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24 hours in Rioja

This is a belated article from the Castilla-Rioja trip last autumn, that I organized and guided. The trip (labelled RRR) went through Rueda and Ribera del Duero and ended with more or less 24 hours in Rioja. So what do you show people in just one day, when the area is so vast and there are so many producers to chose from?

One had obviously to chose a theme, and not surprisingly the criteria were in accordance with this blog. Therefore a big Sorry to all the historic bodegas, the ones from the station neighbourhood in Haro, the ones with noble names, architect designed buildings, big public relation departments and so on. The producers we visited were focused on vineyards, organic farming, expressing terroir through their wines, they were small, and they had their unique personal style.

*Telmo Rodríguez (Remelluri), Labastida: Remelluri was one of the first estate wines in Rioja, and Telmo himself has also done a tremendous job driving across Spain to find in finding and communicate terroirs, fighted in an unselfish way for understanding of diversity, and most lately he was the driving force behind the so-called Manifesto meetings, that in turn led to change in Rioja classification

*Sandra Bravo (Sierra de Toloño), Rivas de Tereso and Villabuena de Álava: A new voice, first amphora aged wine in Rioja, member of the “activist” group Rioja’n’Roll who has a strong focus on landscape

*Juan Carlos Sancha: University professor of enology, recovers traditional grape varieties, and as representative of small family-wineries in the Consejo Regulador, and has there advocated for a structural change from within

*In addition to the three we visited Lauren Rosillo (Finca Valpiedra), not in Rioja, but in Martínez Bujanda’s bodega in Rueda. Here you can read about it.

Arriving at La Granja de Nuestra Señora de Remelluri there were Telmo Rodríguez, his collegue and companion Óscar Alegre and Ainara Martínez from the administration to welcome us. The first thing we do is to go for a walk in the lovely landscape amidst the vineyards around the farm, chat about Remelluri’s place in the scenery and in history, about Rioja politics and many other things. So relaxed, so much in harmony.

We are in Labastida (or: Bastida in Basque, as this is Rioja Alavesa), looking up on the Sierra de Toloño, part of the Cantabria range. The farm was bought by the Rodríguez family in 1967. It’s however an old property, having been created by the Hieronymite monks some 600 years ago. -That time around 1970 was Middle Age, recalls Telmo. -There were mules, no tractors… And we ran the farm for 9 years without electricity.

When the first vintage was released in 1971 it was Rioja’s first modern estate wine. After his project of recovering vineyards and reviving traditions all over Spain for many years, Telmo Rodríguez took over the family property in 2009. Telmo, with his sister Amaia, cut production of Remelluri down 30-40% to maximise quality. Today Remelluri spans over 160 hectares, 100 under vine, divided in around 150 plots. All organic, certified in 2013. Production is now 270.000 bottles, which make them a medium-size Rioja producer.

 Telmo by an “amphiteathre” near the winery

The vineyards are at 6-800 meters altitude, the highest destined for a white wine. Telmo is an advocate for field blends, as he sees terroirs more important than varieties. Therefore the terroirs are not blended.

So the decision was taken that from the 2010 vintage the wine they had made for their good neighbours, Lindes (meaning something like ‘common borders’), should be divided between the two municipalities where their suppliers come from. By making two wines it was also possible to show the differences in terroir between the two villages; Lindes de San Vicente is a riper, more structured wine, while the higher altitude Labastida counterpart is slow-ripening, fresher, more floral, and the grapes are typically picked ten days later. There is also an up-grade of the quality of this wine. -We want to pay them higher, says Telmo, -although the pay is already high by Rioja standards.

-Other than this we don’t buy grapes, says Telmo, -not even in 2017 when the crop was low. The bigger houses asked us where we would buy grapes to maintain production. We said ‘nowhere’ of course. For us this is a simple question. You don’t add grapes from Navarra in a Ch. Lafite only because the crop is smaller, do you? This is a question of mentality. Some people buy grapes to maintain the number of bottles, we don’t. “This vineyard in a bottle is a beauty.”

 

Óscar and Ainara

Note: One of the reasons for visiting Remelluri at this moment was the special circumstances, in the aftermath of the aforementioned Manifesto. The Basque producers (the ABRE organization where Remelluri is not a member) had threatened to leave Rioja and set up their own DO, and Artadi had already left. Meanwhile most of the Manifesto meeting thought that the best was to change the system from within. What we now know is that the Consejo all of a sudden and quite surprisingly announced the new ‘viñedos singulares’ category, and ABRE put the leaving plans on hold for two years.

