WTN: Spanish hit and misses.

TN’s on a few Spanish wines that I was able to retain my notes on. All of them young, these were consumed with meals at various restaurants last week.

2005 Bodegas y Vinedos Alion, Ribera del Duero
This was quite good. Just about slightly modern to my taste. Immediately uncorked and poured into a spiffy, side-balancing, modern decanter, upon being ordered. Oak and tannin at first, and during the course of the meal, the wine became smoother and showed layer after layer of lean black fruit. It was match made with the terrific lamb chop entree that I had. I have no experience with older bottles of these, but I feel that this will get better with some cellar time. Paid about $75 in a very good Spanish restaurant. B+

2005 Tinto Pesquera Reserva, Ribera de Duero
Started much rougher than the Alion, but made, imho, in the more earthy and rustic traditional style. The nose on this wine can be off-putting with it’s slight funkiness, but I know that it wasn’t corked or anything like that as I’ve had previous experiences with Pesquera wines that also had similar bouquet. A big, dark wine that seemingly will require a tremendous amount of patience in order to integrate … if it will at all. About $45 at Casa Lucio. B-

2004 Remelluri Reserva “La Grana Nuestra de Remelluri”, Rioja
A new world style Rioja. Sweet, ripe, yet quite hollow. Wood notes. $35 at La Barraca. B-

2006 Pago de los Capellanes Crianza, Ribera del Duero
Ripe, thin, sweet fruit all over, forgettable. $27 at a forgettable restaurant in Segovia. C

I always thought that wood notes in Rioja, especially reserva, was quite traditional.

-Paul W.

I always thought that wood notes in Rioja, especially reserva, was quite traditional.

-Paul W.

Traditional Rioja producers claim not to use new oak. That is possible these days with so many new oak adepts offering used barrels, but what about two or three generations ago? I guess that in those days one in five/six barrels would have been new assuming the barrels were discarded after being used five/six times. In best traditional Rioja the wood is suggested by its tactile features rather than tasted through its aromas, but less than the best was often desiccated.

I can confirm that Alion ages gracefully for 10-15 years by which time its wood is integrated if still perceptible; I had a superb 1995 a couple of years ago (TN somewhere in the archive).

I always thought that wood notes in Rioja, especially reserva, was quite traditional.

-Paul W.

Thank you for your comment.

I noted the wine being new world more so because of the overall experience that I had, and not purely on the level of wood notes alone. It may have been that most of my attention was centered on the delightful soccarat in the paella that I was gorging on that night, but I didn’t get anything more than waves of sweet red and black fruit combined with vanilla/wood notes with the wine.

During my visit to the region about a year-and-a-half ago, I noted the heavy emphasis on the use of wood by each wineries that I visited, be it well-known traditionalists or modernists. It became clear to me that the wood notes are integral, but there were more than just sweet fruit and oak with the traditionally-crafted wines that I sensed, especially among the reserva and gran reserva. BTW, and unfortunately, Remelluri was not one that I visited then, so I don’t know how old or how new their barrels were.

There is a very interesting article on the use of wood on the website of R. Lopez de Heredia who are regarded, I think as the standard bearers of the traditional style http://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/t ... ianza.html .

They have an in-house cooperage, medium toast to minimise oak flavours and use their barrels for over 10 years with as little as 10% being new.

It is my experience that there are virtually no overt oak flavours, as distinct from tactile influences, in mature traditional Rioja except perhaps hints of vanilla. Even there one has to be careful about attributing that to the wood rather than to Tempranillo as I have had the experience of proclaiming disagreeable wood derived caramel and vanilla notes on a Joven only to discover that it saw no wood at all.

Thanks for posting that link Tim. Very informative, wish more websites would reflect their thinking this way.

Yep. Thanks for link Tim.

Ramon
An equally grumpy note on the 2001 Pago de los Capellanes from me. Probably a 'not my style' view rather than a definitive comment about 'quality', but very much not to my tastes.

2001 Pago de los Capellanes Ribera del Duero Crianza - Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero (11/15/2009)
90% Tinto Fino, 10% Cab Sauv, cork sealed (and a stubborn tightly fitting one at that)

Very lifted creosotey nose (I wonder if they thought the barrels needed protection from the elements?), with some milk chocolate in support, with dark fruits gasping for air. Impressive yes, but a bit passé?

