01 Bagordi ‘riserva’ [Rioja] They have a bunch of different, confusing bottlings here, but this is the plain old riserva, which is supposedly organic, but not certified so. (A different bottling has the certification, and gets a different name apparently). They also have varietal named Rioja’s, which I didn’t even know was possible under the DOC rules, but the little I know about the region is mostly from reading what GregT and Ramon post. 13.5% abv, medium bodied, very noticeable bricking at the edges, probably at its peak. We had our first outside veranda supper of the spring, with cold beef, artichokes, and beets with this Rioja - just popped and poured. A nose of seaweed and saline. A smidge of sediment in the final glass. It has good verve, and the tannins are fully resolved. I find it on the traditional side of Rioja and like it. The SO picked it, but is a little bit less cheery on it, despite her normal preference for traditional expressions here. I’m hoping her last glass on the kitchen counter gets offered to me… Finish is a 25 second length, with tart red berries and sandalwood in it. (We burn that incense a lot, so maybe I pick it up more than Anglos might) Although I like Rioja, I don’t buy/drink enough, and like so many American consumers, only step up in the hyped years. More fans of Bordeaux – feeling priced out – should check the region out. Sometimes they can taste like like older Atlantic styled bdx vintages. This reminded me of something like a good mid weight 1988 saddle noted bdx. I like this, and would be keeping an eye out for this producer if 2010 makes its way stateside. Maybe a B++ or better. The SO would not give this an A range grade though.
Nice note. I like this wine a lot. I think it’s a really fantastic value. I actually think it has room to develop positively for a few years still (maybe more than a few), but that gets a bit subjective.
My recent note on this wine:
-
2001 Bodegas Bagordi Rioja Reserva - Spain, La Rioja, Rioja (10/2/2015)
I bought this because a salesman said it would pair well with a 2001 flight of Riojas I was planning. That is ridiculous, without regard to the fact that I liked this wine, because the only similarity between this wine a “real” rioja is that it says Rioja on the label. It is 100% Grenache and tastes like Grenache, not Tempranillo.
A brought this to a dinner midway through a conference I was attending because the wife of one of our presenters was born in Bilbao, and this was as close to Bilbao as my cellar gets. About 30 miles southeast.
Pop and pour. At first, this was tight with very limited flavor, but with 10 minutes of air the fruit and other flavors started to blossom, and they continued to blossom for the next two + hours. There is raspberry and blackberry fruit with some cherry. The more the longer you wait. There is some spice and just a bit of leathery age. Color is a bit light. Nose develops as does the palate. Finish is average. Very enjoyable. (90 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
We may not have had the same bottling.
They seem to have a gaggle of them (I don’t know why) but this tasted like a Rioja to me, and unlike a southern Rhone of the same age. I’m not good at differentiating these when old, but it didn’t taste So. Rhone’y to me.
The SO liked it at first and then changed her mind.
A prior post on a few Rioja’s motivated pulling this.
Jay, that 100% Grenache bottling is a different wine. The regular Reserva bottling is mostly or all Tempranillo and tastes very much like traditional Rioja. You have yours under the wrong listing in CT, although there doesn’t appear to be a listing for the Garnacha yet.
Well, there’s a movement in Rioja to do more than just the four standard grapes. There’s a fellow called Juan Carlos Sancha who’s dedicated himself to recovering the older, indigenous varieties of Rioja. We imported some of them. Things like Maturana, etc. And the more recently discovered white mutation of Tempranillo.
There was a rule in Rioja that they could use “international” grapes as long as they weren’t listed on the label, which makes zero sense. Even less when you remember that Cabernet Sauvignon has been in Rioja longer than Garnacha, which back in the 1970s Keven Zraly wrote were the two grapes that defined Rioja. He was of course wrong, but he was right in the sense that there was until recently more Garnacha than Tempranillo.
Anyway, if I’m not mistaken, Bagordi is in Rioja Baja and that’s warmer than Alavesa or Alta and it’s where the best Garnacha comes from. It’s where Muga and some of the other big bodegas get their Garnacha. They’re also bottling monovarietal Graciano. It’s all Rioja, just like you can get Cab, Merlot, Cab Franc in various proportions or even monovarietal and still call them all Bordeaux. Rioja is very large and has many microclimates.
If you’re interested in trying some of the varieties, Vivanco is doing monovarietal bottlings that are worth trying. Contino of course has been doing a great Graciano for years and is doing more monovarietals, and so are a few others.
I beg to differ. The description of the wine in CT where my note is posted says it is Garnacha . There does appear to be a 2001 Tempranillo Riserva on the Bagordi website. There are two completely separate wines that I understand are from different areas in Rioja. The one I had was unmistakably Grenache.
The wine that’s all Garnacha says “Garnacha” on the front label as part of the wine’s name.
http://en.bagordi.es/red-wine/rioja/bagordi-garnacha-reserva-2001_r_23.aspx
http://bagordi.es/imgs/bagordi-garnachareserva2001-1-.jpg
The regular Reserva bottling is just labeled Bagordi Rioja Reserva and is Tempranillo.
http://en.bagordi.es/red-wine/rioja/bagordi-reserva-2001_r_19.aspx
That listing in CT incorrectly states Garnacha as the grape, since the name and corresponding picture are the regular Reserva bottling. I didn’t notice the error there before, but either way, they’re different wines, and the Garnacha has the grape in the name of the wine. The one that’s Tempranillo does not state the grape name on the front label. I believe what you had was Garnacha, but I don’t think that’s the wine that Arv posted about.