Wine of the Week – a great red Rioja

As any cursory read of these pages shows, I love Spain. I love the country, the people, the history, the culture, the food and the wine. Spain is simply one of the most exciting wine producing countries there is.

The whole country is awash with wine. It is the third largest wine producing country in the world, after France and Italy, but has the largest vineyard plantings of any country on earth.

In the UK we do not give Spain the respect it deserves, Spanish wine is incredibly varied and diverse, but apparently most of us really only drink Rioja and a bit of cheap Cava.

That is a shame as there is so much more going on in this wonderful and colourful country – dip into these pages and you will find a great deal about Spanish wine, food and travel.

Recently I attended a most fabulous event. It was a tasting hosted by Bodegas Bilbainas and it was an evening to remember.

Bodegas Bilbainas in Haro, Rioja

 

Bilbainas are an old Rioja house, founded in 1904 and now owned by Catalan Cava producers Codorníu. It has always been a good house, but seems to have become even better of late. Unusually for a Rioja producer Bodegas Bilbainas have always owned a lot of vineyards, 250 hectares near Haro in Rioja Alta in fact. This is why they label their wines Viña Pomal – Pomal being the name of this estate, as they only make estate wines.

The event was held at the elegant Hispania restaurant in London’s Lombard Street and I have seldom been anywhere so civilised and comfortable. The service was perfect and the food set the wines off perfectly. I tasted a glorious array of wines, all of which were superb, and I will write about them soon, but with winter fast approaching I thought that I would tell you about a really fine red.

Wine map of Spain – click for a larger view

A map of Rioja – click for a larger view.

2010 Viña Pomal Gran Reserva
DOCa / PDO Rioja
Bodegas Bilbainas
Haro, La Rioja
Spain

Gran Reservas are traditionally thought to be the best wines of Rioja and are only made in the very best vintages and were pretty rare when I was young. Such vintages come along much more frequently today – so you see global warming is not all bad!

2010 was a really great vintage, rated Excellente, and the quality shows. Most Rioja blends Tempranillo with a little Garnacha / Grenache and possibly a dash of Mazuelo (aka Carignan) and the much more rare Graciano. This wine is just 90% Tempranillo and 10% Graciano and is aged for 12 months in American oak barrels – American oak gives that vanilla character – before being racked, blended and returned to barrel for another year. After that the wine is transferred to wooden vats to fall bright, bottled and aged in bottle for a further three years before going on sale. 

Viña Pomal is an old, but very strong brand.

 

I sat with this wine, as I had an array of 4 or 5 others to distract me, and I am so glad as it really developed in the glass. It is undeniably pretty with loads of deep red fruit, vanilla, cloves and a light dusting of vanilla, coconut, tobacco and leather, as well as a note of cream. The palate was supple, silky and refined. Just nudging full-bodied it elegantly filled my senses and my palate with rich fruit, but also those classic, mineral, savoury, spicy and balsamic sensations that make Rioja so moreish. The tannins give a light bite while the acidity gives a nice touch of freshness.

This is a brilliant wine. It delivers so much and promises so much too. It is absolutely delicious right now, but will happily age for another decade, and become more savoury and complex – although some of that fruit will fade. It is bright and wonderfully youthful with great structure and real elegance – 93/100 points.

A wine like this is very versatile and would be fabulous with Christmas dinner, but is equally great with any meat dish, or even cheese.

This wine is strangely difficult to buy, but can be ordered online from Vinum.co.uk  and the equally fine 2011 vintage from Decantalo.com, Uvinum.co.uk and Exel Wines.

 

Wine of the Week – a sumptuous and great value Rioja

Looking south across Rioja just north of Haro.

I love red Rioja. Spain has much more to offer the wine enthusiast than just Rioja, but Rioja can make very fine wines indeed – hence its fame.

The trouble with Rioja is the question of what you are going to get. They aren’t all good, some are downright ordinary in fact, so you must be wary. However, red Rioja can deliver a great deal of pleasure and many very high quality wines.

As far as good value is concerned though the picture is also mixed. I generally hold it to be true that cheaper Reservas and Gran Reservas, from bodegas that have no fame or are just made up brands for the supermarkets, are normally not worth drinking. For me the reliable, value category of red Rioja is the Crianza level, which spend the shortest time ageing in oak.