Back in the bodega house we had a tasting of the two Lindes wines in the 2013 edition, plus the two more famous references, the reserva and gran reserva, both in the 2010 vintage. All were fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in a combination of stainless steel, concrete, big oak vats and small barrels.

2013 was a generally rainy year, declared “good” by the officials (which means not so good). For us it only means different, a bit lighter than usual, maybe more elegant. Lindes de Labastida 2013 from limestone and clay soils, was quite direct and linear; light red in colour, with a floral aroma, red berries. Lightweight, but refreshing, wonderfully integrated wood, with a good acidity, and overall really nice drinking. Lindes de San Vicente 2013 (these are often slightly bigger, and harvest takes place some 10 days ealier): Ruby red, slightly darker fruit (blackberry, some blackcurrant), a hint of tobacco. In the mouth it’s rounder, a bit bigger than the Labastida wine, but this one too on the elegant side, though not very complex.

2010 on the other hand, was top rated, with healthy grapes and high values in most parametres, and a good start in Telmo’s comeback. Remelluri Reserva 2010 was aged 17 months in French barrels. It’s definitely darker than the previous wines, more complex with red and dark berries, cherries, plums, some lickorice and some earthy notes. In the mouth it’s fresh, mineral, with already almost integrated oak, good acidity, and very long. Refined. Granja Remelluri Gran Reserva 2010: Here is more garnacha, 25%. It’s a lighter wine, with nuts and a slight touch of vanilla, but with a lot of red berries underneath. Full-bodied, fresh and with good grape tannin structure. There is a timeless subtlety over this one.

Goodbye to the people at Remelluri, a short drive up the same road towards the Sierra, and Sandra Bravo is waiting for us in Rivas de Tereso, a hamlet so small that a special meeting place is not needed. It’s here she has her vineyards, while she is renting an old bodega down in Villabuena de Álava, where she has both steel, amphoras and wood of various sizes and ages.

She belongs to the activist group Rioja’n’Roll, but in private Sandra is not noisy, as she appears calm and balanced. The group wants to put the focus on the vineyards, and let the wines speak about them. Like Remelluri and many others around here she one foot in La Rioja and one in Álava. -I describe my wines as Alavesa, says Sandra, cool wines from mainly calcareous soil, small plots, and there is always the north wind that brings freshness to the wines. In addition to the freshness from the climate, Sandra is almost always the first in the area to harvest.

 

(photo: A. Sjurseike)

She makes a total of 42.000 bottles a year, quite small by Rioja standards. Down in the Villabuena cellar we tasted through some of the wines, and I go through them only briefly. Sierra de Toloño Blanco 2016 is a viura 100%, biodynamic farming (like in most of the vineyards), the grapes are de-stemmed and 90% is made in steel, the rest in French oak, all kept on the lees. It’s light in colour, fresh aroma with white flowers hay. In the mouth it’s round, with well-integrated acidity and a salty touch.
Nahi 2016 (nahi is a Basque word meaning ‘desire’): This very special, lovely white comes from more than 80 years old vineyards around Villabuena. It’s a field blend of recovered plants of various varieties, mostly viura and malvasía, but also some calagraño and rojal. They were fermented together in a big barrel (500L), and has a gentle ageing in wood too. It has an aroma of white flowers too, but also a tough of fennel and smoke. It’s rich, soft, concentrated and long, but the acidity is not of the sharp type.  

Now for the reds: Sierra de Toloño 2016, a 100% tempranillo from 600-750m altitude. All destemmed, spontaneous fermentation in steel, then a year in old, neutral barrique, no fining or filtering. Cherry red, aromas of violets, blackberry and some balsamic notes, a slight touch of chocolate. In the mouth it’s very, fresh, young but rounded tannins, the fruit is there all the way. La Dula 2016: This is a 90% garnacha, the rest tempranillo from the vineyard La Dula planted in 1944 at 700m in Rivas de Tereso. It’s fermented in 300L amphoras, aged there for 12 months, before bottling, unfined and unfiltered. Quite dark, very floral, with herbs, laurels… Luscious, juicy in the mouth, but also with a delicate structure. Rivas de Tereso 2015: This is a single vineyard tempranillo from 650m altitude. It fermented very slowly in amphora for one year, then aged in a second-use barrel for one year. Deep red colour, aroma of red fruits, blackberry, some coffee. It’s more full-bodied and contentrated than the other wines, more calcareous, mineral, deep. The tannin structure is evident, it’s mineral, and the acidity gives it freshness. Both powerful and elegant. One for the shelf, but one you still can’t hardly resist.

