TN: 2006 Bodegas Palacio Rioja Cosme Palacio (trying to get into Rioja)

WINE TALK
1

On the nose, tart red cherries, slight chocolate, smoke, earth, and it even shows a slight floral character. The wine is medium-bodied and possesses flavors of red fruits and leather. Not surprisingly, it has great acidity but, somewhat surprisingly, it has a very long finish. *** and a good QPR ($13).

I’ve been trying to learn more about Rioja and this was recommended to me as a more traditional entry level Rioja. I’ve been reading Rioja threads recently and it seems almost unanimous that Lopez de Heredia is the top choice for QPR traditional-styled Riojas. If you were a relatively young guy who wanted to buy Rioja to cellar long-term, which would you buy(in addition to LdH)? What recent vintages appear to be built for the long haul?

2

Cosme Palacio Hermanos is more of a modern, fruit-driven Rioja. But very Rioja in style. The price is dirt-cheap, BTW - you can see that ex cellars prices and importers’ profit margins are being shaved thin in this recession. The problem with finding a good, not-too-expensive Rioja to cellar is that the availability of different wines is so limited in the US. Some of the names to look for, if they’re around, would be Exopto, Olivier Rivière, Bod. Riojanas, Remelluri, Beronia, Luis Cañas, Campillo, Abel Mendoza, Valenciso, Brétón, Amézola de la Mora, Ontañón, Tobía, Bod. Águila Real.

3

Thanks Victor. I thought it was a little ripe to be “traditional” but I’m a novice to these so I wasn’t sure. I’ll look into the others.

4

David - ripe has nothing to do with tradition. I didn’t want to get into it in my answer on the other bd, but if the grapes aren’t ripe when picked, the wine is going to suck. For all of the people who bang on about Lopez, they tend to forget that they’re tasting those wines at 15, 20, 40 years. You tasted a young wine. It SHOULD taste like ripe fruit. It’s made from grapes. A Rioja with no fruit at only 2 - 3 years isn’t traditional, it’s just bad.

Not sure why a long finish is surprising tho.

Anyhow, best of luck in your explorations! Cheers!

5

FWIW, we’ve just started our yearly series of (blind) Rioja tastings at elmundovino.com with one on ‘basic’ Crianza wines, in which (as often happens), Artadi’s Viñas de Gain, this time the 2007, kills the competition: http://elmundovino.elmundo.es/elmundovino/catas.html.

6

Thanks Greg. I guess you’re right regarding the ripeness. The long finish was surprising because it was only $13! That is usually something I don’t expect out of less expensive wines.