Rioja, Priorat and Ribera del Duero advice

I’d appreciate some advice on wines from Rioja, Priorat and Ribera del Duero.

What are some of your favorite wines from these three regions…Rioja, Priorat and Ribera del Duero…which are the producers and the wines you would rate at the top of whatever rating scale you use? I’m looking for your personal experience, not necessarily what the critics say is good. What do you like about them? Which of them are the very best? Try to provide some idea of the price point of any particular wine you mention. Thanks.

Priorat:
2004 Merum Osmin & Ardiles
Cellar Cal Pla
Mas Doix
Mas Doix Salanques
Clos Erasmus
Clos Mogador
L’Ermita
Mas D’en Compte
Roquers de Porrera

Ribera del Duero:
AALTO & AALTO PS

Rioja:
Artadi (anything)

Would help if you perhaps told us a bit about your preferences? My favorites from the mentioned areas?

Priorat: Many wines here go over the top for me, burying the amazing terroir under too much oak and ripeness. Some of my favorites for striking a balance between plushness/ripeness and minerality/balance are:
Clos Mogador
Mas Doix
Rotllan Torra
Clos Martinet
Trio Infernal
Galena

Rioja: Tons of stylistic differences. Ranging from most traditional to most fairly but not excessively modern, here are my favorites:
Lopez de Heredia
CVNE / Vina Real
Muga
Roda

Ribera del Duero (and Toro, a ways down the river, similar wines in some ways): Similar issues to Priorat, here are my favorites:
Dos Victorias Gran Elias Mora (Toro)
Vega Sicilia Unico (Ribera)
Alion (Ribera)
Liberalia Cinco (Toro)
Aalto (Ribera)

Hi Bill,

Although I don’t often drink Spanish wine I can honestly say I really enjoy Pesquera’s offerings from the Ribera del Duero. His wines are kind of atypical old school with some new oak although the wood is not overpowering at all. The wines have good balance and age amazingly well. He offers a crianza, a reserva, a gran reserva (and a special Janus gran reserva in the absolute best vintages) with the price raising accordingly. I have a small amount of Pingus amd Muga in my cellar as well but always pull the Pesquera. Try Condado de Haza as well, It’s another Pesquera venture at a lesser price point.

Happy hunting!

Bill, I have to agree with those who went with Priorats. You can’t go wrong with Clos Erasmus, Clos Mogador or Clos Martinet.

I mostly agree with Steve, but be aware that Clos Erasmus is a really big wine. I used to like it more, but it’s just too big for me any more. Mogador is the standard bearer for Priorat in my opinion. Martinet, Doix and Rotllan are the other excellent producers. I find Palacios’s wines over extracted, over made, under aromatic and frankly boring.

Bill:

You could find a lot of good recommendations on the following thread:

Spanish Wines: How about some positive talk and recs from people in the know! - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SALUDos,
José

Josh, I’m glad you said that cause I haven’t tried one from the 2002 vintage on. The older ones you could do a pop and pour but I have no experience with the newer vintages.

I’ve liked the 05 in small amounts a lot, but I doubt I could do a bottle. The 04 and 06 were even bigger to my tastes (all just tried once). Older vintages (01 and back) are still big but a bit more to my tastes. Kind of a bummer, this was a wine that I really, really flipped for early on. I think part of it is my tastes changing, part of it is the wine changing. A 97 this spring was not completely harmonious but very good.

The 98 Erasmus is still the best vintage out there.

These are great suggestions and links…thanks to everyone.

Enjoyable thread here. I have just posted on a possible “Virtual Offline: Priorat” thread. Keen to organise if enough interest here!

Well… Some different names - those of top-notch wineries, some of them quite small, that don’t pop up so often in US-based discussions about Spanish wines, which often seem limited to the same wineries over and over…

Rioja: Abel Mendoza Monge, Valenciso, Exopto, Olivier Rivière, Altún, Viñedos de Páganos, Remelluri, Pujanza, Biurko Gorri, Telmo Rodríguez/Altos de Lanzaga, Marqués de Riscal (Gran Reserva and Barón de Chirel), Escudero, Amézola de la Mora.

