GRAPEVINE: Red hot Rioja evolves over time

How do you assess quality from just looking at a bottle of wine? Like any product, the brand of the producer will stand for something, the processes used in its production will play a role and being an agricultural product; where it comes from and how it is grown will also be important.

However, what is valued and important at one point in time may no longer be so in the future and thus begin to work against the interests of the producers and the region as growers and consumers look elsewhere for the attributes they value the most.

Many regions around the world are facing this challenge at the moment, a common quality system that is facing criticism and pressure is the length of aging of a wine.

As the love affair with oak continues to wain amongst growers and consumers it is fair to ask, is a wine that spends four years in oak better than another that only spends two years in oak?

Rioja is one of the oldest wine designations in Spain, however, their labelling and quality standards have been under pressure for some time now as they are reliant on the aging of the wine in determining how they are labelled.

While there are other factors that can come in to play, the terms that a consumer sees; Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva along with the associated price increments clearly gives the impression of better quality as you move up the tiers of aging. This set of rules has run in to a couple of high level headwinds – Oak has become a bit of an ugly word, particularly the
overtly vanillin flavoured American Oak which has historically been associated with the wines of Rioja, the second trend has been the move towards single zone and single vineyard wines which have not been allowed on Rioja labels under the rules.

While some regions have resisted change,almost stubbornly so, Rioja has recently made some concessions which will likely be to the benefit of the region as a whole. While the ageing requirements haven’t gone anywhere (‘Rioja’ – no ageing requirement, ‘Crianza’ – two years of ageing, with at least one in barrel, ‘Reserva’ – three years of ageing with at least
one in oak and six months in bottle, ‘Gran Reserva’ – five years of ageing with at least two years in oak and at least two years in bottle), they have now allowed for the use of sub region and village names to be put on labels that allow producers to differentiate their bottlings by specifically where they are grown. It will likely prove to be double edged in some respects as the best sites will continue to be sought after and may become even more sought-after, it may be at the expense of ‘lesser’ sites which may see their stocks lowered as they are a little more exposed without the uniformity of a simple ‘Rioja’ designation on the label.

Whether this sticks or not is yet to be seen, Rioja is still a region where blending is a key tool in making balanced wines and that includes blending from across the region which may well win out over the longer term compared to the single sites. Maybe we will see a mix, where the best single sites are eventually scoured and tested by time as being able to produce consistently high quality each year whilst the remainder continue to draw on the tools of blending to achieve the same level.

Olivier Riviere ‘Rayos Uva’ Rioja – $33 One of the young stars of the region is actually a Frenchman, Olivier Riviere grew up near Bordeaux in France and was trained in the local winemaking schools with a focus on biodynamics.

His style is typical of the current wave of producers, being focused on organics and biodynamics in the vineyard paired with as little intervention as possible in the winery.

The Rayos Uva is his early drinking red, typically a blend of Tempranillo, Graciano and Garnacha it is a pure, fruit-driven wine bright with principally red berry fruits, subtle complexity from herbs and meaty elements.