Five Nights in Rioja, July 2010
Rioja, Spain
Tasted Thursday, July 8, 2010 - Tuesday, July 13, 2010 by dougsmith with 1,098 views
Introduction
Through Jesús Barquín, José Fuentes and our friend Iñaki Uribe in Spain we made contact with Chus Madrazo, the man in charge of Contino to help run interference with a tour of Rioja this summer. He went way beyond the call of duty to set up a busy multi-day extravaganza, evidence of which follows.
NB: for fans of photos, yes I did take some. However my camera is without a link to the web until we get back home, so I've decided to go ahead with a photo-free report in the name of expediency. Also I have no idea how to embed photos ...
Flight 1 - Haro Tapas Tour
Chus met us for a "tapas tour" around the Herradura (central arc) of tapas bars in Haro. There were many standouts, including Jamón Iberico at Bar Madrid, a great pimiento relleno de carne picante in Bar Bremen and stuffed lamb tripe in Chamonix. Later in the trip we used the detailed map he drew for us to go back to Los Caños for their wonderful foie and hongos in hojaldre -- a real standout, nearly filling enough to make a meal on its own.
Flight 2 - Bodegas Muga (6 Notes)
After a tour of the bodega we were met by Manuel Muga to taste through some of their lineup of wines. Without doubt they had the broadest range of top level wines on offer of any bodega we visited: white, rosé, sparkling, traditional and modern. Manuel was an excellent and relaxed host, spending significant time with us discussing each wine in turn and asking for our feedback.
Flight 3 (1 Note)
Since we seemed to agree that the 01 Prado Enea was the standout of the tasting, he asked to bring a bottle sample of the 04, a great surprise which we all thoroughly enjoyed.
Flight 4 (1 Note)
Manuel was particularly interested in our opinions of the sparkling wine, which he considered something of an experiment on their part. I hadn't realized that the DO Cava allowed parcels in Rioja, however apparently it does. While I don't think it compares to the great wines of Champagne, at a retail price somewhere in the neighborhood of 12€ (going on memory here) it's a good buy for those who like bright, fruity sparklers.
Flight 5 - Bodegas Viña Real (2 Notes)
The Viña Real bodega is quite impressive, up on a hilltop overlooking the valley near Logroño: very large and modern. The tasting was relatively perfunctory; I know too little about their lineup of wines and look forward later to trying some of their better ones.
Flight 6 - Dinner at Las Duelas (1 Note)
We had dinner later that night at Las Duelas, the restaurant in our hotel Los Augustinos. The food there was a disappointment, to be blunt. However the wine was not. My wife and I had visited Remírez de Ganuza before and like their wines very much. There was no time on this visit, but we at least were able to open a bottle to see how the 04 turned out. Looks like the bottles I have at home will need to rest awhile yet.
Flight 7 - Dinastía Vivanco (9 Notes)
We had a long tour of the bodega at Dinastía Vivanco, with our guide Javier: like Viña Real a sparkling new winery with individual computer touch-pad control of the temperature and humidity of the caves and each wood fermentation vat. The interior of the fermentation room is lined in cor-ten steel, which weathers into a deep brown color and is very pretty. We were shown how with the push of a button misters around the room would fill the air with water and raise the humidity if that was desired.
Afterwards we were given an extremely thorough tasting through the bodega's entire lineup of wines, including their "Club Vivanco" which is only available at the winery or through their Club. It is an impressive variety of wines, particularly the monovarietals. They are in an overtly modern style, showing ripe fruit foremost due to long, cold macerations, enabled by the chillers in the fermentation vats.
The tasting was so thorough and interesting that it pushed our visit long enough so that we only had a little over half an hour to tour their museum. It was a shame since the museum is quite extraordinary, the best of its kind I have ever seen, touching on all aspects of winemaking, its history, its practices, the history and features of Rioja, a large art gallery not unlike the one I recall at Mouton Rothschild in Bordeaux, and apparently the most valuable display of corkscrews on public display anywhere on Earth.
