Traditional Rioja

I love traditional Rioja, but there are so few producers. Does anyone know of any beyond the following: CVNE, Muga (Prado Enea only), Lopez de Heredia, La Rioja Alta (my favorite), P. Pecina, Riojanas and older Murrieta?

[David M. Bueker]

That's pretty much the gamut from what I know. I too wish there was more.

Copied is a post of Victor's from Jan 2010.


On another board I've discussed an older Rioja wine, 1970 Marqués de Cáceres Reserva, tasted a couple of says ago by an American participant, and I believe my thoughts on it somehow summarize what's happened in Rioja over the past 40 years:

1970 was the inaugural vintage for the Marqués de Cáceres brand, which marked the return to Spain of the Forner family (Château de Camensac, among other properties), which had migrated to France decades earlier. Back then they had no winery, not even a barrel room; they rented a corner of the Cenicero co-operative cellar in Rioja Alta. They didn't make any part of this wine. It was all bought in, mostly from that co-op. They brought Prof. Émile Peynaud from Bordeaux to select the lots and do the blending. I am pretty sure part of this wine was never aged in oak, which goes against Rioja regulations for Crianza and Reserva.

Peynaud went for up-front fruit, concentration and soft tannins first. The result was completely different from traditional Rioja: 1970 Cáceres is considered as the first 'modern style Rioja' ever. It took the Spanish market by storm. (They were fortunate, no doubt, that 1970 had been such a great vintage and even the simplest wines were magnificent.)

Big problem for Cáceres (which now has a full-fledged winery, of course) is that in 40 years they've never made another wine that's been as good as that first one! But more interesting, I think, is the fact that, when in good balance (i.e., not murdered by over-extraction or new oak), 'modern style Rioja', given a decade and a half or more to age properly and develop its tertiary characteristics, will converge with 'traditional Rioja' to become, simply, good older Rioja. (Very few wines in the world age as well as these tempranillo-based blends, BTW.)

On that same board I've also listed some of the many Rioja wineries still making 'the 'traditional', softer, less extracted Rioja that is aged for a long time in old American oak barrels and is more about tertiary flavors and aromas than about fruit. Contrary to popular belief in some US circles, there's much, much more 'traditional' than 'modern style' Rioja made. Another thing is that modern ones get all the ink there, and are also prominent on shelves. Consumers seem to prefer them. Otherwise, much more traditional Rioja would be imported, right?

At any rate, here are the names of some of the traditional producers - in case would-be importers need the info, because some of them are totally unavailable in the US: López de Heredia-Viña Tondonia, Marqués de Riscal, Valenciso, Beronia, Franco-Españolas, Paternina, Riojanas, CVNE, La Rioja Alta, Martínez Lacuesta, Remélluri, Peciña, Olarra, Ondarre, Altanza, Rioja Santiago, Amézola de la Mora, Corral, Domecq, Puelles, Alavesas, Juan Alcorta, Age, El Coto, Viña Salceda, Marqués de Legarda... and a bevy more.

Worth also looking out for the book Victor recently co-authored for the World of Fine Wine series. It may not add many more trad producer names, but it might help flag some other producers to look out for in older vintages, plus it gives some good background.

Cheesy bottles aside, I find the Faustino Riojas at the higher end to still be quite traditional (haven't had one in a while, though, so perhaps things have changed there). They have the Faustino I Gran Reserva and the Faustino V Reserva. And, as Victor noted, Remelluri has made quite traditional wines in my experience.

Mark Lipton

I think that the Marques de Vargas is generally a solid Rioja that I would consider fairly traditional in style.

Just did a tasting on Spanish wines,working with Chefs Caprial and John Pence here in Portland, where they whipped up some dandy delights in the kitchen while I put out some accompanying wines.

La Gitana Manzanilla, Txakoli, Can Feixes Seleccio Blanco (love that wine!), a Bierzo Mencio (no wood), a Cune Rioja Crianza, and a Lustau East India Sherry.

Not only was I applauded for my excellent choice of wines ( ), but the Cune was very much (as I had hoped) in the traditional Rioja style, and a great contrast to the Bierzo.

Brian,

Thanks for the list of Rioja traditionalists. I picked up a Marques de Riscal reserva the other day and it was excellent--and traditional style. I had never tried Riscal before--I tend to avoid bottles with gimmicks, and the wire cage surrounding the Riscal bottles has always put me off. But now I have a convenient source for traditional style Rioja--the NH state liquor stores carry Riscal.

-Paul W.