Opened a bunch at dinner last night. One corked, one tired, and three VA affected bottles out of 25 in total. Very good showing overall. My two favorites were a couple of surprises -
’35 Bodegas Palacio Gloriosa Rioja Reserva Especiale, Alava - looked like a wine less than half its age. Just a bit of lightening around the rim. Loads of ripe fruit and very silky. Finishes with a slight iron taste which worlks well with all of the fruit. Sweetness of the fruit is impressive on this 74 year old beauty. Actually improves in the glass over a couple of hours. Staggering minus
’22 Lecuesta Rioja Reserva Especiale Like the above wine I had never heard of this producer until I bought the wines. While showing its age much more than the previous wine, it’s still vibrant. Could easily pass for an old left bank Bordeaux. Dark fruit with some leather and cedar. A touch of caramel. Doesn’t improve in the glass, but certainly stands up. Excellent plus.
Palacio and Martínez Lacuesta are two very well-known, classic Rioja wineries. Two of the many traditionalists (albeit Palacio has gone slightly more modern in its Cosme Palacio y Hermanos cuvée) in the region - something that surprises the US fundamentalist crowd, still convinced that López Heredia is the lone survivor out there…
I have no idea who is part of the US fundamentalist crowd, but I’m guessing I’m not since I’m not nearly as big a fan of Lopez de Heredia as some others.
As far a Lacuesta and Palacio being very well known - not sure that’s true here in the US, whether the fundamentalist crowd or not - since not a single person at the dinner had heard of them.
That is not correct. Alvaro PalacioS family and winery (Palacios Remondo) is in the town of Alfaro in Rioja Baja and the winery was established in the 1940’s.
Palacio (No “S” at the end) is a winery in the Rioja Alavesa region established in the late 1800’s.
Two differerent wineries that are not related.
An easy way to remember which is which is that Alvaro Palacios last name has an “S” at the end which in the US could be translated that it will cost you some $ to buy his wines!
Without getting too complicated the Rioja region is divided in three subzones; Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta and Rioja Baja.
Rioja Alavesa belongs to the Basque community/goverment, while Rioja Alta and Rioja Baja belong to La Rioja community/goverment.
To make things more interesting there are some areas of La Rioja community that are not included in the Rioja DOC and there are some parts of Navarra (another autonomous community) that is part of the Rioja DOC.
I’ll clarify: if you think López de Heredia is the be-all and end-all of Rioja wines (or Spanish wines, for that matter), then you may consider yourself a member of the Rioja fundamentalist crowd, whose US chapter is mostly to be found in and around NYC. If you like other wines as well as or better than LdH, then you don’t belong to that exclusive club.
On territorial facts: the Rioja appellation straddles parts of four Spanish autonomous regions (the approximate equivalent of US states): La Rioja, the Basque Country, Navarre, and also (a little-known fact) Castile-León, since there are a few dozen hectares of Rioja vineyards (including a rogue patch of riesling) in the village of Ternero, Burgos province (county). Burgos is better known for having the largest portion of Ribera del Duero’s vineyards, some 60 miles south of Ternero.
That is not correct. Alvaro PalacioS family and winery (Palacios Remondo) is in the town of Alfaro in Rioja Baja and the winery was established in the 1940’s.
Palacio (No “S” at the end) is a winery in the Rioja Alavesa region established in the late 1800’s.
Two differerent wineries that are not related.
An easy way to remember which is which is that Alvaro Palacios last name has an “S” at the end which in the US could be translated that it will cost you some $ to buy his wines!
SALUDos,
José[/quote]
José,
Thanks for rectifying my screw-up. Truth be told, I was a little uncertain myself if Alvaro’s surname ended with an “S” or not (or in this case an “$”). Can you confirm though that his family IS associated with “Cosme Palacios”?
Not a shabby night, Ray. The '62 and '64 Cune are consistently amongst my favorites. Haven’t had the '54 Imperial, but I consider the '54 Vina Real as the best Rioja I’ve ever had. Stunning wine.
The '66 Imperial and '44 Vina Real I’ve had have had issues.
Cosme Palacio (no “S”) is not related to Álvaro Palacios.
Cosme Palacio is the name of the founder of Bodegas Palacio and his name is used on a few wines from Bodegas Palacio. Glorioso and Milflores are other wines from Bodegas Palacio.
Some of the wines from Álvaro Palacios family (Palacios Remondo) are La Montesa, Herencia Remondo & Plácet.
Not sure what they do with those grapes but Riesling is not an authorized grape in Rioja, not even under a recent regulation that allowed a few non local white grapes (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo).
Rioja DOC regulations do not allow white wines to have the non local white grapes as a majority in the blend. The majority grape on the blend has to be one of the local authorized grapes (Viura, Malvasía, Garnacha Blanca, Tempranillo Blanco and Maturana Blanca).
I would let it ripen fully and then put it in barrique for 2 years. Just to show the Germans something new and different. Maybe for the next Rioja wine conference?
Otherwise maybe they could make a rosado but of course that wouldn’t show the true riesling character.
The grapes may be mixed with others in some non-descript white wine, for all I know. The only experiment in vinifying them separately was by Miguel Angel de Gregorio of Finca Allende, and the result was never bottled. This is a tiny vineyard, an oddity almost no one knows about (but I’ve seen it).
Strike two.![[swearing.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/8a0d3f3461d40641d294442fc2be78039bf94d19.gif "[swearing.gif]"){kind=small}