On the palate, again feels like it's built to impress. The tannins are fine yet grippy, there's deep blackberry fruit (with an orange accent) and acidity supports the frame. This really feels like a show pony. It's initially impressive and shouts 'I'm an important well made wine", yet in time it becomes tiresome. Maybe on another day I'd appreciate it better, but tonight I find it overblown and obvious.

Hola Mr.Cabrera

It seems like a bit of a disappointing run. Since you were in Spain itself I'm surprised you only ordered wines that are exported to the US. Maybe next time you should order unknown local wines - they tend to be fresher and pair well with the local cuisine.

Cheers,
Agostino

Maybe next time you should order unknown local wines - they tend to be fresher and pair well with the local cuisine.

Cheers,
Agostino

Buon giorno Il Sig. Berti,

Thank you for your note.

Due to lack of pre-travel research or perhaps because it was a short 4-day trip, I may have consciously (or subconsciously) ordered wines that are widely available in the US.

However, I’m not sure that I agree with you that I should have ordered unknown local wines because "they tend to be fresher and pair well with the local cuisine.” .

Grazie.

I noted the wine being new world more so because of the overall experience that I had, and not purely on the level of wood notes alone. It may have been that most of my attention was centered on the delightful soccarat in the paella that I was gorging on that night, but I didn’t get anything more than waves of sweet red and black fruit combined with vanilla/wood notes with the wine.

Thanks for the elaboration on your experience of the wine. I see what you're getting at now.

-Paul W.

Remelluri certainly isn't a modernist producer. This wine was basically too young, not too modern in style. Also, it was not really a good idea to have a tannic young tempranillo wine from Rioja Alavesa with a paella – a southeastern Spanish wine made with monastrell, bobal or garnacha, which are less tannic, and also a wine with less overt oak influence, would have been much better with the rice. Of course, La Barraca's wine list is pretty lousy. Next time, try Ventorrillo Murciano or El Garbí for paella, and the wine list will be a little more varied…

Ramon
An equally grumpy note on the 2001 Pago de los Capellanes from me. Probably a 'not my style' view rather than a definitive comment about 'quality', but very much not to my tastes.

Thanks for the additionals notes, Ian. I'm sure this wine could appeal to some others, but, like you, it's "not my style".

Remelluri certainly isn't a modernist producer. This wine was basically too young, not too modern in style. Also, it was not really a good idea to have a tannic young tempranillo wine from Rioja Alavesa with a paella – a southeastern Spanish wine made with monastrell, bobal or garnacha, which are less tannic, and also a wine with less overt oak influence, would have been much better with the rice. Of course, La Barraca's wine list is pretty lousy. Next time, try Ventorrillo Murciano or El Garbí for paella, and the wine list will be a little more varied…

Thanks for the comment and the paella suggestions. I agree that La Barraca's wine list is pretty bad (iirc, the vintage were not printed on the list and the maitre'd had to bring 3 bottles that I was considering just to show me the vintages). Lack of pre-planning had me scrambling and relying on my hotel concierge for last-minute restaurant advice, and in this case, a Sunday dinner and we didn't want to stray far from our hotel. I would have wanted to try El Ventorrillo Murciano for some of those snails and rabbit paella, but will have to do so next time.

They have an in-house cooperage, medium toast to minimise oak flavours and use their barrels for over 10 years with as little as 10% being new.

Some of the more traditional Piemontese producers who want to avoid the taste of new oak don't toast their barrels at all, so I wonder why would LdH use medium toast when you can use none.

It is my experience that there are virtually no overt oak flavours, as distinct from tactile influences, in mature traditional Rioja except perhaps hints of vanilla. Even there one has to be careful about attributing that to the wood rather than to Tempranillo as I have had the experience of proclaiming disagreeable wood derived caramel and vanilla notes on a Joven only to discover that it saw no wood at all.

On Saturday I tasted a truly lovely 1997 Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 904 that had considerable american oak aromas. I have never liked the aroma of American oak as much as I did here, but they were certainly overt.