Flight 8 - Viñedos del Contino
We spent the afternoon of July 10 with Chus Madrazo, his family and friends at a cookout on the grounds of his bodega, on the event of Chus and his wife María's tenth anniversary. Our party overlooked the surrounding vineyards, and the famous (800 year old!) olive tree was visible in the near distance. It was a wonderful event, filled with good food (tortilla con pimientos, cordero asado, morcilla, chorizo, etc.) and of course a lineup of wines from the bodega. I started with a Contino Reserva 1998. Later on Chus brought out a few bottles of his Selección Chus Madrazo 2007 (available only to a select few, and the only wine he makes which is not sold through CVNE). As the day wore on he brought out an enormous six liter bottle of Contino Gran Reserva 2000 to celebrate the tenth anniversary, opened very carefully with a corkscrew. All the wines were fabulous, though given the event I did not feel comfortable sitting with my booklet and taking detailed notes.
Before we visited the bodega itself Chus brought out a couple of bottles of his top wines for me to taste: the Viña del Olivo 2007 and the Graciano 2007. Both were absolutely superb, with loads of aromatic herbs on the nose. The Olivo had the decided advantage on the palate, where it was fuller and more expressive, and the Graciano was a touch brighter on the nose.
Later we visited the winery and caves themselves, where part of the cave still preserves a mudéjar dome, apparently the only one known in Rioja. Chus also explained the siting of the vineyards, since Contino is one of the few bodegas one could say makes "vinos de pago" in Rioja: a bodega making wine from particular, selected parcels year after year.
Flight 9 - CVNE (2 Notes)
We had visited Bodegas CVNE on a previous trip, but I was looking forward to returning. It is a beautiful, elegant old bodega, with bright red and white exterior paint, and a good blend of modern and traditional within the walls. The tasting was perfunctory, however elsewhere on the trip we have already enjoyed several bottles of their Imperial 2001 (including another that night, in advance of Spain's glorious victory in the World Cup) so we already knew what they were capable of.
Flight 10 - Bodegas Basilio Izquierdo (3 Notes)
Basilio Izquierdo is ex winemaker from CVNE, after a history spanning several decades, and Chus's wife María Alvarez calls him an "open book" about the history of Rioja. She is also helping to import his wines into the United States along with our friend Justin Berlin. These are wines of real elegance and style, made with a focused blend of the traditional and the modern, avoiding being over the top yet showing excellent depth of fruit. The bodega used to be called Águila Real, but will presently be changed to reflect the winemaker's name.
There are only 888 bottles of the 09 white produced, and 4,827 bottles of the 07 Red.
Basilio was an extraordinary host, and the project is clearly a labor of love for him. Presently they are working on coating the cement fermentation vats with a vitrified substance as they do in Pétrus. For the future, he is considering buying large glass vats from Italy and using them to make wine. His front yard also had several clay amphorae (tinajas) that he intended to clean out and use to make wine as well.
After opening the 2009 white, he opted to open one from a year earlier to show the development, which was quite extraordinary. María believes that the 09 will be at a similar stage when the wine is finally imported into the US sometime after Christmas.
Flight 11 - Mystery CVNE 1950 with Basilio
Truly inspired, Basilio went into his basement one more time to extract a one liter bottle, made of 1920s glass, with a wine from -- who knows when? -- at CVNE. He told us he believed it was a blend of 1948, 1950 and 1952 CVNE Imperial and Viña Real wines, although he also said that in those early years there was plenty of "fudging" of the vintage dates given to wines, which could be detected by looking at the date associated with the numbers stamped on the bottoms of the glass bottles. He also recounted a funny story from Émile Peynaud (his teacher), who once said of a vintage date that the first two digits were certainly accurate, but the last two ... Who knew?
At any rate he said he was sure the wine was pre-1954, and probably around 1950; probably about a third to a half Garnacha, maybe a little Viura and the rest Tempranillo. It was medium copper colored, with a gorgeous nose of dry leaves, leather, aromatic herbs and spices, dry flowers and figs. Medium bodied on the palate with a touch of residual tannins and real nerve, although perhaps a touch thinned out towards the back end. After an afternoon of tasting, Basilio graciously offered us the remainder of the 09 white and the last half liter of the Mystery CVNE wine for dinner.
After storage at the restaurant of Las Duelas, many hours later it was still fully alive when we had it and the white over dinner at the fantastic restaurant Echaurren in Ezcaray, which remains the best of our long visit to Spain. (We ate at the more homey "Tradición" both out of desire and because the more vanguard "El Portal" was closed on Monday night).