It is a lovely next morning with all the colours that the Riojan autumn has to offer when we head south to the Najerilla valley from our hotel in Labastida. We reach the small settlement of Baños de Río Tobia in the Najerilla valley, southwest of Logroño, close to the Sierra de la Demanda mountains. This is one of the coldest areas in Rioja (competing with the area we just came from, Sierra de Toloño).

View over the Najerilla valley. The yellow trees in the background is where the Rioja area ends (in the direction towards Soria)

Juan Carlos Sancha’s work as a vintner is based on the results from his work at the University of La Rioja, Logroño, where he is a manager of the Master of Oenonology studies and has a special interest in nearly extinct local grape varieties. He had already started to experiment with these varieties when he was a winemaker for Viña Ijalba, known as the first Rioja producer of certified organic wine, just outside Logroño.

He makes 45.000 bottles per year. Juan Carlos sees his vineyards as being of two types: 1. young vineyards of autoctonous grape varieties, 27 different (1.200 bottles of monastel, see below, belongs to this group), and 2. singular vineyards (centennial vines of garnacha), that are going to be submitted to that group once the new regulation is put into practise. He plans to launch up to 8 wines as “viñedos singulares” according to the new regulations.

The professor lectures about the autoctonous varieties in the garage

Juan Carlos sees three important dates in the regulations since Rioja delimitation as a protected area in 1925:

*1991: the DOC regulations

*2008: new grape varieties allowed

*2017: the new viñedos singulares category

-Rioja had 44 varieties in 1912, says Juan Carlos. In 2000 there was “practically” no more than 7 (ok, save for some “projects”). Among the grapes he works are red and white maturana, white tempranillo and monastel. The name of this last one resembles several other grapes, but it’s another. Juan Carlos claims that to make the only wine in the world from this variety. What we are also about to taste are wines from old garnacha plots that he recovered. Some of them were planted by his grandfather in 1917 at Peña el Gato, 750m above sea level.

He makes a no-sulphite added garnacha and the Peña El Gato Garnacha Viñas Centenarias from his own vineyard. The rest are from local vinegrowers. The wines are bottled separately, and the name of each grower is featured on a neckhanger. These last wines are quite exclusive, as none of them reach 1.000 bottles.

There is also the Ad Libitum range. The name is Latin, used in music and denotes something that is free, or improvised. This is a good name for a creative winemaker as Juan Carlos Sancha. The range includes a white tempranillo, a mutation of red tempranillo discovered a few years ago in a Rioja vineyard. According to Juan Carlos all white varieties are mutuations of red ones.

  

 

Monastel, the one and only

(photo: A. Sjurseike)

Up on the peña with these magnificent views and the autumn sun chasing the morning mist away, we had a pieceful tasting. Four wines were brought up there. Ad Libitum Monastel 2016: Not the other varieties with almost the same names, no: monastel, monastel de Rioja. The wine was fermented in big 500L barrel (new French). It’s clear red, clean. A meaty and spicy aroma, but also red berries, like cherry and some strawberry. A serious wine with firm tannins, and a nice acidic touch. Peña el Gato 2016: Garnacha planted in 1917. Juan Carlos claims it is impossible to find a 100 year old tempranillo. Light red colour, raspberry, blackberry and aromatic herbs on the nose, firm structure, very fresh acidity (7g), and some coffee too. Peña el Gato 2016 Terroir Rubén Olarte (the original, 160 year old vines, clay/calcareous soil facing south and west). Raspberry, blackberry, caramel, lickorice. Maybe more complex, but somewhat less fresh, lots of rounded tannins, rich, and more evident alcohol (at 14%). Peña el Gato Natural 2016: Garnacha again, no added sulphur (total 8 mg). Cherry red, blackberry, red fruits. Has a certain “sweetness” (from elaboration in wood), but good acidity too, good structure (more tannin than the others, that comes from a really low production because of the steep vineyard where the water escapes).

