TN: 10 CVNE 'Crianza' [Rioja]

WINE TALK
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2010 CVNE ‘Crianza’ [Rioja] The last few Spanish wines I’ve had were a touch new wave, so I was looking forward to something that, you know, tasted like Rioja. Popped and poured at room temperature, and chilled a little afterwards. The SO passed on an earthy Moulis the other night, but gleefully gulped half this bottle, so the first observation is that this is an easy drinking wine, yet still has interest for the enthusiast. It’s light to medium bodied in viscosity, with a light reddish color. The label specifies 13.5% abv, but it feels lighter than that, in a good way. The nose shows fresh cut berries, and possibly because our lilacs are blooming, and bouquets are around the house, maybe I’m hyper attuned to that (wonderful) smell, so I pick up some of that here too. It has a touch of verve to it, but not so sharp that it can only be drunk with food. It drinks well before, during, and after dinner. No tannic edges, so I doubt it will keep, but if this is a sneak peak at the 2010 CVNE Riojas, it’ll be fun to try their longer aged, better barrels over the next few years. I know it sounds trite when folks say “a wine to buy by the case” but this actually meets that definition if you like smooth traditional Rioja; should be plentiful/available/cheap. I’ll be getting more, fully accepting the potential bottle variation that comes with huge production runs. B++

While on this topic, what is difference between the Imperial and Contino offering? I don’t think I’ve ever had the latter.

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While on this topic, what is difference between the Imperial and Contino offering? I don’t think I’ve ever had the latter.

CVNE, like most producers established in the late 1800s, owned some vineyards and purchased grapes from others. France was devastated by phylloxera and a few brothers and a friend saw an opportunity so they started a winery. They acted as négociants and made wine partly to fill the void left by the damage in Bordeaux. The “traditional” model for Rioja, at least insofar as we think of thing to be traditional today, was that the producers would bring in the grapes from various vineyards and then they would vinify and age the wine. Other producers formed co-ops and did the same thing.

CVNE was successful and they purchased land of their own. In the 1920s the produced the Imperial, produced from several of their own vineyards in Rioja Alta. If I’m not mistaken, it used to include some Viura as well, which is a white grape. It was not a single vineyard wine, but was produced from their vineyards in towns around Haro, which is where the train station is.

In the 1930s, they created Viña Real, produced from properties they have in Rioja Alavesa.

Then in the 1970s, they decided to go one step further and rather than produce a wine blending grapes from different vineyards, they would make a wine from a single vineyard estate they owned that is located outside the village of Laguardia, also in Rioja Alavesa. That is Contino. So the first difference between Contino and the others is that Contino is a single-estate wine. Of course that means production is smaller.

The second difference is that the blend of grapes is different. That’s true for the Imperial/Vina Real wines as well. Jesus, the winemaker for Contino, has what some consider the best Graciano in the region. Some goes into the Contino Reserve and GR but he also does a monovarietal Graciano bottling.

Later, they selected a particular plot of land within the Contino estate. It has an olive tree growing on a little plateau. The tree is estimated to be over 700 years old, so that wine, a single parcel within a single estate wine, is the Contino Vina del Olivo.

Today CVNE has three separate bodegas - CVNE, Viña Real, and Contino, all producing great wine.

You should try the Contino wines. The 1982 Contino is one of the best wines I’ve had in my life. The first time I had it was in a blind tasting that included some classified growth Bordeaux. It’s the wine that convinced me to focus my attentions on Spain, as I realized that I preferred the aged profile of Tempranillo to that of Cab/Merlot or Pinot Noir. Nebbiolo is a close second.

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One difference is in vineyard and winery/bodega locations.

Imperial grapes are grown in Rioja Alta near the town Haro, western area of Rioja. Winery is also in Haro.

Contino grapes come from Rioja Alavesa, which with the bodega at only about 25 minutes drive east of the Haro location. I tend to find the Contino wines to be bigger and more modern in style relative to the Imperial.

Of course, Cune also have a 3rd label and bodega called Viña Real, also in Rioja Alavesa.

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Thanks for those details Greg and Ramon. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for these. It seems like PJ’s has some of the broader spectrums of CVNE family wines around. I used to use them when I lived there, but have not found an obvious Western retailer with the same breadth of lineup, yet.

I would think that more fans of mature bdx should be interested in these.

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There probably won’t be one out west. PJs used to have the best selection of Spanish wine in the country. But that’s partly because they were the first to really latch on to those. They’ve since let a lot of that slip and there are other people aware of the wines, so it’s not like PJs gets first crack at product any more.