Bodegas Tobía – Cuvée Blanco Rioja
Last year, I tried a glass of Rioja Cuvée Blanco from Bodegas Tobía, a producer then unknown to me. As there are 66,902 hectares of vines and 748 producers in Rioja selling around 325 million bottles annually in many diverse styles, perhaps you’ll forgive me for not knowing all of them.1
Meanwhile, this glass of wine was listed at The Restaurant at Kendal College. Retrying this wine again on subsequent visits confirmed its quality and admirable bottle consistency. Hence, I asked Graeme Hedley (Wine Tutor and Sommelier at Kendal College) where I could find it in the UK. He pointed me toward the importer, Miles Corish MW, of Milestone Wines, and I bought six bottles.
So, without further ado, here’s a brief article about Bodegas Tobia Cuvée Blanco. This is their entry-level white wine and the cheapest in their range.
About Bodegas Tobía
Óscar Tobía trained as an Agronomist and completed a Master’s in Viticulture and Oenology. In 1994, he founded Bodegas Tobía, a family winery. Initially, this was in his hometown of San Asensio. However, in 2010, it moved to a larger new winery at Cuzcurritta del Río Tirón. That’s about a ten-minute drive from Haro, in the western Rioja Alta subzone. Óscar has become known for innovations and non-conformism to increase quality and distinctiveness. However, he uses traditions when they are helpful to his winemaking aims. Indeed, these days, Rioja as a category has many faces.
Innovations include the Ganimede system used for fermenting red and macerating white wines. I have previously seen this in use in Italy 2. Without getting technical, it uses “intelligent” stainless steel tanks to improve wine quality by gently extracting more colour, flavour and aromas. Furthermore, it uses less energy and reduces the need for sulphur dioxide. In other words, it can make better wines more efficiently and sustainably.
Bodegas Tobía has three wine ranges, each representing a step up in quality: starting with Tobía, then Óscar Tobía and finally Alma Tobía. By my count, there are fourteen different expressions of Rioja, in blanco, rosado and tinto. There are classic styles as well as the avant-garde. As an example of the latter, the first barrel-ferment rosado in Rioja came from here.
Tobía Cuvée Blanco, Rioja DOCa, NV. 13%.
Tobía Cuvée Blanco
Technical 3
An unusual property of this wine is that it’s a blend of vintages, so it’s an NV. How many vintages were used and their proportions are unknown. Regardless, it’s a blend of older and younger wines. In modern times, this technique has become unusual outside of the world of Champagne. However, it was once commonplace in Rioja until the 1960s. Hence, an old tradition has been resurrected by Óscar Tobía. Even traditions were once innovations.
The greatest Riojas tend to be blends of grape varieties rather than single-variety wines. And so it is here, using six of the nine authorised white grapes. These are 28% Sauvignon Blanc, 26% Tempranillo Blanca, 22% Chardonnay, 18% Viura (Macabeo), 4% Maturana Blanca and 2% Garnacha Blanca. Even here, the varieties used mix traditional native and modern international.
This wine blends vineyard sites across La Rioja, a traditional Rioja approach. Many of these vineyards feature old vines grown at altitude on poor soils. Those factors bring lower yields, fresh acidity and complexity.
The grapes undergo destemming at the winery; only the free-run juice makes the base wines, never the press wine. One of these base wines (perhaps the Chardonnay or the Viura?) ferments in new American Oak barrels. That may have had a secondary, malolactic fermentation, though this is a guess. Afterwards, it’s given three months of subsequent ageing and less stirring.
All the other base wines vinify in stainless steel (and I’d wager no malolactic for those). While classic Rioja would then employ further ageing in oak barrels, this sees none as this wine is for young drinking. There is a cork closure.
Tasting
The colour is a clean and bright light yellow. The aromas show nuance and complexity; quince, pear, and citrus are up front, with something more tropical (passion fruit?) appearing as it warms in the glass. There’s just a brief scent of vanilla from the clever oak treatment, no more. On the palate, there’s an excellent balance of fruit intensity, fresh but rounded acidity and moderate alcohol. The stated alcohol is 13%, maybe rounded down from a smidge more. The texture is slightly creamy, and those fruit notes are to the fore, offering seamless integration, surprising elegance and subtlety. Finally, there is a persistent and satisfying slow fade, with a delicate reprise of oak, never intrusive. This wine is drinking perfectly now, as is the winemaker’s intent, but there’s no rush over the next three years.
Food
Served well-chilled, Cuvée Blanco is a versatile white wine that will pair well with soups, white meats, fish and vegetarian dishes. So here are three inspiring dishes from Kendal College that pair perfectly:
- Roasted Coley, sauteed courgette and potatoes;
- Griddled pork loin steak with cider sauce;
- Fennel soup with buttered peas and lemon pangriatata.
UK stockist and retail price
Milestone Wines, Clitheroe, Lancashire. £14.30.
And Finally
Even after half a lifetime of wine tasting, and no matter how jaded, some new wine encounters still bring joy and make you ask questions. And before discovering the retail price, I had imagined it to be in the £18.00 – £20.00 range. Exceptional value! I also admire winegrowers who make great wines at this level because it makes you want to trade up! Consequently, I’ve vowed to explore the other wines in the range this year; watch this space.
The next time I go to La Rioja, once again an exciting wine region, Bodegas Tobía will be at the top of my list to visit – how many wines make you want to do that?
Location
Bodegas Tobía
Calle Senda Rutia
26214 Cuzcurrita de Río Tirón
La Rioja
Spain
What3Words Location
Notes
1. Source: Consejo Regulador Rioja DOCa, 2023.
2. Bolla, and Tommasi, in Veneto.
3. I have not been able to find out all the technical details (yet), but will revise this if more comes to light.
Thanks again to Kendal College and Milestone Wines.