Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
The event was named, "Old Rioja".
Yeah, yeah. That's how the hype always goes.
As I enter the room -- way early -- two things immediately grab my attention: Firstly, nothing has been poured. This is atypical. Secondly, on the back table is a long row of really dingy bottles with tattered, faded labels.
Oh. They really do mean "old"!
All bottles were sourced from a single cellar (someone in the Midwest with a profound penchant for rioja.)
As they pour the first two wines, the scent of rioja fills the room:
All the wines, except where noted otherwise, were still a deep red color but with definite bricking. I used a 'yes-no-maybe' system to rate whether I liked each wine.
F. Paternina 1961 Rioja Gran Reserva -- nose: cranberries, decaying meat, stewed cherries; mouth: sour, metallic, just barely alive ...no
CVNE 1968 Rioja "Vina Real", Reserva Especial -- nose: sweet cherries, school paste; mouth: juicy, velvety, hints of toffee and caraway ...yes, yes
Bod. Montecillo 1955 Rioja "Vina Monty" Gran Reserva -- nose: sharp smells, decaying things; mouth: much better than the nose... cherries and vinyl car seat, good balance, drying tannins at the end (it still has tannins 50 years later!?); improves with air ...yes, yes
CVNE 1952 Rioja "Vina Real", Reserva Especial -- blood red, cloudy; nose: plaster of paris; mouth: cough syrup, seems damaged ...no
CVNE 1952 Rioja "Imperial", Gran Reserva -- dark and cloudy; nose: meat and plums, pleasant; mouth: bacon, chalk, not as nice ...maybe
Marques de Riscal 1949 Rioja Reserva Especial -- from four 187 ml bottles (so every table had a different experience); very dark but clear; nose: porty, whiff of caramel; mouth: stewed fruit compote, flat ...no
CVNE 1949 Rioja "Vina Real", Reserva Especial -- opaque and tons of sediment; nose: mint, meat, and licorice; mouth: wow... rich, luxuriously rooty and berry, cherry liqueur; fades with air ...yes
Bilbainas 1945 Rioja "Vina Pomal" -- the notes do not say, but I have to believe that this was a Gran Reserva bottling; nose: not much there?; mouth: good acidity but faint; later becomes much like the 1934 "Vina Monty" ...yes
Bod. Montecillo 1934 Rioja "Vina Monty" Gran Reserva -- slightly orange; nose: strawberry but slightly sour; mouth: Burgundian... suave, bright raspberry flavors but fading acidity ...yes
CVNE 1934 Rioja "Vina Real", Reserva Especial -- amazing... like it's 10 years old: rich, vigorous, cranberry and cassis, a whiff of saffron; there must be more than a drop of cabernet in this ...yes, yes, yes
Martinez Lacuesta 1928 Rioja Reserva Especial -- abundant perfume and candied violets, light and lithe, it dances into your mouth ...yes, yes, yes
F. Paternina 1928 Rioja Gran Reserva -- cheese-y nose, good balance but not deeply fruity as most of these have been ...maybe
Marques de Riscal 1925 Rioja Reserva -- a little vegetal, amazingly young, a little more tired than the Lacuesta (which it resembles) ...yes, yes
Closing Thoughts
We did not do any group voting, so there is no "official" WotN. In my corner of the room, we were all awed by the 1928 Lacuesta - a gorgeous wine 77 years old from a house that no one had heard of!
Many of the wines changed dramatically over the two hours of the tasting. I have scribbles and corrections on 6 of the 13 wines.
Though wines in the same era drank similarly -- the 1968 CVNE and 1955 Monty, the 1945 Bilbainas and 1934 Monty, the 1934 CVNE and 1928 Lacuesta and 1925 Riscal -- the wine was very different across eras. The speaker attributed the changes to the comings and goings of the French (and their grapes), and to the generally war-torn history of Spain in the 20th century.
A wonderful event. Sign me up for more old rioja!