 

This trip started in Rueda, continued through Ribera del Duero, and this was the last visit. Back in Madrid we said goodbye with a meal at the Gastroteca Santiago. And the circle was completed when our promising 18 year old “apprentice” got the Rueda that we started out with, and then the Monastel de Rioja. It might be some time until next time.

 

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Fair notes on Rioja

A while ago I was invited to speak about Rioja at a Norwegian fair. Originally the speech should have been done by one of the big Rioja companies, and it was already sold out. After some hesitation I said that if I should speak about Rioja it would be my way, presenting my opinions, and the wines from the company the participants had submitted to would not be present.

I love Rioja, the food and the culture and the scenic landscapes, the shifting soils and the many well-managed vineyards, many of them really old. But I also think that Rioja is in serious trouble, and hopelessly out of fashion, at least out of sync with the discriminating wine lover. I am aware that I am in danger of getting myself some new enemies by saying this, and I beg for understanding. And it’s not my intention to be snobbish either, in fact I am also speaking against many wine nerds in my own country. Leonard Cohen sang “I like handsome men, but for you I will make an exception”. Many people accept Rioja as “something different”, and let the the Rioja “industry” get away with a lot of characteristics you wouldn’t have accepted from another region that claim greatness: Too much oak, that one is well known, nearly identical wines (especially in the crianza and reserva categories) in spite of coming with different labels and from different companies, the domination of cooperatives (including huge bodegas that act as such), blending of grapes from all over to make millions of liters of the same wine. The list could go on.

Bilderesultat for rioja Time to move on!

No surprise that something like the “Artadi case” should come up, it was just a question of when. In this case the ‘death’ was ‘foretold’, and it’s difficult to see that the conflict couldn’t be solved. We ought to take a closer look at this case later, but in short it’s about Juan Carlos López de Lacalle leaving the DOC Rioja because of regulations don’t accept mention of specific vineyards nor villages on the label, and the back label only promoting the word Rioja as a brand name. It’s easy to agree with his opinions. On the other hand there are people who don’t agree with the way he acted in the process, and “who was he to do this”, after all Artadi is also a quite big company that has sold wines to supermarket brands (more specificly the Valdepomares label to Marks & Spencer). Then comes the geographical-political side of it: Many fear, and the Consejo Regulador (the wine authorities) really should, that Artadi will label their wines as Vino de Álava (or the Basque name: Araba), and that many others will follow. Then the old question will come back: Why are villages like Ábalos and San Vicente part of La Rioja, not the Araba province? Many travelers from Haro on their way to Laguardia have wondered why they’re driving in and out of that province while staying on the same road. And if I haven’t mentioned it before, the only official distinction in Rioja Alta, Baja and Alavesa… Well, it’s nothing but useless. For those not familiar with the Artadi case, here is an article where the decision to leave is announced. And for a brief introduction in English, where the Consejo also is allowed to hold the microphone for a while, look here.

Now to the tasting. In Norway one can chose among some 400 available Rioja wines, of which I have tasted most of them. Still I only managed to come up with less than 10 that fit my few and simple specifications: The viticulture should be organic, and the yeasts should be natural. One should be able to trace the wine back to a specific place, and the wine should have no disturbing trace of oak. Other than that it should only be good drinking. It’s possible that I am ignorant about wines that could have met my specifications. But the Rioja regulations and labelling doesn’t help much either, when many of them says “viña” or “pago” (words for vineyard), and it’s not. Readers of this blog will have noticed that I am no fan of huge, oaky, overextracted wines, so many of the big names were disqualified, with the result that my selection was less than half the price of the organizers’ budget. There is a group of modern growers that call themselves Rioja’n’Roll. At times in this process I felt that I could have belonged to it, and somehow I was eager to see whether I were booed out or not.

These were the wines:

Ad Libitum 2013 (Juan Carlos Sancha) – The only white wine in the selection, made from white tempranillo, a variety that was officially recognized in 2007 and that is genetically speaking 97% same as the red. Sancha owns 5 hectars in Baños de Tío Tobia in the Najerilla valley. This is among the coldest parts of the whole DOC; high-lying, southfacing vineyards (around 600 meters) on low-yielding calcareous soils.