Ribera del Duero: Alonso del Yerro, O. Fournier, Pago de los Capellanes, Montecastro, Montebaco, Dominio de Atauta, Cillar de Silos, Carmelo Rodero, Comenge, Viña del Cuco, Pago de Carraovejas, Recoletas.

Priorat: Mas Alta, Mas d’en Gil, Trío Infernal, Blai Ferré Just, Mas Igneus, Gratavinum, Viñedos de Íthaca, Terroir al Limit/Eben Sadie.

Lots of great suggestions. I’d also add Mauro, even though they’re just outside Ribera del Duero. And Vina Sastre - if you can find it, and afford it.

Lots of stuff I haven’t had in Victor’s list, I haven’t seen / heard of some of these!

Anyays, here are one guy’s amateur comments on a few that I have had:

Remelluri and Riscal certainly make solid wines and rarely disappoint. I don’t know that they ever truly thrill, but I haven’t had enough to really say and would easily believe they could for the right older bottles.

Alonso del Yerro, Pago de los Capellanes, Cillar de Silos, to me, are to varying degrees overmade and/or uncompelling . The Pago is perhaps the better wine… simple but tasty if not a great value. The Cillar de Silos wines I’ve had have been good enough but a bit ripe and way too oaky for my tastes… certainly would / do appeal to others though! The Alonso del Yerro wines I’ve had have been wildly overextracted and overmade, completely undrinkable to be honest.

On the Priorat front, I’ve had let down experiences with Mas Alta (overripe, simple, a too oaky) but others continue to rave about them so I still look forward to trying more bottles and more recent vintages. I am a big fan of Trio Infernal, I find a lot of terroir and a bit more restrained winemaking and oak use. The 1/3 for ~$35-$40 is a solid Priorat and a fine value. Terroir al Limit / Dits del Terra (Eben Sadie) – I’ve had one bottle of the 04 Dits del Terra and found it a bit too ripe, a bit too oaky, and no where near the asking price (nearly $100) – way out of line with quality.

[swoon.gif]

I’ll have to let Stéphane Derenoncourt know…

Also, calling Pago de los Capellanes El Nogal or Mas Alta La Creu Alta “simple” wines is something that never occurred to me… Obviously, I must be a simpleton.

Re: the Alonso del Yerro. Hearing after the fact that the wines were have a famous consultant’s name attached to them doesn’t change my opinion of them. The bottles I’ve had have been wildly extractive and bitter and very unpleasant.

From Pago d.l. Capellanes I have not had El Nogal, just the base wine, I should have been clear.

And on the Mas Alta, all the examples I’ve had (all three cuvees in 04, the lesser two wines in 05) have been monolithic and simple, the terroir and character obscured by the winemaking. I am interested in trying more, but after going 0 for 5 in liking the wines, I’m leery of spending my own money.

Aren’t opinions grand? Other peoples’ vary!

2004 Merum wines are pretty tasty, as Matt pointed out. Hard to find, though.

Looking at my notes:

Priorat: Celler Cal Pla, Clos Earsmus, Mas Igneus, Martinet, Clos Mogador, Alvaro Palacios, Vall Llach

Ribera del Duero: Aalto, Alion, Condada de Haza, Emilio Moro, Pesquera, Vega Sicilia,

Rioja: Allende, Artadi, Culmen, CVNE, La Rioja Alta, Lopez de Heredia, Marques de Riscal (Baron de Chirel), Muga, Remirez de Ganuza, San Vincente, Sierra Cantabria

Oh, they’re not just grand, Josh. When they include “wildly extractive and bitter and very unpleasant” for Alonso del Yerro’s wines, they are also strikingly eye-opening. They may force me to start revising everything I thought I knew about wine.