WTN: A tasting of some modern Spanish wines, mostly Rioja.

I am a great admirer of classical Rioja, both red and white, of the sort that I used to find during my visits to Spain in the late 60s and 70s. Some bottles from those decades and also the 80s which I have had in recent years from producers like CVNE, Marques de Murrieta and la Rioja Alta are still showing superbly, discreetly and sweetly harmonious with complex secondary flavours and also vigour.

However, I have been disconcerted by reports, backed up by some limited experience, that the Spaniards, in their enthusiasm for modernity, have ditched their traditional styles and are going for “international” style fruit bombs far more thoroughly than the French and Italians. My cellar is therefore quite poor in representatives of contemporary Spanish wine. So I welcomed the opportunity to sample a range of recent offerings at Gert Claes’ Alter Vinum.

Traditionally the Spanish used to subject their best wines, particularly Rioja, to extensive wood ageing, often in American oak, but usually in large used casks with the result that the wine breathed extensively but showed relatively little of the flavours typical of new wood. Reportedly the enthusiasm for the use of wood has even increased but it is now usually shorter stays in small barriques of new oak, often highly toasted, which impart vanilla, coco-nut and caramel flavours pleasing to certain influential critics and their followers at the same time as preserving burgeoning fruit.

Against the background of these preconceptions, I was pleased to find that none of the red wines sampled showed that strong malt and caramel after-taste which so disfigured many prestigious Italian wines at two recent tastings; wood flavours were often detectable but mostly quite well integrated and only excessive, for me, on a couple or so of the whites. Overall I came away feeling quite reassured with the balance of most of these wines; I am not sure whether this is a tribute to Gert’s selection or whether the general picture I had built up was exaggerated. The originality of the whites from Galicia was quite an eye-opener. The QPR varied mostly from very fair to very good.


BODEGAS VALDERROA (D.O. Valdeorras in Galicia – the NW corner of Spain)

VALDESIL BLANCO 2004 made from the indigenous Godilla grape was a revelation. It showed white fruit and cream on the N with a crisp yet round, aromatic and long P; a gem. PEGZAS DE PORTELA 2002, also from Godilla but with wood ageing, was creamier and sweeter seeming and complex with notes of honey and touches of caramel balanced by some racy acidity. Wines from this estate are well worth seeking out.


CASTRO MARTIN (D.O. Rias Baixas)

CASTRO MARTIN 2006 showed a deliciously fresh mineral N and a crisp bracing P. An excellent wine for sea food.


BODEGAS NAVAJAS (D.O.C. Rioja)

ROSADO CRIANZA 2004 showed a fragrant N with wood notes and quite complex fruit with vanilla and coco-nut notes on the finish. TINTO RESERVA 2001 showed fragrant aromas with cherry brandy notes and an attractively elegant and balanced P: perhaps more classical in style than some of the others.


BODEGAS SIERRA CANTABRIA (D.O.C Rioja)

The ROSADO was crisp and refreshing with nice fruit. TEMPRANILLO SEMICRIANZA 2004 had creamy aromas with cherry notes and a quite full P with caramel notes on the finish. ORGANZA BLANCO 2003 (barrel fermented) showed vanilla ice-cream aromas and a quite darkly complex palate. TINTO CRIANZA 2002 displayed good dark red fruit aromas and some depth and grip on the P with the wood better integrated, for me, than in the two previous. TINTO RESERVA 2002 was a clear step up; round rich fruit aromas and a more powerful and structured P with a slightly dry finish demanding more time. CUVEE ESPECIAL 2002 showed a “sweeter” style. TINTO GRAN RESERVA 1998 represented a further step up showing more depth of fruit and aroma, a round rich body and a more velvety structure than the Reserva. COLECCION PRIVADA 2002 showed lovely round soft chewy fruit (enhanced by “macération carbonique” in part) with fine wood notes in the background but not dominating; a successful fruit-bomb!


SENORIO SAN VICENTE (D.O.C. Rioja)

SAN VICENTE (? 1999?) showed aromas of sweet dark fruit with leather notes and deep rich fruit, velvety structure and length; a modern aristocrat.


TOBIA (D.O.C. Rioja)

TINTO JOVEN 2005 showed nice fresh fruit aromas with cherry touches and a quite light fresh P with good grip. ALMA BLANCO 2005 (barrel fermented) was showing too much wood for me at present but was quite complex and long; it may come together in time. CRIANZA TINTO 2003 showed good fruity aromas with leather notes and a good robust fruity P with good length. RESERVA 2002 also showed good fruity aromas with leather notes plus some cherry and a fruity, aromatic and long P.


VIÑEDOS DE PAGANOS (D.O.C. Rioja)

EL PUNTIDO 2002 showed complex dark fruit aromas with a dash oriental scent and kirsch and soft silky complex fruit with good grip; drinking beautifully right now.


So after this promising survey of younger examples, I could not resist taking a more mature one from my cellar for dinner.


SIERRA CANTABRIA RESERVA 1995. N: Quite "sweet" red fruit with cherry notes but also a touch of varnish (VA?). P: Similar “sweet” fruit with good body, structure and length with more complexity and secondary flavours than the 2002 but with a hint of grittiness on the finish. A nice bottle but not (yet?) on a par with some of the superbly subtle and harmonious classical CVNE Imperial and Viña Real, and the like, from older vintages.

Postscript:

CONTINO RIOJA RESERVA 1996 - Viñedos del Contino

Gert brought this along last night as an intruder in our tasting of Rhône wines and stole the show alongside a Clos des Papes 1995.

It had been opened in the morning and had benefited from several hours breathing.

N: Complex round red fruit with cherry brandy notes. P: A lovely balanced palate showing similar aromas together with good depth, roundness and grip. More fruity and powerful than a 20 year plus traditional Rioja without their ethereal delicacy and full secondary development but perhaps on the way to getting there.

A lovely wine and more complete than the Sierra Cantabria Reserva 1995.

Traditionally the Spanish used to subject their best wines, particularly Rioja, to extensive wood ageing, often in American oak, but usually in large used casks.

Not 'large'. Rioja regulations demand that 'rioja', 'reserva' and 'gran reserva' be aged exclusively in 225 l. barrels. Burgundy barrels, which hold 228 l, are tolerated. If you use 'demi-muids' or any other large size barrels, you may not request the 'crianza', 'reserva' or 'gran reserva' back label. Quaint and rather useless regulations. (Which is why so many new producers don't even use these back labels any more.)

made from the indigenous Godilla grape.

Actually, it's not Godilla, nor Godzilla, but Godello. (pronounced god-EH-yoh).

Thank you, Victor, for that intersting correction on Rioja barrels as well as on the spelling of Godello.

Can you tell me whether the Rioja regulation imposing 225 litre barrels has always been in force in the second half of the 20th century as well as now?

I cannot recall any flavours that we now know as coming from new oak in the Riojas I first met in the 60s; I think that I would have noticed as new oak flavours were virtually unknown then in Médoc which I used to regard as the absolute standard.

Perhaps like most French producers then, new oak was no more frequent than would occur with a natural rate of renewal of the stock. Indeed I have heard from certain vignerons that their fathers used to "break in" new barrels by using them for inferior wine; perhaps many bodegas used to do this too.