Straw yellow. Typical aromas of gooseberries and fennel, along with some white flowers, and a slight hint of apricot. Quite full, mellow, but good fruitiness all the way.

Navarrsotillo Tempranillo 2013 – Best Buys Organic Series (Navarrsotillo) – Andosilla is in the region of Navarra, and the vineyards are in a radius of 10 kilometers from the bodega – in Andosilla, San Adrián and Calahorra (the last two over in La Rioja). The Serrano Arriezu brothers call this the “Rioja Mediterranea”). Here are cold winters, mild and wet springs and autumns, and warm and dry summers. The soil is calcareous, but also with sand, clay and stone, that gives wines with soft tannins, but can also give a freshness to the wines. This one is especially made for their Norwegian importer. Only tempranillo, spontaneously fermented and matured in inox.

Bright red. Earthy, mature fruit, herbs. Not very concentrated, but enough to reflect its origin.

LZ 2013 (Telmo Rodríguez) – From Lanciego/Lantziego, towards the east of the Alavesa road, past Laguardia, a cool zone with predominantly clay and calcareous soils. Telmo claims that Lanciego reflects the contrasting influences between the Atlantic (that is closest) and the Mediterranean (whose influence is brough up by the Ebro river). The wine is made from tempranillo, graciano and garnacha, grown “en vaso” (bush wines). For this wine there is to a lesser extent a collaboration with local growers, carrying out traditional viticulture (pre-conventional), and all the grapes were picked by hand and fermented in cement with natural yeast and aged 4-6 months in cement.

Quite dark with a violet hue. Dark berries, fennel, with notes of licorice and some balsamic, a bit earthy. Medium body, good tannin grip and a nice acidity.

Ad Libitum Maturana Tinta 2011 (Juan Carlos Sancha) – While his white wine was all tempranillo this hasn’t a drop of that grape, but in-stead the variety mentioned in the wine name, maturana tinta that originates from Rioja. Sancha is a professor of enology at the University of La Rioja. He and his collegues were instrumental in the rescue operation of this grape and others in the region (like trousseau, bastardo and red verdejo).

Dark red. Balasamic notes combined with red berry fruit. Just the right amount of tannins for good drinking now, and matching acidity.

Rayos Uva Vendimia Seleccionada 2014 (Olivier Rivière) – Rivière, from Cognac, was a consultant for Telmo Rodriguez from 2004. By then he had started to buy vineyards. He works organically, ploughs regularly, uses a minimal amount of treatments (organic too). Altitude is important for him, for freshness in the wines. This wine is made from tempranillo and graciano in equal parts (some times he puts in some garnacha) grown around 6-700 meters over sea level in the hills over Aldeanueva de Ebro. The wine was only gently macerated in inox before fermentation. He likes to ferment with stalks to achieve a wine that has a fresh feeling to it, but is nevertheless not light. After a 10 months ageing on lees, and only slightly sulphured, it was brought down to Aldeanueva to be bottled by Bodegas Lacus, where Rivière has also consulted.

Dark red. Dark fruits, blackberries, lightly balsamic (menthol). Soft tannins, a juicy, luscious feel, and just that right touch of inspiring acidity.

Bilderesultat for olivier riviere rioja rayos uva 2014

Predicador 2011 (Benjamín Romeo) – OK, I admit it, I decided to give something to the people who had come for a “Rioja” tasting. Predicador 2011 was made of Benjamín Romeo, formerly at Cosecheros Alaveses (eventually known as Artadi), but left for his own “garage” project in his native San Vicente de la Sonsierra, altogether 7 hectar of vines in alluvial soils, calcareaous clay and sand. When I visited him some 10 years ago it was under very humble circumstances, but with ideal storage in 800 years old underground caves. I think he was going to build a new bodega, but I don’t know if it’s done. It didn’t seem to me that impressive bodega houses are among Benjamín’s focal points. But he is a true cosechero, he makes the wines he believes in, and he has many followers these days. His Predicador white was tested, and left out, but the red (from 89% tempranillo, 10% garnacha and 1% viura) passed the test. I don’t dare to think what disaster could have happened to this wine without that 1 decisive per cent of viura…

Dark red colour. Red berries, blackberries, a touch of vanilla. A smooth velvet texture, quite full and concentrated.

6 very nice, serioius, and quaffable wines. There could have been a few more, but honestly there ought to have been many, many, many more to chose from.

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