Why Rioja wines deliver bang for the buck
Rioja's red wines are remarkably flexible with food and remain amazingly affordable.
Rioja is a wine region of northern Spain that reliably delivers red wines that are remarkably flexible with food, like this beauty. Rioja wines also remain amazingly affordable, considering the quality that is apparent in the glass. The reasons why are rooted in the region’s uncommon geography, as well as quirks of Spain’s history.
In terms of its landscape, Spain is far more mountainous than you might expect. If you were to drive to the heart of the Rioja region from Madrid, almost all 200-plus plus miles would be through a series of mountain ranges. Rioja’s vineyards flank a roughly 75-mile stretch of the Ebro River valley. The zone is sandwiched between four separate mountain ranges, the most important of which is the Sierra de Cantabria, to the north. Those peaks separate the political region of La Rioja from that of Basque Country, and also provide critical shelter from the cooling influence of the frigid Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay.
The vast majority of Rioja wine is red. Many grapes are permitted, but the region’s superstar grape is tempranillo. Tempranillo is widely grown in Spain and makes darker, heavier wines farther south. In cooler Rioja, though, tempranillo makes lighter and brighter wines, which helps explain their food-friendliness. The Rioja style is crowd-pleasing because it is neither as lean and dry as many old-school French and Italian wines, nor as dense and jammy as the most popular reds from the Americas.
This particular example is from one of the region’s top wineries. The Marqués de Riscal’s spectacular winery design explores modern and deconstructivist architecture, and their wine is just as complex. The reserva is a well-made mature wine that is a touch savory on the nose, featuring flavors of wild blackberries and Mediterranean herbs along with the toasted-nut accents associated with oak barrel-aging.
Marqués de Riscal Rioja “Reserva”
La Rioja, Spain; 14.5% ABV
PLCB Item # 6372, on sale for $18.99 through Nov. 30 (regularly $19.99)
Also available at: WineWorks in Marlton ($18.98; wineworksonline.com), Canal’s Liquors in Pennsauken ($18.99; canalsliquors.com), and Canal’s in Mt. Ephraim ($18.99; mycanals.com).