However, one of the great joys of wine is that every now and again a wine pops up that confounds our beliefs.

Vineyards near Haro in Rioja.

Recently I presented a very well received tasting of the wonderful wines of CVNE, one of the truly great Rioja houses recently. All the wines were really good, but for me the absolute star wines were the magnificent 2012 Imperial Reserva, ready to drink and wonderfully refined and elegant – stockists here and here – and the quirkily delicious 2014 Monopole Clasíco white.

CVNE, like many of the original band of Rioja bodegas, are based in Haro.

I showed a fabulous Crianza from CVNE’s Viña Real estate in Rioja Alavesa. It offered rich fruit and lots of character and showed just how good a Crianza wine can be. However, good though it was, another wine stood out for the mix of quality and amazing value for money. Indeed I liked it so much that it is my Wine of the Week.

2011 Cune Gran Reserva

DOCa Rioja

Bodegas CVNE

Haro

Rioja

Spain

Founded in 1879 and still owned and run by members of the founding family, C.V.N.E. – the Compañía Vinicola del Norte de España – is one of the great Rioja houses. I love showing their wines at tastings because they have such a wide range of styles, quality levels and labels as their stable includes the famous Monopole range, the great classic Imperial wines and the two single estate wines of Viña Real and Contino.

The wines labelled as Cute – CVNE in old copperplate script – are their base level wines, but still very good in my opinion. The Barrel Fermented white is a wonderful example of getting the oak just right, while the Crianza is a great value gem and the Cune Reserva is, to quote my friend Tom Canavan, a ‘proper wine’. 

However it is this beauty that currently represents the most amazing value for money and it is a really lovely wine.

The blend is 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo – no Grenache – from vineyards around Haro in Rioja Alta. It is aged for ged for 2 years in mainly American oak, but some French oak as well, and 3 years in bottle. The French oak allows for a little tingle of tannin that suits the wine.

Wines ageing in the Imperial barrel cellar at CVNE. This cellar was designed by Gustave Eiffel.

This is an unashamedly rich Rioja, the lack of Grenache allows the dark fruits to hold sway. It has spice, vanilla, dark plums, blackberries and blueberries on the nose with a light dusting of fresher red plum and raspberry too. The palate is soft, silky, refined and deeply upholstered – sumptuous in fact. There are some savoury, leather notes, a little bite of tannin and some nice freshness all giving definition. It has wonderful concentration – the vintage was very good – with loads of ripe fruit and good length and could have a long life ahead of it if you can resist. Whether you drink it or keep it, I would recommend that you grab some now – 92/100 points.

Drink it with lamb, beef or roast pork, but above all, drink it.

Available in the UK @ £12.50 per bottle – yes £12.50! from Tesco and Tesco Wine by the Case.

Wine of the Week – a great, great value Rioja & a couple of real treats for Christmas

Looking south across Rioja just north of Haro.

Rioja is – I think – one of the great wine regions of the world. However, there is plenty of pretty underwhelming Rioja – and I am talking about red Rioja here, I have written about white Rioja here – produced. Increasingly there is reliable, but unexciting Rioja at lower prices, while the more exciting examples – and here I really mean the Reservas and Gran Reservas – cost a bit more than most of us can justify for an everyday sort of wine. I have written extensively about the history of Rioja and you can read the piece by clicking here.

Map of Rioja – click for a larger view. Non watermarked maps are available by agreement.

Vineyards near Haro in Rioja.

Well the other day I tasted an affordable Rioja Reserva that was quite delicious, full of character, full of flavour and full of fruit. I kept coming back to it to check, but it really was very good. So I have made it my Wine of the Week.

2011 Cune Reserva
DOCa Rioja
Bodegas CVNE
Haro
Rioja
Spain

CVNE, or Compañía Vinicola del Norte de España (The Wine Company of Northern Spain) was founded in 1879 by Eusebio and Raimundo Real de Asúa and is still controlled by their direct descendants. CVNE was written as Cune in the old days, so that became the brand and is pronounced ‘Coon-eh’. Over the decades other labels have been introduced, Monopole, Imperial, Viña Real and Contino, but the Cune wines themselves remain the core of the range and provide the more everyday wines and the midweek treats.

