Rioja Wine Month returns throughout October 2022

Rioja Wine Month returns throughout October 2022

Rioja Wine Month comes to the U.K. throughout October 2022. It’s a month-long celebration of Rioja, Spain’s most famous wine region.

Meanwhile, this article represents my small contribution to Rioja Wine Month. It contains ten recommendations, first tried at the annual Wines of Spain tasting held earlier this year and then subsequently followed up. Here, the focus is solely on reds. That’s partly for brevity and because these red wines suit autumnal settings. In addition, it’s also the best-known style and represents about 85% of total production.

Even within this category, there is considerable diversity in grape varieties, terroir and winemaking, so there’s a Red DOCa Rioja to suit every palate. Hence apologies to those excellent sparkling wines, whites and rosés made in Rioja on this occasion.

All these wines are available in the U.K. and represent excellent value at their different price points, so why not seek some of them out?

Badiola,  L4GD4 (La Guardia),  2018,  14 %

Subzone: Rioja Alavesa

Grape Varieties: 100% Tempranillo

Level: Vino de Pueblo

Crimson coloured with floral aromas alongside strawberry and violets. The juicy palate shows no overt wood and trades elegance for power, with velvety tannins and a little pepper spice. A thoroughly modern expression of Rioja. All About Wine £24.99

Bodegas LAN,  Viña Lanciano,  2016,  13.5%

Subzone: Rioja Alta

Grape Varieties: 88% Tempranillo, 8% Graciano, 4% Mazuelo

Level: Reserva

Founded in 1972, Bodegas LAN is in Rioja Alta at Fuenmayor, and Viña Lanciano is the mainstay of their production. The grapes are a selection sourced from plots across their 92-hectare sustainable farm, from vines at least 30 years old. Fermentation is in stainless steel, but maturation is in French Oak for seven months, then Caucasian Oak for another fourteen months. After this, bottle maturation then lasts for 18 months.

Deep red cherry coloured. It’s all about red and black fruits, liquorice, smoky oak and minerality. Given this is an older and mature wine, it’s completely integrated; the palate harmonious, the texture silken, the balance precise. Some secondary notes of leather and earth from bottle ageing are now developing. All elegance and finesse. V.I.N.V.M. £25.20

Bodegas Palacio,  Cosme Palacio,  Vino de la Guardia,  2018,  14 %

Subzone: Rioja Alavesa

Grape Varieties: 100% Tempranillo

Level: Crianza

Based in Laguardia, Rioja Alavesa, the Cosme Palacio winery was founded in 1894 and is now part of the Domecq group. With 200 hectares of vines, the Cosme Palacio vines used for this wine are over forty years old and grown at around 600 metres. The grapes are destalked, and the stainless steel fermentation features micro-oxygenation. The wine is given thirteen months in 225-litre lightly-toasted french oak and then ten months in bottle, so creating what some informally call a “super-Crianza” style.

It’s a deep crimson colour, still with the purple dots of youth. Aromas are intense, the red fruits married to liquorice, violets and aniseed. That French oak adds pepper, cinnamon, and a eucalypt-like note. This wine is a muscular and powerful example. Firm tannins at this stage but leavened by copious fresh acidity. Excellent balance and enormous persistence leaving final notes of coffee and cigars. Terrific now and has tremendous ageing potential too. £18.25 from Vinofandango.

Bodegas Bilbaínas,  Viña Pomal,  106 Barricas,  2017,  14.5 %

Subzone: Rioja Alta

Grape Varieties: Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano

Level: Reserva

Bodegas Bilbaínas in Haro dates from 1901, and ownership since 1997 has been by the Cordoníu Raventós Group (of Cava-fame). Viña Pomal is their leading brand, with several different cuvées. The exact blend in this Reserva isn’t known. However, it’s their flagship wine, named after the 106 barrels made.

It has a deep cherry colour, with violets, red berries, vanilla, and coffee aromas. Alcohol is on the high side but well hidden; balance and persistence are hallmarks here. An intriguing note of fennel lingers long in the memory. This is drinking well now, with many years ahead. Spirits24 £19.60

Bodegas Ramón Bilbao,  Límite Sur,  2017,  14.5 %

Subzone: Rioja Orientale

Grape Varieties: 100% Garnacha

Level: Reserva

Ramón Bilbao operates their Rioja winery from Haro, in the Rioja Alta. Known for their sustainability, they have also been battling the Climate Emergency with new wine styles. This Ramón Bilbao red is unusual in this lineup as it uses only Garnacha. It’s grown at their Monte Yerga vineyard in Rioja Orientale, an area of Rioja where Garnacha is traditional. The wine is their “companion” to their white Rioja called “Límite Norte”, reviewed favourably in these pages. The grapes ferment in concrete tanks, retaining a proportion of stems to achieve a tannic structure. Ageing uses a mix of terracotta amphora, concrete and 600-litre wooden barrels. Once blended, the wine receives a further ten months in French 225-litre barriques.

There’s a wildness to the berry fruit on the nose and palate. Power here, reflecting Mediterranean warmth, but with great elegance and charm too. Well balanced, thanks to zippy acidity and velvet smooth in texture. Pink peppercorns emerge on the finish. Terrific now, with more to come, but why wait? The Fine Wine Company  £97 for 6 (equivalent to £16.16 each), or single bottle: Winestore, £18.50

Manzanos Wines,  Voché,  Seleccion Graciano,  2017,  14%

Subzone: Rioja Alta

Grape Varieties: 100% Graciano

Level: Crianza

A Rioja made solely from Graciano remains unusual in the marketplace, but Manzanos has created a fine advertisement for it. The family wine business originated in Navarra 130 years ago but now owns several wineries, including those in Rioja, with 250 hectares of vineyards and has contracts with a further 700. Maturation is 20 months in French and Romanian oak, then an additional six months in bottle.

