Wine Tasting: Rioja

 

Still a value champion, red wines from the Spanish Rioja region are among my favorites, especially with food. Rioja produces a lot of red wine, usually made predominantly with Tempranillo, blended with Garnacha, Mazuelo, and/or Graciano. The bottles tend to be on the lighter end of the flavor spectrum (think red fruits, not black fruits), but also feature good acid and tannins, making them good both for food and aging. 

This time, I wanted to contrast the different levels from a single producer (aging minimums: crianza = 2 years; reserva = 3 years, gran reserva = 5 years), and then also across different producers. I thought that worked out pretty well, with three very different producers (and one all-grenache oddity at the end) offering contrasting styles. 

Here's what we had. I liked everything, but my favorites are in bold:

1. 2018 Bodegas Casa Juan Señor de Lesmos Crianza Rioja ($13): located in Laguardia, this  family-run producer grows under 30 hectares of vineyards. Their crianza is ~85% Tempranillo, remainder being Mazuelo. Bright red cherry flavors make for a lighter red, great value for the money. As expected, this crianza bottle is the simplest of the three wines from this producer. 
2. 2015 Bodegas Casa Juan Señor de Lesmos Reserva Rioja ($20): the reserva sees 27 months in barrels, then another year+ in concrete before bottling and further aging. This is reflected in more weight, darker flavors, more complexity (but less than the gran reserva).  
3. 2010 Bodegas Casa Juan "Señor de Lesmos" Gran Reserva Rioja ($30): and, finally, the gran reserva, which delivers even more complexity, with darker cherry and black olive flavors. A great deal for the price, but out-classed by the Puelles at the same price. 
4. 2016 Bodegas Puelles Crianza Rioja ($18): Another small producer, with 26 hectares of north facing vineyards located between 300 and 600 meters in altitude, all within the Rioja Alta village of Abalos. Aged in used French and American oak barrels (roughly 50% each), racked twice, and lightly filtered prior to being bottled and undergoing additional aging at the winery. Very different from the Casa Juan wines, with a much more generous, fruit-forward palate, which reminded me of black plums (rather than cherries). Still light on its feet, however, as a crianza should be. 
5. 2008 Bodegas Puelles Gran Reserva Rioja ($30): very different from the crianza, this has the darker, more savory (think less fruit, more old leather) profile that I think of when I think of gran reserva. Even at 15 years, this feels like it has a long life ahead, just beginning to show tertiary flavors (leather, smoke, etc). My value winner for the evening. 
6. 2014 López de Heredia "Viña Cubillo" Crianza Rioja ($29): Lopez de Heredia is an old-school Rioja legend, proudly still producing wine the way they were when the winery was founded over 130 years ago. Lopez de Heredia uses only estate bottled fruit from their own vineyards. Even though the Cubillo is their crianza bottle, it sees 2 years in used American oak and 2 years in bottle before release. Radically different in palate from the Casa Juan and Puelles wines, this was a crowd splitter. This was racy stuff, all sour cherries, high in acid, bracing. Still great the next morning, showing a bit more complexity, suggesting this could go many more years. I loved it! 
7. 2010 López de Heredia "Viña Tondonia" Reserva Rioja ($50): from Heredia's Todonia vineyard, this is 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo, aged 6 years in used American oak. This was pretty uptight, but got better the next morning. This shows more complexity than the Cubillo, but honestly, I'm not sure it earns the $20 premium (at least, not yet). Still, great wine and a Rioja collectible benchmark. 250,000 bottles produced! If only we could get it at the €26 price they sell it in Spain! 
8. 2019 Pedro Martinez Alesanco Garnacha Rioja (sale $26; regularly $35): an oddity in that it's all garnacha (aka grenache), this showed a darker set of black fruit aromas and flavors, with hints of chocolate. Not what I expect from Rioja, reminding me more of Southern Rhone wines. A great deal at the sale price, tho.