Tempranillo, Rioja
5 facts on Rioja:
Let’s start with the basics - Rioja is not a grape, it’s a region of northern Spain, and it’s red wines are typically a blend rather than single varietal wines!
The two key grapes within red wines from Rioja are: tempranillo (which brings red fruit flavours and medium/high tannins to the party) and garnacha (which adds warmth, body and alcohol to a blend). Mazuelo and Graciano are two further grapes which play a supporting role only.
Red Riojas are produced in a range of styles from the unoaked, fruit-forward ‘joven’ wines, to the more savoury, age-worthy ‘gran reservas’.
Despite the range of styles Riojas are known for their red fruit flavours, and the unique quality of their tannins which are often described as sandy, dusty or chalky. Joey calls this that tempranillo grit.
Rioja is one of the very few European wine regions that uses a lot of American oak (rather than European oak) in their wineries; this means you may well pick up on flavours and aromas of vanilla in a Rioja.
3 pairings for Rioja:
Charred cabbage & harissa hot pot
The spritely, youthful nature of a Rioja ‘joven’, with its juicy red fruit and crunchier tannins, can stand up to a little spice, and a warm, piquant quality permeates this dish. It’s laced with coriander, cumin and harissa, and the Rioja will wear these bold flavours very well indeed.
Roasted peppers with Mexican rice & beans
The roasted peppers are sweet and yielding and the rice & red kidney beans have gentle, smokey heat, both components of this dish marry well with the red fruit flavours in the wine. The dusty nature of kidney beans is a good match for the sandy, chalky tannins of the Tempranillo grape. This is a harmonious congruent pairing.
Moroccan ‘jackets’ with tagine baked beans
This tagine is fruity, spicy, faintly sweet and very savoury all at the same time. It would pair wonderfully with a younger Rioja with some chutzpah! The natural acidity of the tomatoes will mellow any astringency in the wine and allow it’s fruity flavours to come to the fore. It's a congruent pairing with a young Rioja much like the two dishes above.
One of our favourite bottles of Tempranillo: “Gran Cerdo”
Region: Rioja
Vintage: 2019
ABV: 13.5%
Cost: £11.00, purchased via Forest Wines E17, here.
Other info: This is a natural wine with fantastic flavour and zero ‘funk’ made by legendary, renegade winemaker Gonzalo Gonzalo Grijalba.
Gonzalo’s Rioja is fermented in stainless steel which allows the juicer, more delicate elements of Tempranillo shine through: they remain unmasked and unsullied, as it were, by oak, and thus the wine’s flavour is cleaner and brighter.
And, Gonzalo has employed “whole bunch fermentation” here (otherwise known as carbonic maceration) which we cannot get enough of. Without getting too bogged down in the science, this means that part, or all, of the grapes’ fermentation into wine occurs anaerobically (in the absence of oxygen) and this yields brighter, poppier flavours that dance on the palate. In the same way that oak can be seen to ‘muddy’ flavour, so too can oxygen during fermentation, thus wines produced with ‘whole bunch fermentation’ have more vim and vigour and greater pazazz on the palate! YES.
On the nose: Ripe, dancing red & black fruits - red plums, cherries and violets (those chalky prima violet sweets to be precise) - backed up with clean woody notes of lavender and fresh bramble leaf.
On the palate: It’s dry, with high acidity, an easy-drinking medium body, and ripe, grippy tannins. Flavour-wise it bursts with cassis, juicy black currants and sun-drenched cherries. And there’s a dusty, herbaceous undertone too - woody stalks of wintery herbs such as bay, thyme & rosemary - which lend a spicy, botanical finish.
