TN: Riojas 1937-1987 at Txikito

I had a miserable day and was pretty exhausted by time I got to Txikito Tuesday night , but good company and good Rioja pulled me out of a funk. Perfect connections on subway got me there on time, and Ben passed around the 2004 Ruinart “Dom Ruinart” Champagne. I think this could have used a little more chill but it was tasty- lemon, dough, floral. B+/B

First couple courses were croquettes and canapes of boquerones with pepper. Diane passed a Equipo Navasos #31 ( I think someone said Amontillado but not sure) - nutty, burnt toffee, quite saline. Sherry folks loved, I’m just not a sherry guy so not going to rate.

A delicious octopus carpaccio made an appearance

1938 Marques de Riscal Reserva
I think this is the oldest Rioja I’ve had, but not old at all. Sweet delicate fruit with a pleasant burnt sugar edge, elegant but with some stuffing. A-

An arugula salad w/fried silverfish, plus pork ribs

1954 Marques de Murrieta “Ygay” Rioja Reserva
Bright acids, red fruits, meat, quite complete. A-/B+

1955 Bilbainas “Vina Pomal” Rioja Reserva Especial
So at first I didn’t care for this at all. Less acid on the palate than the 54 Murrieta, but a lifted/VA nose with a strange shoe polish note. But that seemed to settle down it glass and it picked up fruit and leather notes. I wrote down B. But a while later I absentmindedly finished this to make room for next flight, and thought (without any real reflection) this had continued to improve.

I’d say the most controversial course (I liked more than some) was squid cut into fine ribbons with a pinenut sauce

My favorite flight followed (once I figured out what the wines were)
1975 CVNE “ Vina Real” Rioja Gran Reserva
Complex, complete, red fruit with meat and herb notes. I really liked this, my surprise WOTN. A-

1973 CVNE” Imperial” Gran Reserva
.Red and black cherry, earth, spice (a hint of dill but not distracting). A-/B+

1975 CVNE “Imperial” Rioja Gran Reserva
Lively, good fruit, dirt, just a little drying on finish. B+

Nice suckling pig with fries
1964 Bodegas Bilbainas Rioja Reserva Especial
A bit poopy. The only wine I explicitly noted brett (though “meat” in others might indicate) but well within my tolerance level. Improves with air (true of almost every wine). B+

1981 R. Lopez de Heredia “Vina Bosconia” Gran Rioja Reserva
I’ve really enjoyed this in past, this seemed a bit closed and flat compared to other wines this night, though again it opened towards end. You can sense some power underneath. B
1987 CVNE “ Vina Real” Rioja Gran Reserva
Young, a bit tight, opens after a while, more fruity than the LdH. B

1973 Marques de Riscal Rioja Reserva
A bit of stink on the nose, red fruits, not as deep as some tonight, but once again improvement in glass. By end B/B+

Tthere was also a cheese course (Roncal or something similar). Fun night, great people. The big takeaway was how much even the oldest wines improved with air.

(I wrote this up last week, just realized I left off the lone white Rioja, a 81 Tondonia GR, that I really enjoyed once it got enough air)

Grade disclaimer: I’m a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn’t drink at a party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

We had a 1968 Cune Rioja Clarete last week with Carlos and Friends in Puerto Rico. The guy who brought it estimated that the original retail price was about 89 cents. I told him I thought it was much more, at least 99 cents. None of this fancy Gran Reserva stuff, but I think it still deserved a B+. Truly remarkable.

I might have missed it, but any idea how much air time the wines had? I’ve been impressed that even with the pretty old Riojas, it takes 2 or more hours of air for them to wake up.

John, I think most were open there. The one wine that smelled horribly when opened was the 73 Riscal. I didn’t think it would be drinkable but we kept it until last flight and it turned out OK.

Many thanks for taking the notes, Dale. A really fun night and, surprisingly, there were no off bottles. One is never quite sure what one’s going to get with Rioja of this age, but my experience is that they’re typically pretty sturdy wines, if perhaps a bit TCA prone.

We’re more or less in agreement about the wines, but perhaps scored them slightly differently. My top three wines of the night were the '38 Riscal, which kept growing with air and showed remarkable sweetness to the red fruit and just lovely harmony, call it an A/A-, the '54 Murrieta, which showed its typical lifted acidic character, but also had terrific structure and fruit and showed a plush and ripe mouthfeel, Solid A- and the '73 CVNE Imperial, Which, in a stellar flight of CVNE, just showed a bit more depth to me, Solid A-. I didn’t get the dill notes that you did from it. Those two '75’s were also terrific, with the Vina Real Gran Reserva showing much better than a bottle someone brought to the Berserkerfest in March. Both merited an A- to me.

I also liked the Bilbainas Vina Pomal better than you did. It took a lot longer to come around than all the other wines and I had double decanted it at 5:30 pm. By the end of the evening it had completely harmonized and showed lovely sweetness to the cherry fruit and a silky palate presence, though it never did lose that hint of soy. I had it as a Low A-.

The '81 Bosconia was typically maddening Lopez de Heredia. I, too, have had killer bottles of the '81, but, as you said, this was flat and didn’t really show much and I’ve also had plenty of showings that mirrored that. Such a crapshoot, but when they’re on, it can be a most memorable experience.

I see you didn’t post a note on the '81 Lopez de Heredia Tondonia Blanco Gran Reserva. In contrast to the Bosconia, this was also one of the wines of the night. Typical of the Blanco in that it needed hours of air to show its best. After all that butterscotchy oak and oxidative nutty character integrates and freshens up, beautiful lemon, bee’s wax and pear flavors came out with nice acidic structure. Solid A-. However, it was horrible with the squid dish, which wasn’t great to begin with. It made it taste like two day old bait.

Here’s a pic of the lineup, minus the Champagne.

Very nice. Where did everyone track these older bottles down? a mixed case at auction?

I had a pleasant experience with old CVNE Rioja last week, a superb vertical back to 1928.

I can provide a link ( if anyones interested ) as one of our members took great notes but the link is to his commercial website. Not sure of the protocols.

I’m assuming most folks picked theirs up relatively recently either through auction, or retail offerings. There have been a lot of old Rioja offerings from a number of noted retail stores the past couple of years.

Fwiw, I’ve picked up a number of bottles directly from Spain.

I’d love to see a link, Jamie. Thanks.

Man, what a lineup!
I’m genuinely bummed that I had to miss this dinner.

Great notes on a great tasting. Thanks for posting these.

CVNE makes (did make) stunning wines. Even in weaker vintages.