This is the best time of year to visit Rioja. The harvest is in, the sun is shining (this year much more warmly than usual) and the leaves have changed colour so that the region looks more like a fantastical carpet rather than vineyards. You can see below the tapestry of colours with vibrant reds, oranges and yellow dominating the landscape. If you haven't visited the region then do it in Autumn when the sun is shining, crisp mornings are invigorating, and the vineyards are at their most beautiful.
This time of year is also the best time to get a real feel for how the harvest played out: all the grapes are picked (I arrived the day after the last bunches were brought into the wineries) and it's possible to taste some of the earlier picked fruit while im various stages of fermentation in tank. So what did I learn? We've all heard there was a lot of rain towards the end of the hearvest period in Rioja, some torrential that nearly destroyed entire vineyards, but that doesn't mean it's a story of doom and gloom. The vignerons and winemakers had to work very hard to pick at the right moment and to select carefully when the grapes arrived. But there is very good quality, better than last year, and some of the higher vineyard sites of Rioja Alta and Alavesa have produced stunning results. Sure there will be some variable quality but I suspect this might end up being rated as a Very Good vintage (fingers crossed after the difficult 2013 harvest). I tasted a lot out of tank, both white and red, and there was lovely concentration and sweetness of fruit. A lot to look forward to.
But let's not forget that there are wines ageing in barrel and bottle about to be released into the market.
OK so maybe not this old... But the exciting thing for me this year is the release of many 2010 Reservas. 2010 was rated an Excellent year by the Consejo, and tasting some of these wines last week, I can understand why. They are showing everything we love about great Rioja Reservas: vibrant red fruits, vanilla and spice, and silky smoothness. With a lack of great vintages from other parts of the world over the last few years, 2010 Rioja Reserva releases are something to celebrate...already looking forward to sorting out my Christmas drinking in 2016!
So for those of you who have read this far, there is a bonus track. Yes more to read! Well actually it's more to watch. A couple of weeks ago I was in sherry country and had the chance to take some video of a proper "en rama" bottling. "En rama" is very trendy at the moment with some of the best restaurants in the world making their own special selections of their favourite barrels in the sherry houses of Jerez, Sanlucar and El Puerto. But basically all "en rama" means is that the sherry is not filtered: it tastes just as it does straight from barrel with all the lovely flor flavours and complexity.
I was lucky enough to be able to taste through 10 different barrels of fino and choose the one I liked best. To be honest after the fifth, I'm not sure I was being all that discerning! But they all tasted great so it doesn't matter!
Bodegas Colosia actually bottle all their en rama fino in this way. That day they had to bottle a further 36 bottles by hand: a task which would take 3 - 4 hours. I'm just looking forward to savouring mine one Friday night soon!
