TNs: LCBO Rioja Revelation Walk-Around Tasting Event

Berserkers,

This past week I pinch hitted for fellow board member Michael Grammer at the LCBO’s Rioja Revelation tasting event. He had a family matter conflict and asked me if I’d step in for him. In gratitude for his generosity, I am fulfilling his duties and filing a full report on the event for him and everyone else to enjoy.

Before I get to individual tasting notes, let me summarize the event and give general impressions on the wines as a whole. The LCBO does a superb job with their tasting events and this was certainly no exception. It was held at the Carlu hotel in downtown Toronto and was very well organized. However one feels about a state/provincial liquor monopoly, I give credit where it’s due and wouldn’t ever hesitate to recommend attending any of their events.

The wines were held in two large assembly rooms on the left and right and the hallway that intersected them held the food stations provided by Oliver & Bonacini. In fact, the food stations were open and serving BEFORE the wines were which was rather intriguing as I’ve never seen that done at a wine event before. It turned out this was no accident, as the food turned into a complete necessity as the evening wore on. The food stations consisted of roasted lamb loin, octopus stew, Spanish blood sausage stew, Jamon Iberico and olives, chicken empanadas and a dessert and coffee station.

Rioja producers have always impressed me with their insistence on aging their red wines properly before releasing them. The bodegas do the cellaring for you so that you don’t have to. This brings an immediate value to the wine that other reds don’t because you have to wait a long time before being able to properly enjoy them. Resultingly, the one tasting note I see I kept writing over and over in the event booklet is “smooth,” of course referring to the texture of the wines. Rioja is just so incredibly smooth on the palate and has a great mouthfeel even when an individual wine proves highly tannic. It just glides down so nicely down the esophagus.

In terms of flavor, red Tempranillo is a tricky grape. It readily takes on the characteristics of wood more so than any red wine I’ve ever had to the point where the actual Tempranillo fruit flavor plays second fiddle in its own wine. Distinctive oak and vanillin flavors could be detected in virtually every red Rioja I tried and they often threatened to overtake the Tempranillo itself. I found myself having to take several food and water breaks because the wines were threatening to all taste the same without any distinction. As I found with the similar LCBO Zinfandel and Chardonnay focused events I have previously attended, for example, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. I found myself wishing that the attending producers had brought their Rosés, sparklers and more of their white wines both for variety and to impress upon the audience that they were capable of more than just red Rioja.

And speaking of white wine, the standout discoveries of the event for me were a Garnacha Blanca (white Grenache) based white Rioja and a Tempranillo Blanco based white Rioja. Both were absolutely delicious and came across to me as more tropical versions of white Rhone. Definitely worth searching for and exploring more. There were a couple of Viura (aka Macabeo) and Malvasia based white Riojas as well but I didn’t take to them as well as I did to the other two whites. I personally find Macabeo and Malvasia come off much better in sparkling and sweet wines due to their floral characteristics.

But back to the red Riojas. As I said, there were several points in the evening where they started to taste the same and I had to take many food and water breaks. Remember all those food stations that opened before the wine event itself did? There was a good reason for that. Red Rioja is just absolutely stunning with food. Now everyone always says their favorite red wine goes better with food, but let’s be honest: nobody on this board has any problem with drinking a Bordeaux, Cali Cab, or red Burgundy on their own. In the case of red Rioja, however, it was so revelatory that I’d actually hesitate to drink any without food.

All the characteristics I mentioned above – the smoothness, the texture, the subdued fruit, the integrated wood – make Rioja a stunning food pairing red. I don’t know if it’s appropriate or correct to describe a red wine as melting in your mouth, but that’s exactly what the Rioja was doing as soon as it made contact with the selected food in my mouth. Now that’s probably to be expected with the lamb, sausage, octopus and empanada but I was honestly surprised at how well the red Riojas went with the desserts! That was a pleasant discovery.

LEALTANZA 2016 CRIANZA – The youngest aged level of Rioja. The rep clarified for me that contrary to popular opinion, Crianza Rioja is not the Beaujolais of Spain. It is a young red but it is not unoaked. It’s usually aged a year in oak and then a year in bottle. This was very smooth and highly acidic.

LEALTANZA 2016 RESERVA – As we move up the scale, the smoothness remains but the richness of the wine vastly increases.

LEALTANZA 2010 GRAN RESERVA – Long aging in both oak and bottle. Incredibly smooth texture, more subdued fruit, very rich, excellent with food.

BARON DE LEY 2016 TRES VINAS BLANCO – Made from a blend of white Viura, Malvasía and Garnacha Blanca grapes with the majority being the Garnacha Blanca. Like I said in my summary, this was like a more tropical white Rhone. This couldn’t help but stand out as one of the few whites among the sea of red Riojas.

BARON DE LEY 2017 FINCA MONASTERIO – A rare single vineyard Rioja, this is quite young for Rioja, very fruit forward, and quite ready to drink already. That’s no accident, the rep told me Baron de Ley very much envisioned this as an approachable Rioja. It is aged in oak barrels and then French foudres before being bottled and released immediately. This is the only red Rioja Baron de Ley produces that deliberately forgoes bottle conditioning before release.

BARON DE LEY 2012 GRAN RESERVA – Maximum richness and flavor here compared to their other reds. However, also quite austere and tannic at this relatively young age. Can definitely cellar for a few more years. Interestingly, I myself have a bottle of the 08 in collection and am curious now as to how it’ll come off with the extra years of age on it.

