The Tasting Panel magazine

Jan 2010

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DePaRTMenT header january–february 2010 / the tasting panel /  73 Spain Like many winegrowing regions, Rioja produces both traditional and modern styles of wine, and as Rioja spokesperson and sommelier Adrian Murcia notes, those styles span a "traditional/modern continuum," which means there's plenty of di- versity to be had by sommeliers and buyers. In November, Jon Stamell, who directs Vibrant Rioja, the offi - cially sponsored U.S. marketing effort for the region, Murcia and their team demonstrated that diversity with a tasting and luncheon held at San Francisco's Restaurant Gary Danko. After tasting through a thought- ful selection of about two dozen red wines (only two whites were present- ed that day) and another dozen reds paired with the three-course lunch, it's evident that Rioja winemakers are experimenting with oak. American oak has long been the signature of traditional wines—the elegant wines of Maria Martinez-Sierra of Bode- gas Monticello come to mind—but modern or New World styles often employ French and Central European oak regimes. "The use of French oak is making Rioja wines more accessible when they are young," said Murcia, "it gives them body and structure with- out masking the fruit." He cites Bode- gas LAN, which uses hybrid barrels that combine American staves and French heads to produce accessible wines that refl ect their terroir with age, and the jammy, lush red fruit of Bodegas Baigorri's modern-style Reserva, which provided an exciting contrast when paired with roasted lamb. "Classically-styled Rioja wines tend to mirror the fl avors in food while more modern wines provide greater contrast." Given that American consumers typically drink their wines within 24 hours of purchase, the Reserva and Gran Reserva wines of Rioja repre- sent an "off-the-shelf" opportunity for consumers to experience the tertiary or forest fl oor fl avors—like damp earth, mushroom, leather and cigar box—that only develop with bottle age. Reserva wines spend a mini- mum of two years in oak and one in bottle prior to their release, and Gran Reserva wines enjoy a full two years in oak and another three years of bottle aging. Younger wines—Crianzas, which age a total of two years, and the newest unoffi cial category, Joven, which allows wines to be released with almost no aging at all—possess more modern fl avor profi les that are stylistically closer to domestic and other New World wines. "Gran Reservas and the more widely available Reservas are a good way for consumers to experience the fl avors of a properly aged wine," said Joe Manekin who is the Spanish wine buyer for K&L Wine Merchants, "but quite often, more traditional produc- ers will hold back their Crianza wines until they are deemed ready for release, which is an added bonus for consumers." Redefi ning Rioja A plethOrA Of wine StyleS meAnS SoMething For everYone by Deborah Parker Wong PHOTO COURTESY OF VIBRANT RIOJA

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