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WALL STREET JOURNAL November 2024 RIOJA WINES We were quoted in the November article about Rioja
wines, as journalist Lettie Teague had asked us if sales of Rioja here in
California were as sluggish or flat as they are on the east coast.
There is a famous wine region whose wines I’ve largely
overlooked lately. My cellar is proof: I have exactly four bottles of Rioja to
my name. The wines of Rioja, Spain, are reliable, reasonably priced and
only released when they’re ready to drink. So why haven’t I given them
greater attention? Maybe it’s actually because Rioja wines are so predictable.
Or maybe it’s a matter of pairing. Traditionally aged in American oak, Rioja
is marked by a distinct vanilla note I have, in the past, found hard to match
with a wide range of dishes. When I undertook my recent Rioja re-exploration,
however, I was pleasantly surprised by what I found: delicious wines at great
prices and some good matches with food. I wondered if other wine drinkers are overlooking Rioja. Brian
Gelb, vice president, wine, of Total Wine & More, reported that Rioja sales
at the chain’s 220-plus stores have been flat for a couple of years compared
to sales of wines from, say, Italy’s Tuscany and Piedmont. Gelb, himself a
Rioja fan, noted the excellent price-quality ratio and the fact that the wines
are ready to drink on release, “such a selling point for people who like Old
World wines but aren’t prepared to cellar a bottle of Bordeaux for 10 to 15
years.” Still, they aren’t buying Riojas like they’re buying Bordeaux
at the 14 restaurants overseen by Josh Nadel, beverage director for the New
York-based NoHo Hospitality Group. Nadel has fewer than a dozen Rioja wines
spread across all his lists. “I feel like Rioja has been overtaken by other
emerging categories,” he said. Retailer
Gerald Weisl, proprietor of Weimax Wines & Spirits in Burlingame, Calif.,
advises red-wine drinkers looking for a refuge from high-price California
Cabernets and Pinot Noirs to take another look at Rioja. “You can buy 2023 and
2022 California Pinots and Cabernets with $40-150 price tags. Alternatively,
good Riojas from traditional, ‘old-school’ Rioja bodegas have price tags of
$15 to $50,” Weisl said. Tempranillo, Rioja’s chief grape, “can produce
wines along the lines of Cabernets and Merlots,” he added. A few of the wines in my tasting had a vinous muscle and overt
fruit that did seem more West Coast than northern Spain. They weren’t my ideal
of Rioja, a wine aged long enough to be wonderfully drinkable upon release.
Indeed, the region’s wines are classified according to how long
they’ve been aged, just as other great wines of the world are classified by
vineyard (as in Burgundy) or ranked by estate (as in Bordeaux). Most of the Rioja wines I purchased were red. All were designated
Crianza, Reserva or Gran Reserva, and priced from $12 to $44 a bottle. I did
find a few white Riojas, though none of them rewarded the search. Two were
decidedly neutral, almost flavorless; one bore an uncanny resemblance to canned
pineapple juice. The lone rosé in my tasting, the light, bright, floral 2023
Bodegas Muga Rosado ($13), has long been a favorite, and the Prado Enea Gran
Reserva Rioja, Muga’s flagship wine, was already in my cellar. The earthy, beguiling 2016 R. López de Heredia Viña Cubillo
Crianza Rioja ($25) was its polar opposite, captivating aromatically and
versatile when it came to food—a Rioja to pair with anything from fish to
meat. There is no Rioja winery more traditional than R. López de
Heredia, and no producers more dedicated to keeping the flame of tradition
alight than its sibling proprietors, María José, Mercedes and Julio César López
de Heredia. Their wines are not only famous but famously long-lived, and aged
much longer than most Riojas. The winery’s Crianza could even be classified as
a Gran Reserva under current law. But as María José wrote in an email, “We
follow the old rules and we are not interested in changing them. Others change,
we don’t.” The rest of the reds I tasted were a mix of traditional and
modern styles, and serious and less-serious wines. The fun, fleshy, ripe 2020
Bodegas LAN Crianza ($12) was definitely in the latter category, with lots of
bright, red, juicy fruit and not much complexity. The 2020 CVNE Crianza Rioja
($15), meanwhile—from one of Rioja’s most highly regarded estates—was more
complex and structured, but it needed more time in the bottle to show its best. The 2017 CVNE Cune Gran Reserva Rioja ($36) was much more
accessible—soft, and perfumed, a nuanced, elegant wine. I wondered at the
decision to make a Gran Reserva in a vintage as difficult as 2017 was, but CVNE
chief winemaker Maria Larrea explained that the location of the estate’s
vineyards proved an asset: “A large part of the oldest vineyards are in the
shelter of the Sierra de Cantabria and Montes Obarenes, which acted as a
protective barrier against the frost.” Two traditionally styled Riojas proved particularly good—and
good bargains, too. The elegant 2019 Marqués de Riscal Reserva Rioja ($15) was
a lithe and elegant wine aged in American oak at Rioja’s oldest bodega. Also
aged in American oak, in this case for 24 months, the 2019 Marqués de Murrieta
Reserva Rioja ($24), from another historic estate, was impressive, lush and
elegant, marked by supple tannins and lively acidity—textbook well-made Rioja. After reporting this column I promptly doubled my Rioja holdings,
and I soon will be buying more. Sometimes predictability can be good.
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