At Bodega Remírez de Ganuza

We had a wonderful tour of the Remírez de Ganuza winery with their guide Luis Alberto Martínez. They are in the midst of a project at present to build a separate structure for refrigeration of grapes before they enter production. They are also spending a lot of time and effort with their cork selections. Apparently they take one cork from each lot and heat it in a vial of water for a period of time, after which they put the water to an olfactory test to find out if the cork lot is TCA free. (They believe that the nose is the best tester for TCA). Then when they have received the lots they want, printed and ready for production, they put representative samples through the same test, just to be sure there was no mixup at the cork supplier. They believe that with this method they have reduced cork taint to 2-3 bottles out of a thousand.

After a thorough tour Luis Alberto gave us a tasting of their 2001 Reserve -- a wonderful wine -- and a generous selection of spanish embutidos.

• 2001 Fernando Remírez de Ganuza Rioja 94 Points

  Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alavesa, Rioja

  Had this one at the bodega. Medium ruby color. Complex, elegant, subtle nose of black fruits and spice with well integrated oak. Medium bodied and well balanced. This is really excellent stuff.

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On leaving the winery we were delighted to get to meet Fernando Remírez de Ganuza himself. He came across as a very open and straightforward person, and we discussed their ongoing issues with exportation to the US and his recent trip to New York. It was a pleasure to get to meet and spend time with such an accomplished winemaker.