Bodegas CVNE in Haro.

As such an old established and still family run producer, CVNE are often regarded as being very traditional. However, I am rather of the opinion that this is not entirely the case. There are traditional aspects to them certainly, but having been familiar with their wines for many decades now, I think the wines are richer than they used to be, with more emphasis on fruit – which for me is a very good thing.

This Reserva comes from the stunning 2011 vintage which is officially classified as ‘Excelente’ or excellent. It is a classic Rioja blend of  85% Tempranillo, 5% Garnacha, 5% Mazuelo and 5% Graciano. The grapes were hand picked and then fermented in stainless steel and the wine was aged for aged for 18 months in American oak barrels and some French oak barrels too. The wine was aged for a further year in bottle before release.

The colour is deep and bright and the nose has lifted, fragrant fruit, cherry, plum, blackberry all mingle together with vanilla and spice and coffee together with a touch of something leathery and savoury. The palate is rich, concentrated and rounded with supple tannins, intense dark fruit, spice and a little touch of welcome, balancing freshness. It finishes pretty long and is very satisfying.

I have known this wine for a long time and often show it on my courses, but it was nice to reacquaint myself with it and to realise what a very good wine it actually is. It also delivers a huge amount of pleasure – 90/100 points.

Available in the UK for £11-£13 per bottle from Majestic, Waitrose, Waitrose Cellar, Ocado, Asda Wine Shop and Bargain Booze and many others – click here for more stockists.
Available in the US for around $20- $25, for US stockists click here.

Recently I have also tasted a couple of other wines from CVNE, the Imperial Reserva and Gran Reserva. Launched in the 1920s as a premium Rioja the wine was originally aimed at the UK market and bottled in Imperial Pints, hence the name. They were both magnificent wines and would be wonderful to enjoy over Christmas:

Wines ageing in the Imperial barrel cellar at CVNE. This cellar was designed by Gustave Eiffel.

2010 Imperial Reserva
DOCa Rioja
Bodegas CVNE
Haro
Rioja
Spain

Another stellar vintage, this 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo blend was aged for 2 years in American and French oak casks and another 2 years in bottle.

The nose is rich and powerful with ripe black and red fruit, vanilla, spice, herbs, coffee and leather. The palate is pretty full and silky with that rich fruit and the herbal, spice, earthy tastes giving an almost sweet and sour character. A complex and delicious wine that drinks very well already, but that touch of chalkiness to the tannins will soften and it would get more complex with age – 92/100 points.

Available in the UK for around £20-£24 per bottle from Majestic, The Wine Reserve, The Co-operative, Waitrose, Waitrose Cellar, The Wine Society and many others – click here for more stockists.
Available in the US for around $32- $38 – for US stockists click here.

2008 Imperial Gran Reserva
DOCa Rioja
Bodegas CVNE
Haro
Rioja
Spain

2008 was not rated quite as highly as 2010 and 2011, but CVNE still got some fabulous results. This 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo blend was aged in American and French oak casks for 2 years and in bottle for another three years before release.

This is a big wine still, but beginning to show a little maturity. The colour is more ruby and the fruit is more strawberry with a touch of richer blackberry. There is also vanilla,  spicy, toasty oak and a real savoury note. This follows onto the palate with umami, balsamic characters as well as the rich fruit, leathery and earthy flavours, dried fruit, spice and supple, silky tannins. All in all this is a real treat and a fine Rioja – 93/100 points.

Available in the UK for around £20-£24 per bottle from Tanners, The Wine Society (2010 vintage), The Wine Reserve and many others – click here for more stockists.
Available in the US for around $70 – for US stockists click here.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I do sometimes do some work for CVNE, but the views expressed here are my own and I was not asked or paid to write the piece.

Marqués de la Concordia – Spain in a glass and on the plate

A small Syrah vineyard at the Hacienda Zorita Organic farm. They mainly use this wine as a rub for one of their cheeses.

Long ago before my country decided to become foolish and voted by a tiny majority to leave the EU, I was invited to Spain as a guest of the Concordia Family Estates, which is a group of companies that is really on the rise. It’s run by some very passionate people and it shows. It all started with the Hacienda Marqués de la Concordia in Rioja Baja and over the years they have added other wineries, labels and brands to their stable. Bodegas Lagunilla was first in 1994 and since then Marqués de Monistrol have joined the group, allowing them to make some fine Cavas. Federico Paternina added another famous Rioja bodega, while with Bodega Rioja Santiago they acquired the second oldest producer in the region – it was founded in 1870. In Rioja they also own Viña Alarde, which produces more modern styles of value for money wines.

Further afield they also own an amazing estate in Andalusia called Ándalus which even grows Petit Verdot.

I’ll be honest, this company – or these companies – have so many strings to their bow that it is very hard to get a grip on it, but it doesn’t really matter, because everything was wonderful and each component made sense.

The beautiful Hacienda Zorita photo – courtesy of the hotel.

Storks are a common sight in these parts, this one is on the roof of the Hacienda.

I was invited visit the Hacienda Zorita, which is a charming boutique hotel that belongs to the company, they call it the Hacienda Zorita Wine Hotel & Spa. It is a few kilometres outside the beautiful cathedral city of Salamanca and it really is idyllic. It dates back to 1366 and was both the hospitality buildings for the local Dominican Monks and their farm, complete with water mill to make their bread – amazingly they say that Christopher Columbus – Cristobal Colon – came here when he was trying to raise funds for his first voyage.

My very comfortable room at the Hacienda.

This is a wonderful part of the world and the Tormes River flows right by the Hacienda before winding the 40 or so kilometres to the border with Portugal where it flows into the Duero / Douro at Fermoselle in Arribes del Duero.

The organic farm.

They have buffalo on the farm…

… and Iberian pigs.

The wonderful finished products.

Not content with being in hotels and wine, the company is also into fine food production. Many of their wine estates also grow olives and make superlative oil, but they also have an organic farm where they produce some stunning cheeses and the finest jamon and chorizo that I have ever tasted. They have recently started producing balsamic vinegar too, I got to try it and it is shockingly good, the older barrels were almost solid like toffee, but it isn’t yet ready to put on the market.

The balsamic vinegar ageing in different size casks, the older it is the smaller the cask as it evaporates.

Not far from Femoselle and the frontier with Portugal they also have the Hacienda Zorita Natural Reserve, which is a wine estate in the wilds of the Arribes del Duero wine region and the Arribes del Duero Natural Park which also covers the Douro Valley over the border in Portugal. Traditionally this area grows Juan Garcia, a grape that is not particularly loved, but that can make very good things when treated right. However at Zorita they decided to base their wines on Tempranillo, which is permitted in the DO. In addition, acting under advice from Richard Smart, they also decided to plant Syrah, and while this is not permitted in the local DO, it seems to perform very well indeed.

Hacienda Zorita Natural Reserve Unamuno Vineyard – there’s a billiard table at the top of that tower!

The estate from the top of the tower.

The estate is named in honour of Miguel Unamuno, who was a great writer and philosopher of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was Rector of Salamanca University and travelled widely in the Duero Valley writing about his journeys.

The presumably much repaired Roman Bridge over the Tormes River at Ledesma, just think how many people will have crossed that over the centuries. My ancestor William Sadler served under Wellington in the Peninsular War and some of Wellington’s army marched this way in 1812, so I might not have been the first member of my family to walk on that bridge.

Wine regions of northern Spain, Salamanca and the Hacienda Zorita are where ‘del’ is in Tierra del Vino de Zamora – click for a larger view

Over the course of the visit I managed to taste a few of their wines and these were the standouts for me:

Marqués de la Concordia MM Reserva de la Familia Rosado Brut
DO Cava, so made by the traditional / Champagne method
Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, Catalunya

70% Pinot Noir with 30% Monastrell aged 48 months on the lees.
It was made at Mas Monistrol, the home of Marqués de Monistrol.

