Rioja – The past, present and future
The history of winemaking in Rioja, like so many of Europe’s wine regions, can be traced back to the Romans but it is its links to Bordeaux that really helped define the wines of Spain’s most famous wine appellation. In the second half of the 19th Century a vine disease called Phylloxera hit Europe, devastating many vineyards. When it impacted Bordeaux, killing many of the vines, the wine world had to look elsewhere for their age-worthy red wines. Various Bordelais decided to leave the area and start afresh on the other side of the Pyrenees, taking their winemaking skills and knowledge with them to the Rioja region.
Today both regions specialize in age worthy red blends that are often matured in barriques (225L barrels) before bottling. Whilst Bordeaux focuses on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, in Rioja the top two grapes are Tempranillo and Garnacha. The Chateaux of Bordeaux tend to only use French oak barrels meanwhile in Rioja the tradition is to use American oak barrels, imparting bold oak characteristics, although the use of French barriques that tend to have a more restrained impact, is becoming more common.
Tempranillo is the main grape of Rioja, making up over 75% of vine plantings. This is a very structured variety and fulfils a similar job to Cabernet Sauvignon in the Medoc area of Bordeaux. Rioja’s version of Merlot is Garnacha, aka Grenache, which brings more freshness and aromatics to the blend. One of the big differences between the two regions is the use of terminology to describe the way the wine has been aged. Rioja describes how the wine has been aged on their bottles using these clear descriptive terms:
Joven – These are young wines that are prized for their freshness and fruity palate.
Crianza – The wines with this designation must be aged for at least 2 years, with at least 1 year ageing in barrel. In the case of white wine, they need at least 6 months in barrel and 2 years ageing overall.
Reserva – Red wines described as Reserva in Rioja need at least 12 moths ageing in oak barrels and 3 years ageing overall. The whites must have 6 months in barrel and be aged a total of 2 years before being released.
Gran Reserva – Before releasing a Gran Reserva the reds must have a minimum of 2 years of barrel ageing, 2 years in the bottle and 5 years overall. The whites again need at least 6 months in barrel before release and 4 years all together.
The region itself is made up of three main zones that are often blended together to make a well-balanced wine; Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta and Rioja Oriental (formerly Rioja Baja). The Alta region is the most westerly area and has the highest elevation, which leads to a shorter growing season and the production of fruiter, lighter wines than the other 2 areas. Rioja Alavesa is in the Basque Country, north of the main river in the region, the Elba. The climate is similar to Alta although soils here are very poor. The wines produced here have a fuller body and richer flavours than Rioja Alta. Finally, there is the eastern Rioja Oriental, which is the flattest and hottest part of the region. The wines here tend to have lower levels of acidity, high levels of alcohol and are deeply colored.
There are some very interesting changes happening in the region at the moment, including the introduction of rules for single vineyard wines, known as Viñedos Singulars, and the development of sparkling Riojas, to be labelled as Espumoso de Rioja. Some producers are declassifying their wines by not using the prescriptive Rioja ageing processes (described above) for their wines, which has led to even more experimentation in the region. With innovations such as these Rioja continues to show it is a region that desires to evolve with the times and we cannot wait to see where Rioja will develop next. Until then here is a case of some great wines from the region for you to try: