Riding Rioja’s New Wave
A new generation of winemakers in Rioja is remaking Spain’s greatest wine region. My latest at The New Wine Review.
I’ve just published a new feature on Rioja and its new wave of winemakers over at The New Wine Review. Here’s a preview:
People often ask me what wines I’m most excited about, and over the past few years I’ve never hesitated in my answer: new wave Rioja. The generational shift in winemaking that’s happening in Rioja is one of the most dynamic stories in wine.
Too often, though, I can tell that this answer disappoints people—particularly those deep inside the wine scene. For years, they’ve been conditioned to think one way about Rioja, all based on barrel aging: crianza, reserva, gran reserva. For too many wine lovers, Rioja means a big, oaky red that’s reliable but unexciting, especially in an era when big, oaky reds aren’t in fashion.
The wine from Rioja that I’m excited about is something completely different: freshness and energy over wood and power, cool wines grown at higher altitudes, blends of several grapes over monovarietal Tempranillo, a commitment to organic or biodynamic farming, and, most importantly, a sense of place that’s not dictated by barrel aging. But this new-wave Rioja has been slow to gain traction, especially in the U.S.
“The problem is that too many sommeliers are still saying, ‘Rioja is boring,’” Arturo de Miguel of Artuke told me, over steaming bowls of rustic potato-and-chorizo Riojan stew in his small tasting room in the village of Baños de Ebro. He seemed exasperated—as I often am—by the outdated perception of Rioja that persists in the wine business. “We need people to explain these wines,” he said.
By “these wines,” Arturo means the sort of Rioja that he and his brother Kike make, with blends of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano, and Mazuelo (and often also with white grapes) grown in decades-old, high-elevation vineyards. These are exactly the kinds of fresh, bright, mineral, and complex wines that contemporary wine lovers prefer right now…
Of course, in talking about a “new wave,” the term new is also up for debate. “People say, ‘Oh, you’re the new style of Rioja,’ but we’re actually the real classic style,” Arturo de Miguel says. “People think new oak and vanilla is the classic style. But it’s not. Consider us as the traditional way they worked a hundred years ago.”
Whether the emerging style is new, or old, or new again, there’s no debating the winemaking talent. Anyone creating a wine list, or building a cellar, should check out new-wave producers like Artuke, Sierra de Toloño, Oxer Wines, Tentenublo, Arizcuren, José Gil, Miguel Merino, or Elena Corzana.
Among the godfathers of this movement is Abel Mendoza, who has made wine in San Vicente de la Sonsierra with his wife Maite in the “new style” since 1989. But many well-established estates—among them Remírez de Ganuza, Bodegas Valdemar, Pujanza, and Gómez Cruzado—are employing more new-style approaches. “What is classic and what is modern?” asked Jesús Mendoza of Remírez de Ganuza when I visited last month. Mendoza poured a carbonic maceration whole-cluster red, a fresh, cool high-altitude 100 percent Garnacha, as well as some unbelievable whites. “Of the modern side we are the most classic, and of the classic side, we are the most modern,” he says.
I was stuck in Logroño in 2016 while hiking the Camino de Santiago. I had acquired major tendonitis and a terrible cold at once, but a week in the Hotel Marques de Vallejo and nightly sojourns on Calle Laurel really helped (even if I was totally unable to go big). Mostly I rested and watched Spanish TV - reruns of the Marisol movies, lots of fortune tellers/astrologers, and some NBA telecasts which were hilarious dubbed in Spanish. But, the garlicky mushrooms of Bar Angel, the elevated pintxos at Torres Gastrobar, as well as the amazing sushi/pintxos at Ummm Logroño were amazing. Received a full Riojo education at La Taverna where I was asked "desde alli o de alli" = "from there or from there" - meaning, do you want one from 3 km away or 10 km away. And when I was finally able to get back on the Camino, I was in love with the rocky red earth everywhere...
I'm still a big fan of the traditional bodegas in Rioja but it's true what you say - the new wave movement in the region, and across the country, is really exciting and there are so many talented producers in Spain. Thanks for spreading the word!