Aging Rioja: Asimov in the Times

An interesting article. I do love these wines.

Asimov is the devil.

Although I enjoy Asimov’s normal wine articles, I find his “Wine School” columns to be horribly (and almost certainly unknowingly) condescending.

And erroneous. “Joven” means young, but it doesn’t refer to wines that are meant to be consumed earlier than a crianza. In fact, depending on the producer, you can have a joven wine that will age quite nicely. You just do what you have to do with Bordeaux or Barolo - age it yourself. Yes many producers are abandoning the “traditional” designations, which aren’t all that traditional anyway, but they’re doing it generally for economic reasons and there’s no reason to think that their wines won’t deliver as well as any others.

Not to mention that the whole idea of a crianza is kind of stupid and should be abandoned anyway! But Eric is so enamored of LdH that whatever they do must be the only and the best way to do things. His articles sometimes strike me as those of some blogger just turned 22, discovered wine, and thinks nobody else had ever discovered it so decides to start a blog in which she’ll “demystify” wine.

Wow. Cool idea!

Why do you feel this way, Greg?

+100

Puerto Rico is a treasure cove for aged Rioja. Many of the original wine collectors in PR have been buying Rioja ex cellars since the 1960’s due to the marked Spanish influence in our Island. We’ve had tons of crianzas from the 1960’s and 1970’s that are sublime. IMHO the freshness of the fruit due to the reduced barrel contact makes them age really well.

+1. Splain please.

I think you are right. Trying to trim my holdings I opened a bottle of 2003 Marques de Caceres Crianza on Thanksgiving. Even before the cork crumbled I expected this to be a throwaway bottle. I took a taste and was blown away. It ended up being the hit of the day among all of us who were drinking wine. This wasn’t even considered a good or average vintage.

Am seriously looking to find more of these and cellar them. If you have any specific recommendations please pass them along.

And I don’t get the LDH quip either. Do they even release a “crianza”? Does the Cubillo get that designation?

yes

Carlos
I am going to PR soon. Where can I find these well aged Rioja at retail? Thanks

I don’t read anything even vaguely condescending or offensive in the piece.

He has a column. He shares his passion for the kind of wine he enjoys. He tries to encourage and educate his readership to enjoy a broad range of wines with certain parameters.

Where’s the crime?

What’s not to be enamored of? flirtysmile

I haven’t tried a great deal of Riojas, but the few times I’ve had them I always struggle to get past the volatile acidity. Is this ubiquitous for Rioja or just select producers? I get that it’s not necessarily a flaw and I generally like other divisive things like brett, orange wine and such. Just wonder if VA isn’t for me.

No crime, and there’s nothing wrong the piece. It’s more the questions on the side that get me - they sound very fifth grade:

How would you describe the effect of aging on the wine, particularly if you compare it with a younger Rioja?

What does the wine feel like on the palate? Does it differ from other red wines? Or is it difficult to single out any particular characteristics?

More traditional Riojas do not necessarily display the vibrant aromas and flavors of fruit that we ordinarily associate with red wine. What do you detect?

He’s parading the virtues of aged Rioja to legion who may not know. Possibly the last, great, affordable region.

Wow. I am not always a huge fan of Asimov – he seems to be a cheerleader for the hipster doofus crowd and its desperate effort to establish an anti-everything-your-daddy-likes cred – but the purpose of the series is to draw in inexperienced drinkers. He is breaking these things down to the level of a novice. I see nothing remotely condescending in the piece or the “fifth-grade” questions.

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This. Are there any secrets left?!

OT but speaking of Rioja, could not resist and jumped on a PC offer last weekend: 2004 La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 904 - $29.98. I am pretty confident PC will deliver this sooner than later as they carried previous vintages of this wine which I also bought from them (2001). Anyway these will need a lot of time sideways.