CVNE vs La Rioja Alta faceoff
Chez Mas
Tasted April 6, 2014 by Tannatastic with 593 views
Introduction
A fairly straightforward concept - four wines each from my two of my favourite Rioja producers. Each with an entry from classic vintages, namely 1994, '95 and 2001, and one thrown in (for good measure) from each from a less well respected vintage. We tasted the wines blind twice, then had the grand reveal (creating quite a few surprises!) and continued to make comment when accompanied by food (a large Tapas of cured meats, cheeses etc etc). A very fun evening indeed!
(Scores have been averaged and rounded up, and notes have been amalgamated and condensed to avoid using up unnecessary bandwidth!)
Flight 1 (8 notes)
Young palate, very acidic, with a slight chocolate bitterness, oak, cherry and blueberry.
(Two tatsers commented " very drinkable!" and one "quite bland". Vive la difference.)
Its appearance (consistent with other times) is very Pinot-like. Very light, slight bricking at the rim. (a couple of tatsers guessed it at Pinot on sight).
Plenty of floral notes, violets, plenty of age-related smells, reminds one of chutney (!?), obviously a touch of vanilla and cherry on the nose.
The palate for everyone (apart from my goodself, who would score this a 93 if he could) was that the taste didn't live up to the nose, that it was "a bit flat", "past it" and "not a particularly strong flavour", and yet it has " a long finish".
On the nose it was fairly unanimously commented upon that it could best be described as "muted", with several comments related to the aged-smell.. Raspberries and slight vanilla with a hint of creme brulee.
Again, the palate was universally described as quite drying, yet smooth. Restrained, not fruity, well aged, a full mouth feel, with some strawberries but at the same time a fairly watery finish.
I was personally quite disappointed when this was revealed, as I'd been looking forward with much anticipation to tasting this wine. Good, but certainly not great.
Nose has plenty of vanilla, some blackcurrant and cherries, balsamic some caramelised figs.
Lovely palate! Tastes of cherry liquor, damson gin, strawberries, slight aniseed to liquorice,balsamic, hint of oak. Very refreshing, superb integration smooth, nice long finish. Very refined and complex. Great with food.
Narrowly shaded into second place for WOTN. Sadly a replacement bottle is now running at £160, so we'll just have to live with the nice memories!
Young Rioja nose, a facefull of Birdseye Vanilla custard, with a hint of blueberries and blackcurrants thrown in. (One taster even claimed a hint of cauliflower!).
Palate of strawberries, fizzy cola bottle sweets, some blackcurrant and other dark fruits, drying, quite long and smooth finish. Fresh and young.
Quite refined, but also simple. The nose is certainly more complex than the palate. Some cherry and dark berries. Smooth but short finish, with a little bit too much residual acidity. Slightly "earthy".
Lovely clarity in the glass, like a lighter-than-Bordeaux look.
Savoury nose had a plethora of smells, from deep blackcurrant and figs, to the ubiquitous vanilla and cherry, through petrol, acetic acid and balsamic, and with a couple of descriptions of "perfumey".
A balanced and complex palate of dark chocolate, port, spice, tobacco, cherry, raspberries,blackberries, liquorice, slight acidity (which balanced out to perfection with food) slight dryness and a very long, persistent and pleasing finish.
Superb, really in a sweet spot now, and scored equally well on its own and with food.
The freshness continues onto the palate. Sweet, soft oak taste. Chocolate pudding, dark chocolate,cherries and sherry.
Hints of blackcurrant and violets. Robust, high (and quite noticeable) alcohol. Perfect sunday lunch wine, rounded taste with good mouthfeel, would go tremendously with a good roast! Fairly long finish.
Closing
As you can see, the two "off" vintages of '97 and '98 had a strong showing, gaining 1st and 3rd place against what should be stiff competition. The '94 CVNE Gran Reserva was universally seen as a disappointment after it was revealed, much more was expected from it by all concerned, most of whom are Rioja lovers.
And it was also a clear victory for La Rioja Alta (av. 91.75 pts) over CVNE (av. 90.5 pts). And it was apparent to all that every bottle paired better with food than without. How scientific that is, I don't know, but it was fun finishing off the 8 bottles with Tapas!