid-weight package. The mocha-tinged finish is strong and long, and after some time, one does sense that there are some gentle tannins still lurking to give this some more aging potential. However, it is drinking great right now. This was my WOTN.
1994 Artadi Rioja Pagos Viejos Reserva. This is by far the darkest of the 1994’s. Perhaps not surprisingly, it is also the tightest and most unyielding of the bunch right now. The nose is tight and taut for the most part, but there are notable aromas of menthol, with more subtle notes of meat, spiced currants, dark cranberry, cool aloe, white pepper and leather. On the palate, it is a real mouth-filler, with a big burst of dark, very spicy and almost ashy mixed fruits. This is the most voluptuous of the trio, but not in any overdone fashion. It has a sense of reined-in power, though, that makes it seem almost painfully young, especially as the chalky, chocolaty tannins begin to kick in fairly strongly with some time in glass. I’d give this more time before pulling another cork.
1997 Artadi Rioja Pagos Viejos. This wine is just lovely on the nose, with fresh and classy aromas of briery dark berries, cracked leather, clean horse barn, espresso roast and some bright red cherry underneath. In the mouth, it is both lusciously-fruited and refreshingly tangy, with red-fruit and dry dusty earth flavors. It is lithely-structured, yet full and plentiful in nature—leading to a bright, tangy finish. This was my #3 wine of the night.
1998 Artadi Rioja Pagos Viejos. Taking a while to open up on the nose, the ’98 eventually offers up plenty of black fruit aromas, along with fruitcake, dark earth and toasted walnut accents. On the palate, it does not feel quite as fresh as the 1997, with a much richer and almost primordial fruit center to it. Deep, rich flavors of black currants, black beans and earth are quite generous, but perhaps a bit disjointed right now. Chalky tannins and a sudden streak of acidity are featured on the finish. The overall takeaway here is to forget about this for like 5 years, when it hopefully should be better integrated—it certainly seems to have the stuffing for it.
1999 Bodegas y Vinedos Pujanza Rioja Norte. This Rioja’s aromatic profile is quite different from the rest of those sampled this evening, featuring notes of dried stems, tree bark and forest greenery. There’s also a notable bike tire and white pepper streak, making me think more of Syrah or even Pinot than of Tempranillo. It will be interesting to see if this takes on a different personality as it ages. In the mouth, it is blatantly young, with lush, fudgy, teeth-coating tannins in abundance to go along with black currant fruit that feels quite primary right now. It has a big-boned structure and plenty of body and stuffing, but it really should not even be approached for another 5 years.
2001 Bodegas Dos Victorias Toro Gran Elias Mora. Ah, this wine has just a gorgeous bouquet of red cherries, raspberries, spice cake, soft incense, fresh flower greens and sweet earth. It is not quite as intoxicating or overtly sexy as it was 18 months back when I first tried it, but it seems to have gained a bit more elegance or at least mild restraint. It still has a beautiful texture in the mouth, fantastic levels of effortless concentration and length, but it is perhaps showing a bit more complexity now. There are all kinds of deep and ripe red cherry and raspberry fruit flavors to go along with bright spices and tangy acidity. It features super-soft, pillowy tannins and great length to the finish. Drink now or easily hold for a while. My #2 WOTN (in a very close race for first).
2001 Hacienda Monasterio Ribera del Duero. Initially, this wine’s bouquet is big and bold, with brambly fruit and some rubber notes. Later on, it begins to display some dark, almost toasted cedar, along with vegetable garden and new leather aromas—getting better and better with air. It is rich and chalky on the palate, with good delineation to the blackberry and dark chocolate flavors. The tannins do grow throughout the tasting, but they are well-rounded on the darkly tangy finish--suggesting some good mid-term aging potential.
2002 Sadie Family Priorat Dits del Terra. This offers up an enticing nose that had me thinking of Belgian waffles covered with fresh berries and powdered sugar. Aromas of blueberries, red cotton candy, pixie stick and something that made me think of carpet padding all take a turn. For all that, it comes across as much more serious-feeling in the mouth, with a brooding dark chocolate and black fruit profile. It is tight, rigidly-structured and a bit ungiving right now—all of which is so surprising after that pretty bouquet. I’d really like to try this when the whole package finds greater harmony.
A quick poll at the end of the night revealed the following rank order of preferences:
1994 San Vicente Rioja (3 first place votes) – 9 points
2001 Dos Victorias Gran Elias Mora (1 first, 2 seconds, 1 third) – 8 points
1997 Artadi Rioja Pagos Viejos (2 seconds, 1 third) – 5 points
1978 Muerza Rioja Vega Reserva (2 thirds) – 2 points
-Michael