This has a pretty, pale wild salmon colour and a fine persistent mousse. The nose offers rose petals and red fruit – a melange of strawberry and cherry – together with a touch of toffee and brioche, while the palate is, clean, zesty, taut and finely textured with succulent red fruit and a touch of shortbread. All in all a very stylish Cava with lots of finesse – 88/100 points

Available in the UK from Amazon for £37.50 for a case of 3 bottles.

2015 Vega de la Reina
DO Rueda
Castilla y Léon

I am a big fan of Rueda wines and think it is the most reliable white region in Spain. At the very least the wines never disappoint and the Verdejo grape is a terrific grape that is not unlike Sauvignon Blanc, but usually a tad richer and more herbal.

This wine is basically a Verdejo with 5% Sauvignon blended in. The grapes were picked at night to retain the freshness. Cold fermented using aromatic yeast and then aged for 3 months on the lees.

The nose has rich aromas, with a touch of olive oil, olives, ripe peach and a touch of apricot skin, citrus, some a little light pineapple too.

The palate has quite a rich mouthfeel, textured, and again with an olive twist, peach skin and even a little spritz. It has a rich, fat style, with nectarine succulence and a slight feel of tannin, perhaps from skin contact. The palate is lightly creamy and is balanced by the zesty quality of lemon rind and grapefruit pith – 88/100 points.

Available in the UK from Ocado for £10 per bottle and from Amazon where a case of 3 bottles is £22.57.

2011 Hacienda Zorita Natural Reserve Syrah

Unamuno Vineyard

Vino de la Tierra Castilla y León

100% Syrah aged for 18 months in a mixture of French and American oak barrels.

Unusually this offers bright, red fruit notes, as well as being lightly  floral, a little earthy, with some tobacco and a little sweet vanilla too.

Very supple palate, with lots of rich red fruit and good refreshing acidity making it feel svelte and poised. There are some attractive fine grain tannins and the oak makes it gently smoky. Avery attractive wine, the sweet vanilla works well and lovely juicy fruit is nicely kept in check. Nice tingling spicy finish blanks the bright fruit, it was very attractive to drink, but will become even more complex in 3 or 4 years time.

Available in the UK for about £15 a bottle from Ocado and Amazon.

2009 Marqués de Concordia Reserva 
DOCa Rioja
Rioja

100% Tempranillo aged for 24 months in French and American oak barrels.

This has a great nose, lifted, peppery and savoury, with some dark fruit, especially dark cherry. Earthy notes balance all that seductive power making it really attractive.

Opens up in the mouth with a supple texture, still peppery, spicy, polished velvety tannins and lots of smoky, tobacco, vanilla oak.

Very attractive stuff, but wow, this is a big modern, almost New World style Rioja – 90/100 points.

Available in the UK from Majestic for around £11.50 per bottle

2012 Marqués de Concordia HZ12 Zorita Abascal Crianza

DO Ribera del Duero

Castilla y Léon

The grapes are grown in the Abascal Vineyard, which is next to Vega Sicilia, one of the most famous wines in the world.

This is pure Tempranillo – known as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero and it spends 18 months in American and French oak.

The colour is black, dense and opaque.

The nose is similarly ‘yuge’ with rich sweet notes of dark fruit, balsamic and fresh earth, black olive and bitter chocolate.

The palate has loads of fat and richness, with cocoa, mocha and ripe black plum flavours. Rich and concentrated, fleshy and succulent, but there is some balancing freshness there too, the tannins are ripe and the it is dominated by a mixture of velvety fruit and sweet umami characters. A monster of a wine, but I really liked it – 90/100 points.

The garden of the Hacienda just outside my villa.

All in all I had an amazing time in a wonderful place and came back relaxed and restored. It wasn’t their fault that my country went completely mad on the night I got back – June 23rd 2016, a day that will live in infamy.

It is an astonishingly beautiful part of the world, the hotel was a total joy, sitting in the garden there was one of those moments that I felt totally at peace, just staring into the velvety Spanish night sky. The wines were splendid, the food excellent, our hosts charming and for a brief moment all was right with the world.

 

Do visit if you can and if that isn’t possible, try some of their wines, cheeses or jamon – it’s all available by clicking here.

Olive tree at the organic farm.