© by Nigel Lelew Hi Ellie ... its great to be here again with you talking wine. Its time to get the Lear Jet out again ... we're off to Spain, we're going to look at that classic Spanish wine ... Rioja ... its a name that conjures up all sorts of mental images, but this morning we're going to get behind that image and get to the heart of Rioja! Rioja My guess would be that if you stopped anyone in the street and asked them for just one name of a Spanish wine ... most would say either sherry or ...Rioja. maybe we should go outside and try it Ellie! What and where is Rioja ... Well first of all it’s one of the wine producing regions of Spain…and a famous classic at that. Their wines take the name of their region ... so Rioja is both a wine and a region. Where is it? ... Well lets unfold the map of Spain ... Its right up in the north of the country ... follow the west coast of France down, until it takes a sharp 90 degrees right at the Pyrenees on the French Spanish border, and then keep going south, inland, for around 100km ... and there you are ... slap bang in the middle of Rioja! It’s fairly mountainous and there are actually three bits to Rioja ... Rioja Alta ... high Rioja ... Rioja Baja ... Low Rioja and Rioja Alavesa ... Rioja in the province of Alava ... so that’s the geography lesson over with for this morning! So whats Rioja all about as a wine. Well firstly theres both red and white Rioja ... and that may surprise a lot of people ... though what we're really talking about this morning are the reds ... but bear in mind that there are whites too. So ... just like in many other wine producing countries ... the red Rioja's have to comply with certain rules. There are only certain grape varieties which can be used ... seven in fact for all Rioja ... and the most used is the Tempranillo grape, which really is viewed as the mainstay of Rioja ... backed up usually by a helping of Garnacha as a minor part in the blend. But it’s the Tempranillo grape which gives Rioja most of its character. There are also a number of classes of Rioja ... which really depend on the age of the wine and the time it has spent in oak. Young barely oaked Rioja is called Sin Crianza ... the age and oaking then goes up through Crianza and Reserva to Gran Reserva which must be at least 5 years old and have spent at least 2 of those in oak. So lets get down to the nitty-gritty and see what the attraction is of Rioja. The classic red Rioja taste is of soft strawberry fruit with quite a huge belt of vanilla. The strawberry flavour is very much the signature of the Tempranillo grape ... soft strawberry with some approachable mellow tannins. The vanilla comes from the time that the wine has spent in contact with the oak ... the longer, the more vanilla flavour the oak imparts to the wine. So a Gran Reserva Rioja will have a bigger vanilla flavour than a Crianza Rioja because it has spent more time in oak barrels. And that really is the attraction of red Rioja ... vanilla and strawberries. So Rioja is only a small part of Spain ... but its important as far as wine goes. Rioja produces both red and white wines, though it’s the reds that are well-known the world over ... a soft strawberry fruit with that belt of vanilla which comes from the oak ... I was going to say that’s Rioja in a nutshell ... but maybe I should say 'that’s Rioja in a barrel!' And in a few minutes we're going to find out a bit more about Rioja when Ellie and I taste a couple ... so don't go away ... there's a real treat in store. The Tasting OK Ellie ... we're back with the tasting…and the theme this morning is Rioja ... so heres a couple of bottles of Rioja that I've brought in ... and they're both red. Ok the first is 1996 Rioja Navajas, actually from Rioja Alta ... that’s High Rioja ... it’s a blend of four of the grape varieties allowed in Rioja, with its predominant grape Tempranillo ... so lets pull the cork and see what this one's like shall we ... Colour It’s a fairly light coloured red ... in fact not too far away from the colour of a Burgundy. Aroma OK a quick swirl to release the aromas from the surface of the wine ... upfront is vanilla ... one of the Rioja trademarks ... and then theres the soft strawberry/cherry fruit. Taste Let's take a glug ... First the soft strawberry fruit starts to fill the mouth ... and then comes the taste from the oak ... vanilla and it's actually got some warmth ... and you can get some tannin in there but it's not a harsh tannin ... That's 1996 Rioja Navajas a great example of Rioja from Waitrose at £4.99. OK now for our next wine ... and I did say we were in for a treat this morning ... I'm really going to spoil you now ... heres a Rioja from one of the top Bodegas in Rioja ... OK it's 1994 Marques de Murrieta Ygay ... it’s a Reserva ... so that means that the grapes are supposedly from a 'good harvest' and that the wine is at least five years old ... having spent at least 12 months in oak ... this particular wine has spent 2 years in American oak barrels ... so lets see what its like ... Colour Well you can see as soon as we pour it out that it’s a lot deeper and denser than the first wine ... So that tells us that we're looking at a fuller kind of wine with more body ... lets see shall we ... ! Aroma Give the glass a swirl and get the nose in ... isn't that just wonderful ... fresh vanilla with soft hints of strawberry ...now that’s a deeper aroma than the first wine ... and theres a difference ... a freshness to the vanilla in the aroma too. Taste OK ... let's take a glug ... the vanilla taste is there upfront ... then there's strawberry/cherry flavours with soft tannins there ... and then there's spice on the finish ... and what a finish ... it's long ... very long! That's 1994 Marques de Murrieta Ygay ... Y-G-A-Y Reserva ... a brilliantly deep intense Rioja again from one of the recognised top bodegas ... from Waitrose at £9.95 ... its got to be worth it.
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