Flight 12 - Bodegas López de Heredia (3 Notes)
We visited as part of a larger, English language tour of the bodega, with our guide Natalia Ruiz de Gopegui Galarreta. It is one which my wife and I had been to before. It is a beautiful and very special winery, with caves and fermentation rooms that are something out of the Addams Family. While the style has never been one of our favorites, we enjoyed our visit and appreciate that they have a unique place in Rioja winemaking that should not be forgotten.
One thing that should be forgotten, however, is the boutique designed by the architect Zaha Hadid, an awful building that does nothing for the surrounding architecture and that is apparently the subject of some consternation within the bodega as well. We were told by the guide that there are several problems with it, such as the skylight windows that have proved to be dirt magnets rather than crystal clear as the architect had claimed. Since the bodega has undertaken reconstruction work of another building nearby, perhaps they will eventually consider replacing the boutique with something of a more sensitive or appropriate nature.
Flight 13 - La Rioja Alta (3 Notes)
It's the first time we'd toured this lovely bodega, and while much of their actual winemaking is now done offsite, their historical fermentation vats are still on display, where they are set high on stone pillars so that, if necessary, fires could be set under them in winter time to get stuck fermentations going. (!)
During the visit we got to witness barrel racking of their Arana 2008, and were offered a taste from the sample glass that the workers used to check for clarity. I've had barrel samples before, and they can be somewhat odd or reductive, but this was very nearly a fully complete wine, sapid with plenty of bright fruit character.
Their 01 Arana and Ardanza wines are excellent examples of Rioja winemaking, food friendly, complex and interesting, at good prices, at least in Spain. Now to work on the three-tier system across the pond!
Closing
Well, this was an unforgettable five days in Rioja, mostly at the foot of Haro, though with fascinating excursions afield. Once again, thanks have to go to all the people involved, in particular Manuel Muga, Basilio Izquierdo, my friend Jesús Barquín and absolutely to Chus Madrazo, a great guide, host, winemaker and all around fabulous guy. It will make drinking his Viña del Olivo all the better to have finally met him.
2009 Bodegas Muga Rioja Blanco 87 Points
Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
(7/9/2010)
Light lemon color. This is barrel fermented (fermentado en barrica) in 100% new French oak, a blend of Viura and Malvasia. Nose of green apple, vanilla and toasted oak. Medium bodied on the palate with good freshness.
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2009 Bodegas Muga Rioja Rosado 86 Points
Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
(7/9/2010)
Light salmon color. This is raised for a couple of months in old oak vats. Funky aromas on the nose, a bit of rotten vegetable that mostly blew off after a few minutes, light hints of strawberry. Light bodied on the palate, dry and clean with good acidity. Refreshing summer wine.
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2006 Bodegas Muga Rioja Reserva 90 Points
Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
(7/9/2010)
Medium to deep ruby color. This is aged in 55-60% American oak with 5-10% Eastern European and the rest French. Creamy on the nose with elements of black pepper, vanilla and blackberries. Medium bodied on the palate with fine tannins and integrated, complex spice flavors. Very nice showing now but could also use a few years.
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2005 Bodegas Muga Rioja Selección Especial 91 Points
Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
(7/9/2010)
Deep ruby color. Nose of focused black fruits like blackberry and plum, with a touch of dry fruit. The first bottle we opened of this was closed down pretty hard on the palate, the second that had been open in the tasting room upstairs had much better presence with plenty of black fruit, medium to full bodied with lots of ripe tannins that will take some time to resolve.
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2001 Bodegas Muga Rioja Gran Reserva Prado Enea 93 Points
Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
(7/9/2010)
Deep ruby color turning slightly garnet at the rim. Intense nose of tart red fruits, well integrated spice, tobacco leaf and vanilla. Very pretty, with floral aromas coming later on. Masses of lively fruit on the palate, medium bodied, silky and mouthcoating. Excellent Rioja with loads of promise. 93+
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2006 Bodegas Muga Rioja Torre Muga 91 Points
Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
(7/9/2010)
Black with a ruby/violet rim. Nose of toasty oak with deep blackberry aromas. Good nerve on the palate with a strong tannic grip. Loads of dark berries, black cherry skins, full bodied. This needs time to resolve itself.
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