I am looking to expand my cellar after noting I’m lacking decent spanish tempranillo which was one of my favorites.
My plan is to acquire and taste a few producers from the Rioja to find what I like within the variety. I know there’s tons of value in Rioja but don’t really have a good feel for for old/new styles and whether or not to go with the riserva/gran riserva levels.
I was hoping to try 3 bottles or so to get a feel for which style/area I like and then buy my favorite producer for cellaring. For whatever it’s worth, I favor wines that hit peak around 3-10 years from bottling but can be drunk now if I’m in the mood. I could probably go with a longer term cellaring if it needs it, but dang if I can hold off that long.
What I’d love is to hear input on producers that could narrow down my focus. Ideally, I’d like producers under $50 dollars a bottle, available in the US (Ohio), and would rather go to individualistic producers that exemplify a style without giving me megacorp vibes (CVNE-- even though I have 2-3 bottles of it).
Basically, I’d love input either on how to best narrow it down or find out what I like and don’t without completely breaking my bank.
Lopez de Heredia is the super obvious one, but also probably the best choice too. They make wines ranging from $25 to $300, but you can get good quality ageworthy wines at $60 and under, both reds and whites.
Muga would be another. Muga’s Prado Enea is very good and more traditional, but prices have crept up to $80+ now. I think their moderately priced wines are good too.
The best way to explore Rioja is to concentrate on RLdH. You can taste some other Rioja wines every now and then - and always wonder why bother. When it comes to traditional Rioja, Heredia is the absolute peak. Ranging from the simple entry-level Cubillos to the Gran Reservas - the best of which drinking wonderfully even at 100 years of age!
Of course if one wants a slightly more modern yet still quite traditional take on the Rioja style, La Rioja Alta delivers. Unfortunately the best wines have began to get too expensive for their relative quality.
CVNE is good, but I’ve never understood why they are thought of so highly - in my books they can’t hold a candle to Heredia, or even LRA. Muga is not my cup at all. For example I find many Marques de Murrieta wines much better than either of these producers.
If one wants to check out some more contemporary names, Remelluri, 220 Cántaras (the artist formerly known as Honorio Rubio) and Bhilar are solid producers.
Other than LdH, which is the obvious answer, I second Remelluri. This was absolutely splendid yesterday. Reliably good, ageworthy, and very reasonable wines. Telmo Rodriguez’ wines are also reliably excellent but are getting more expensive.
It would be a mistake to write off CVNE as giving megacorp vibes. Rioja isn’t Burgundy - the best wines aren’t the ones in 100 case quantities. At $50 or less you can’t do much better for yourself than Vina Real, Vina Ardanza, and the Lopez reservas. But the sweet spot for Rioja is just a bit more - Contino GR, Prado Enea, CVNE Imperial. Don’t overlook Ribera del Duero either.
I believe that learning to appreciate Rioja, one needs to explore and decide which blends they prefer. Tempranillo, Grenache, Mazuelo( Mourvèdre), Graciano, etc are all used in different portions by different producers yielding vastly different profiles. Realizing what blends you prefer helps in buying decisions.
Just to echo some other thoughts.
If you got a LDH white Gravonia, then any of the following reds: LDH Tondonia Reserva, LDH Bosconia Reserva, LDH Cubillo, LRA Ardanza, LRA Vina Arana, try and get an older vintage, especially for the LRA (LDH releases are already quite old) and see if you like the style. Most of these are around £30-40 in the UK at least. Anything else can flow from there.
Not much to add here. I agree try Lopez de Heredia and La Rioja Alta wines first. If you like them it’s a great place to be. If you don’t, move on to the more Bordeaux style wines, like Montecitto, Ramirez de Ganuza and Riscal.
One traditional house I have liked and is a bit less expensive is Hermanos Pecina. Also there are always bottles of old Monte Real and Faustino in the marketplace.
I would suggest starting with Bodegas LAN. They are fairly large (400,000 cases) and have good distribution. You should be able to find their Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva in the bigger cities. (I can get all three in Indianapolis.) None of them will break the bank pricewise and it’s fun to try them side by side.
Faustino has some late release wines with quite a bit of age that tend to be favorably priced to explore if you like them with 20+ years on them. I’d certainly second getting a LdH Red…I would also get a LdH Blanco.
I suppose there are 3 types of Rioja the traditional American oak users, the French oak users and the new breed who use neutral or no oak. There is also varying degrees of oxidation/racking practices.
Length of aging in barrels/bottles vary by producer.
Even as all have to comply with the minimum required by the Rioja classification rules for Joven/Crianza/Reserva/Gran Reserva, some producers extend the aging periods over and beyond the minimum.
So I figure for my three/four bottles I’ll go LDH (I’ll probably try to find one with a decent vintage and age), Muga and La Rioja Alta as the three “pillars” if you will.I do have a CVNE or three but only single bottles.
Also @Gordon_Fitz I’ll make a note of the blends. I have a few pretty meh bottles of rioja off LB so more data points for the blends I like.
Thank you all, now to call my wine shop and see what I can get.