Ruby coloured, featuring aromas and flavours of black fruits, dates and prunes. There’s spice, cocoa and toffee too. All reprise in a dense, lush, creamy palate where some smoke and cedar appear on the finish. A deliciously different and thoroughly modern expression. Hay Wines  £24.99

La Rioja Alta,  Viña Ardanza,  2015,  14%

Subzone: Rioja Alta

Grape Varieties: 78% Tempranillo, 22% Garnacha

Level: Reserva

The Tempranillo comes from thirty-year-old vines in Rioja Alta, while the Garnacha is from Rioja Orientale. Manual harvesting started mid-October, with the grapes taken by refrigerated vehicles to the winery. Fermentation took place naturally in stainless steel. Then the Tempranillo had 36 months in American oak barrels averaging four years in age. Meanwhile, the Garnacha got 30 months in 2 and 3-year-old American oak barrels.

That 2015 is the current release of this Reserva illustrates the traditional long maturation times associated with Rioja and the fact that this cuvée is only from the best years. Indeed, the 2015 vintage received a “very good” rating from the DOCa. Extended ageing has now turned the wine garnet. Aromatically, spice and balsamic notes are now to the fore, the red berry fruit now subdued behind cinnamon, cocoa and nutmeg. On the palate, mineral freshness is abundant, with a melange of fruit with smoke and roasted coffee notes. About as classical and complete as you’ll find. Now drinking exquisitely yet with decades ahead. Lay & Wheeler £26.98, Majestic £24.99 (mix 6). Booth’s £27.00

Torre de Oña,  Finca Martelo,  2016,  14,5%

Subzone: Rioja Alavesa

Grape Varieties: 95% Tempranillo, 2% Mazuelo, 2% Garnacha, 1% Viura

Level: Reserva

This wine is another from La Rioja Alta. In 1995 it founded an estate in Rioja Alavesa called Torre de Oña. It enables La Rioja Alta to remain classic and traditional while allowing Torre de Oña to produce a more modern expression of Rioja that uses French Oak and even 1% white wine in the blend. Maturation time is shorter, though this 2016 is the latest release again. It’s an intriguing comparison to the wine above. Finca Martelo is a single vineyard wine, so site-specific, from a two-hectare plot of old bush vines.

This cherry-red wine has garnet flecks. Aromas and fruit flavours in the plum, damson and even blueberry and blackberry spectrum. Plenty of freshness (is this helped by that splash of Viura?). Silken elegance and precision, a herbal/menthol quality too. The long finish shows vanilla and torrefaction. Drinking well now and will improve over the next decade, though probably not for as long as the La Rioja Alta. Lay & Wheeler £29.68.

Queirón Mi Lugar,  Vino de Quel,  2018,  14.5%

Subzone: Rioja Oriental

Grape Varieties: 90% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha

Level: Vino de Pueblo

This wine is from Bodegas Ontañón in Quel, Rioja Orientale. It’s also one of the new Rioja classifications, being a ‘Vino de Pueblo’, which can only be made from family-owned vineyards within a named village, in this case, Quel. There’s a rigorous selection to include only the best grapes from old bush vines in high-altitude vineyards over 600 metres. The finished wines spend 18 months in new oak barrels (80% French and 20% American) with varying levels of toast. Then, after blending, there are another six months in 18,000-litre French oak foudres.

Dense garnet/ruby colour. Blackberry and blueberry aromas. Then additional coffee and cocoa complexity from the barrel work. The palate extends this to  include damson, fig and a savoury undertow. Soft, creamy texture and a long finish. Elegance and complexity, with well-integrated wood showing flashes of vanilla. Cambrian Wines  £22.00

C.V.N.E.,  Imperial,  Gran Reserva,  2012,  14%

Subzone: Rioja Alta

Grape Varieties: 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo

Level: Gran Reserva

Rioja Wine Month has to feature a classic Gran Reserva. This example is from C.V.N.E., which stands for Compania Vinicola del Norte de España, meaning “wine company from the north of Spain”. So now you know. C.V.N.E. originates from Haro in 1879 and remains in family ownership. Imperial is one of their four Rioja wineries, and this is the top wine, first made in the 1920s.

Imperial GR only appears after exceptional years. With grapes from 40-year-old bush vines, fermentation was in French oak vats—the wine then ages for a minimum of 24 months in new French and American  oak barrels. Then there’s more ageing in the bottle, at least 36 months. Finally, it’s ready to drink on release but can still improve and will live for decades. This 2012 is still available though there are also now 2015 and 2016 vintages released.

Deep garnet-hued. Lots of tertiary aromas have developed on the nose; dried roses, figs, plums, and a hint of tangerine. All bound in a savoury balsam. The palate intensifies it and adds even more complexity; “fruits of the forest”, liquorice, pine, cigar box, brown spices, tobacco and leather. Super-soft with colossal length and reminiscent of Dundee cake. C.V.N.E. call it their quintessential Rioja. And it is. York Wines, £49.95

And finally

So these ten examples should be enough to keep you all Rioja’d up, at least during October! They also present the opportunity to discover different styles and preferences.

However, further information about Rioja Wine Month is here if you want more red Rioja, or want to check out other styles. Many U.K. wine retailers and restaurants promote Rioja wines during Rioja Wine Month. So there’s a directory of events, participants, and more detail about Rioja than you can shake a stick at.

Want even more? Try these recommendations from Beronia and Altanza.