In Praise Of Aged Rioja! Or, an old guy's Burgundy alternative.

[Chris_Presutti]

@Rick Smith

@Chris Presutti

Timely post. A very generous Berserker and good friend opened three '91 Lopez Heredia Rioja last night. I was very impressed with the bright cherry and compared them to Burgundy more than once throughout the evening.

'81s

So, you’re not twenty years old then?

[Arv_R]

@LMD_Ermitano

…from the Artadis I have tried, I’d wait many more years unless you like big, bombastic wines.

I suppose the 2010 Artadi ‘Vinas de Gain’ [Rioja] is not really aged Rioja, given that it’s only 14 years from harvest, and in the context of the DOC, multi decade examples are not unusual. But this Artadi is interesting, and Luis’s long ago comment still rings true. Additionally, Otto had some comments on the 2005, which are appropos to the 2010 as well. For my tastes, this isn’t Burgundian at all, but that should be caveated with two observations: 1. I drink little Burgundy and 2. I’m not sure Artadi’s vision is particularly Riojanes, so even with (more) age, it would end up tasting different. For those who don’t follow the region, Artadi is one of the leaders in the revolt against the prevailing system (crianza, reserva, etc.) and makes their wine unsconstrained by those bounds, but forsaking the benefit of the regulador tags. Anyways, for outsiders, perhaps the way to think of this full bodied (14.5% abv) garnet tempranillo is that it’s their village level Laguardia. For my tastes it shows red berry, licorice on day 1, with more structure and tannin developing on the second night. I liked the 2001 much more, and am not upsed I have NOT reloaded on recent vintages, despite the published regard for 2015 and 2016. It feels like it would have been better younger, even if the burly edges would not have rounded out. I’d give this an A- if one was a omnivorous oenophile, but a traditional Rioja enthusiast might notch it down a step.