Jeff
Yeah, yeah. That's how the hype always goes.
As I enter the room -- way early -- two things immediately grab my attention: Firstly, nothing has been poured. This is atypical. Secondly, on the back table is a long row of really dingy bottles with tattered, faded labels.
Oh. They really do mean "old"!
All bottles were sourced from a single cellar (someone in the Midwest with a profound penchant for rioja.)
As they pour the first two wines, the scent of rioja fills the room:
All the wines, except where noted otherwise, were still a deep red color but with definite bricking. I used a 'yes-no-maybe' system to rate whether I liked each wine.
F. Paternina 1961 Rioja Gran Reserva -- nose: cranberries, decaying meat, stewed cherries; mouth: sour, metallic, just barely alive ...no
CVNE 1968 Rioja "Vina Real", Reserva Especial -- nose: sweet cherries, school paste; mouth: juicy, velvety, hints of toffee and caraway ...yes, yes
Bod. Montecillo 1955 Rioja "Vina Monty" Gran Reserva -- nose: sharp smells, decaying things; mouth: much better than the nose... cherries and vinyl car seat, good balance, drying tannins at the end (it still has tannins 50 years later!?); improves with air ...yes, yes
CVNE 1952 Rioja "Vina Real", Reserva Especial -- blood red, cloudy; nose: plaster of paris; mouth: cough syrup, seems damaged ...no
CVNE 1952 Rioja "Imperial", Gran Reserva -- dark and cloudy; nose: meat and plums, pleasant; mouth: bacon, chalk, not as nice ...maybe
Marques de Riscal 1949 Rioja Reserva Especial -- from four 187 ml bottles (so every table had a different experience); very dark but clear; nose: porty, whiff of caramel; mouth: stewed fruit compote, flat ...no
CVNE 1949 Rioja "Vina Real", Reserva Especial -- opaque and tons of sediment; nose: mint, meat, and licorice; mouth: wow... rich, luxuriously rooty and berry, cherry liqueur; fades with air ...yes
Bilbainas 1945 Rioja "Vina Pomal" -- the notes do not say, but I have to believe that this was a Gran Reserva bottling; nose: not much there?; mouth: good acidity but faint; later becomes much like the 1934 "Vina Monty" ...yes
Bod. Montecillo 1934 Rioja "Vina Monty" Gran Reserva -- slightly orange; nose: strawberry but slightly sour; mouth: Burgundian... suave, bright raspberry flavors but fading acidity ...yes
CVNE 1934 Rioja "Vina Real", Reserva Especial -- amazing... like it's 10 years old: rich, vigorous, cranberry and cassis, a whiff of saffron; there must be more than a drop of cabernet in this ...yes, yes, yes
Martinez Lacuesta 1928 Rioja Reserva Especial -- abundant perfume and candied violets, light and lithe, it dances into your mouth ...yes, yes, yes
F. Paternina 1928 Rioja Gran Reserva -- cheese-y nose, good balance but not deeply fruity as most of these have been ...maybe
Marques de Riscal 1925 Rioja Reserva -- a little vegetal, amazingly young, a little more tired than the Lacuesta (which it resembles) ...yes, yes
Closing Thoughts
We did not do any group voting, so there is no "official" WotN. In my corner of the room, we were all awed by the 1928 Lacuesta - a gorgeous wine 77 years old from a house that no one had heard of!
Many of the wines changed dramatically over the two hours of the tasting. I have scribbles and corrections on 6 of the 13 wines.
Though wines in the same era drank similarly -- the 1968 CVNE and 1955 Monty, the 1945 Bilbainas and 1934 Monty, the 1934 CVNE and 1928 Lacuesta and 1925 Riscal -- the wine was very different across eras. The speaker attributed the changes to the comings and goings of the French (and their grapes), and to the generally war-torn history of Spain in the 20th century.
A wonderful event. Sign me up for more old rioja!
Jeff