Alex, Rioja is in flux. Many years ago there was a feudal system in place where a big landowner had many peasants working on his lands. That changed over time and many of the peasants came to own their own land. But they didn’t all have cellars or the ability to sell their wines out of the region. So the model that was developed in the late 1800s was that a large landowner would buy grapes from many small holders and those would be blended into a wine that would rest in casks for many years until sold.
The grapes would be blends from various regions. Rioja is a pretty big place with diverse climates. So Muga for example, gets their Garnacha from Baja, which is warmer than say, Rioja Alavesa. It’s their best Garnacha and they blend it with their best Tempranillo.
Spain is on the whole drier than France, so they don’t have the same forests. But they have had lots of disputes with France over the years. So an oak supply from the new world was more certain and actually it was probably cheaper, since there was so much more of it than in France. As to the difference, remember that until our own lifetimes, people did NOT use oak for flavoring. That’s a very new thing. Earlier, people used the oak for its mechanical properties.
So the model was to put grapes from several vineyards into various oak casks and label the wine by the time it had spent in cask.
There was no rule on the type of wood, nor the age or the size of the container. So you can put your wine into old or now barrels of whatever size you want. You don’t have to use a Bordeaux or Burgundy size or shape.
The aging categories really don’t make a lot of sense and these days there’s a movement in Rioja to do away with that “traditional” model, which is only traditional since it was in place when the people on this board started drinking wine.
There are a number of producers who want to make vineyard-designated wine and who want to do varietal wines. Today, you can buy Mazuelo, Garnacha, and Graciano from Rioja, and I’ve had them done in various French, American, and Hungarian, oaks, as well as chestnut. Remember too that the various forests have their own terroir, just like grape vines do.
I think there will be increasing use of French oak and there will be ever more single-vineyard wines. That’s what people seem to like these days and there are many wine makers in Rioja who are moving in that direction and who are eschewing the designations of crianza, reserva, and gran reserva.
But a word on the ability of people to distinguish “American” and “French” oak - it’s not that easy and the preparation of the wood makes a huge difference. If you ever get a chance, I would highly recommend doing a blind tasting of the same wine done in different oak.
Do such wines tend to be overoaked? Do they seem to have any less Rioja character than the ones aged in American oak?
“Overoaked” is up to you the taster. As is “Rioja character”. I haven’t noticed that they’re any less Rioja based on what they’re aged in.