Rioja - Top to Tail!
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RIOJA was exposed to wine early in the piece when the Pheoenicians settled and
brought with them the expertise to ferment grapes in the 17th Century. The
indigenous populations have made wine ever since. The isolated nature of the region
meant that not much wine left and it was consumed locally.
In the early days grapes were foot stomped in stone troughs and chucked into
amphorae, it was not built for any ageing and was consumed quick before it turned
to vinegar. If it did leave the region it was put into a Bota Bag, the distinctive leather
pouch that could be slung over the shoulder. Interestingly, the bota bags were
branded with a special seal signifying that the wine was made in Rioja with local
grapes - a rare and early instance of provenance and branding.
There was an attempt in the 1700s to up the quality of the output when a man
named Don Manuel Esteban Quintano journeyed to Bordeaux on a pilgrimage to
learn. In Bordeaux he encountered robust fine wines that were aged in barrel,
impervious to travel, resistant to oxygenation and actually improved with age.
Initially these methods were popular, but American oak quickly proved too expensive
to be feasible and French oak became unpopular when Napoleon invaded Spain!
Nearly 100 years later, after the easement of hostilities, oak was re-introduced. The
popularity of Bordeaux wines in England, one of the first lucrative commercial export
markets inspired some enterprising wine makers to try again. These methods took
hold quickly and a mini revolution started as local winemakers loved what it did to
their wines. Coinciding with the improved infastructure of railroads and travel,
suddenly Rioja started to become a force. The advent of phylloxera caused a gold
rush as French winemakers invaded the Iberian peninsula in search of unaffected
vines. This saw the introduction of Bordelaise techniques and varieties. Rioja
flourished as a a new centre of the winemaking world. When phylloxera eventually
made its way to the relatively isolated region, it was rectified more quickly as the
solution of grafting American rootstock to French to stop phylloxera was
proliferating elsewhere.
RIOJA AWAKENS
Franco, like all murderous bastards was very little fun and caused devastation in the
Spanish industry. Apart from ripping up legacy vines, he actively discouraged wine
consumption unless it was taken as the sacrament. Towards the end of his long reign,
markets were opening up and the economy was liberalising and upon his deeath the
region re-exploded.
Rioja quickly took up where it left off. Demand was huge both domestically and
abroad, as Rioja quickly gained a reputation for rich and vibrant wines with a good
lick of oak give loads of toast and vanilla notes. The region was divided into Rioja
Alta, Rioja Alvesa an Rioja Baja, though in truth these meant very little in the early
days as basically anything was planted anywhere, with oak age and extraction
covering any hint of terroir or even varietal typicity. Unlike Bordeaux, where wines
were built for ageing, Rioja made the incredibly astute decision to release wines,
when they were ready, aged and ready for consumption but capable of plenty more
age.
DO THE EVOLUTION
The future starts now in La Rioja. Alvaro Palacios and Telmo Rodriguez were the first very high profile critics of the outdated appellation laws at Rioja. Anyone with enough oak, time and space could make a Gran Reserva and no importance was being placed on the fantastic terroirs of Rioja. Major producer Artadi officially left the appellation in 2015 and since then the shackles have come off. Producers like those of the Rioja N Roll collective are making compelling wines that speak of their time & place from indigenous varieties suited to their environment, unlike the high volume generic wines that were being produced. It is an incredibly exciting time in what was hitherto a reasonably unexciting albeit popular region.
Why re-draw Rioja? Because it's current system of classification is completely unsatisfactory and sells the region short. It dumbs down the potential of the wine, ignores its incredible terroirs of Rioja and encourages a race to the bottom in
homogenised production & volume. ('Brand Rioja' is good for business). What this means is that anyone can make a Gran Reserva, and anyone frequently does, utilising unsuitable varieties from unsuitable areas, ignoring the individual site and covering everything up with wine making. Thankfully the cosy group at the Consejo Regulador are losing the battle. Change is happening as Rioja is moving toward a Burgundian-style of Village system to recognise the diverse range of soils and vineyards.
We start, as many modern Spanish wine stories do, with Alvaro Palacios. STSWine regulars will be familiar with the man we call the King of Spanish wine. He was born in Rioja on the family winery but had fallen in love with the concept of terroir while working in the US, France and Italy. He wanted to make world class Spanish wines that spoke of their time and place and found peerage with the great wines of Burgundy & Barolo. He achieved this in Priorat, and then Bierzo. He was able to impose his vision of a village classification system as he had made those regions. Rioja would be a tougher task.
When Alvaro returned to the family winery in Rioja, he found a region that was growing unsuitable varieties in unsuitable place to achieve high yield. Growing grapes in such places meant they needed to be unnaturally managed and he called the resulting wine ficticious wine. He immediately started re-planting varieties in his winery and pressed for Rioja Baja (meaning lower Rioja) to be renamed Rioja Oriental. Alvaro wanted to concentrate of making a Rioja wine that would rival his L'Ermita from Priorat and La Faraona from Bierzo as one of Spain's most expensive and sought after wines. Having not the time to fight another Conseja, he pledged his support and consultation to a growing number of disenchanted wine makers led by Telmo Rodriguez.
Telmo is the logical progression of Alvaro Palacios in many ways. Having grown up in Rioja he too spread his wings to Ribera Del Duero where he fell in love with the idea of bringing Spain in line with modern terroir-led brilliance. Telmo, while thoughtful, well liked and measured, brought a firebrand approach to affect change. He created a document called Matador Manifesto is defence of Spain's old and natural vineyards and terroirs, getting it signed by 150 winemakers. Only a year earlier, icon producer Artadi sent shockwaves through the Spanish industry by officially 'leaving' the Rioja appellation. Telmo's controversial manifesto sent the concept of Rioja into a virtual tailspin.
Hold on a minute - what are really really talking about here? Money of course. In La Rioja, it is all about Brand Rioja 'the benjamins’. Imagine a beautiful little field blend of Rioja wine, naturally made in the style of the forefathers of Rioja wine making. Yields are controlled. Everything is hand made and hand picked. The wine is aged in concrete or steel and intended for young drinking, it's purity mirrors the terroir. This wine can only be sold as a generico/joven Rioja, with no geographical indicator and nothing to suggest it's special (indeed - you are not allowed include a Village name!).
That same wine could be machine harvested, with other grapes bought in and added to bulk up the volume. Extracted and worked over in the winery, stabilised and put into oak, you just wait 24 months and it's a crianza (€), 36 months and it's a Reserva (€€) or 60 months and it's a Gran Reserva (€€€). The supermarket shelves are full of these wines and there is a reason that very high value and sophisticated wine collectors and collections will have a very limited Rioja interest (not to say that old Rioja is not magic).
More Benjamins: grape prices. There are numerous growers that sell grapes to the producers that only own 20% of the vineyards. When Telmo decided to eliminate non-estate grown fruit he realised how livelihoods depended on these sales, so rather than cancel the contracts he began bottling a different label to make sure these growers could keep their contracts (not everyone would be so noble one suspects). A tightrope with many considerations was overcome and for the last couple of years, growers and producers have jostled and negotiated and tweaked these new rules and classification systems. Change will be slow but the end result will see better quality wine for us produced via higher standards in accordance with the naturally fabulous terroirs of La Rioja.
