After more than a month-long sabbatical, it’s time to get back to the grind. It’s been a busy few weeks to start the year and lots of fun stuff is in the works, so stay tuned.
I can credit a lot of my seminal “a ha” memories of wine to various Spanish producers, and having the chance to spend a lot of time in-country last year gave me a much greater appreciation for what comes out of the region.
Sometimes it’s good to see how the sausage is made.
Being on the retail side of the business, I tend to appraise wines as value propositions, and Spain has some of the best regions for such wines – especially Rioja. El Coto de Rioja is a relatively young winery (having only been on the scene since 1970), but they’ve quickly become the largest winegrower in Rioja with 730 ha of vineyards. With so much land at their disposal, they are capable of making some amazing wines that aren’t obscenely expensive.
El Coto “Coto de Imaz” Gran Reserva 2012
The 2012 Coto de Imaz Gran Reserva (awarded 97 points and “Best in Show” at the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards) is comprised of Tempranillo with a bit of Graciano, which were macerated and fermented in stainless for no more than 30 days. The wine was aged in American and French oak for 2 years and in the bottle for 3 more. What stood out most to me is how fresh the wine is for a Gran Reserva; wines in this class often skew too far toward desiccated to me (potpourri flavors instead of aromas). This wine runs all the way from tart to overripe with a spectrum of primary/secondary/tertiary characteristics. It’s interesting.
From Decanter: “This dark, relatively tight-knit Rioja proves that the Gran Reserva category doesn’t just indicate the supremely well-aged, relaxed and reposeful style of Rioja, but can also serve to draw drinkers’ attention to outstanding wines of density and tenacity which still have a way to run along their potential ageing trajectories. Look out for dark, urgent fruits here sweetened and back-lit by cunningly angled oak, with intense, deep, fresh and searching flavours (sic) in which the 10% of Graciano seems to be working overtime. A Rioja of innate drama. Drink 2019-2028, 97 points.”
Also awarded 91 points from both Wine Spectator and James Suckling.
Free Run 