BERONIA 2014 RESERVA – Very smooth Rioja, the sweet vanillin flavor and the wood integration are very distinct in this wine.

BERONIA 2010 GRAN RESERVA – Extremely smooth and rich, much more intense than their Reserva.

R. LOPEZ DE HEREDIA VINA BOSCONIA 2007 RESERVA – A single vineyard reserve from one of my favorite Rioja producers, introduced to me by board members and Mike G. and Humberto Dorta. Their “middle” Reservas put other Gran Reservas to shame. Intense and delicious, very smooth and quite powerful for a Rioja.

R. LOPEZ DE HEREDIA VINA TONDONIA 2007 RESERVA – Oh yeah. Rich, dry, powerful and intense. This is a premium priced Rioja and it delivers a premium wine. One of the best red Riojas present for sure.

CVNE IMPERIAL 2011 GRAN RESERVA – CVNE came on to my radar years because they are one of the very few Rioja producers to actually produce a dessert wine version Rioja which I have a couple of bottles of. Very smooth, lots of fruit that wasn’t subdued by the wood. The wood, however, was still distinctive.

LAN 2011 GRAN RESERVA – Probably the most intense Gran Reserva of the night, extremely tannic and highly acidic. Pretty robust and needs aging in your cellar. I have an 08 in the cellar and it can probably wait a while.

LUIS CANAS 2018 BLANCO BARRICA – A Viura (Macabeo) and Malvasia based white wine. Very saline flavor, floral on the nose, a touch of phenolic bitterness. Interesting but not as good as the Baron de Ley Tres Vinas white.

MARQUES DE MURIETTA CAPELLANIA 2014 RESERVA BLANCO – 100% Viura (Macabeo) white. Saline and rich, practically comes off as a lighter bodied Sherry wine.

RIOJA VEGA 2017 TEMPRANILLO BLANCO – This was my first time ever having a Tempranillo Blanco based wine and this was a revelation. Easily my WOTN. Smooth and flavorful, creamy and fruity. Takes to the wood as well as red Tempranillo but the oak and vanillin really work in the favor of the white version of the grape. Great stuff and I’d love to see more white Rioja based on it.

RODA I 2012 RESERVA – This was interesting in that it was the only red Rioja of the night to display the salinity I was detecting in some of the whites. Surprisingly, that saline note went well with the subdued fruit, wood and vanillin present in the wine. Possibly better than with the whites.

CONDE VALDEMAR FINCA ALTO CANTABRIA 2017 – 100% single vineyard Viura (Macabeo). Smoother and less saline than the other Viura based wines present.


This was an enjoyable event overall and a great overall exposure to Rioja. Many of the bodegas had Spanish representatives that had flown in either from the US or directly from Spain itself whom I conversed with in Spanish and thanked them for coming. I also want to thank Mike again for asking me to fill in for him and to the LCBO for organizing and putting on the event.

Great report! Thanks!
Im impressed by the foods!
If you don’t mind me asking how much does the event ticket cost?

Great write up and pics…thanks.

$99CAD @YLee

I usually see prices of $2xx or $3xx, and would consider it not worth going.

But at $100? For all that? The KGBO finally has an event with value!

Wonderful recounting, thanks. Aged Rioja can be very special indeed, I’m not one to try and distinguish quality of these wines upon release.

Shoot! When is the next event? How do I signup?

https://www.lcbo.com/content/lcbo/en/vintages/vintages-events.html

Regularly updated with the various seated dinners and walk-around tastings staged by the LCBO. The next walk-around is a Napa tasting on Nov 7th @ $150.

A nice lineup of producers: https://www.lcbo.com/content/dam/lcbo/vintages/2019-P07/pdfs/Napa_list_en.pdf

And remember, you US folk–that’s in our peso, so $75 for you

Huge thanks Tran for this frankly amazing report. The food alone makes me want to get in the time machine and go. And you did hit many of the producers I was curious about—only one I miss is La Rioja Alta, I think. I did have the chance to try the 07 Bosconia in Atlanta and found it strong but sturdy and burly at this early stage.

You loved the Rioja Vega Bianco, eh? I guess I’ll have to find some of that. Thanks again—my pleasure to have been able to provide you the access.

John, I agree–I’ve been picking and choosing which of the events to pay for, but this was a no-brainer for me in terms of perceived value.

Mike

Wow!! Great write up. Outstanding photographs.

You do know that nobody can pinch hit for M. G. though, don’t you?

He knows that—but he does keep trying

The Rioja Vega Tempranillo Blanco is in the system but with zero availability.
I’ll email Señor Brown and see if he has any ideas, perhaps there is an agent.

Richard:

A small amount of residuals from this event are available on VSO right now. There are 18 bottles of the blanco you’re looking for left, so I’d jump on it if you want some.

Thanks Jay, ordered 2. See you Saturday?

I just checked on a hunch, there is some Vega Rioja Blanco available in Montreal at the SAQ if anyone is visiting Quebec this Fall.

You’re welcome.

I won’t be there on Saturday as I have other plans that were made months ago. Another time!

Typical! SAQ beats out KGBO

Good luck.

Now 11. Thanks for the tip. I didn’t think of looking there.

(Very odd, it’s available in VSO, but not at all on the regular web site - any of the channels)

Thanks for the great report.

I’ve been drinking Rioja for over 50 years, so not a revelation. But it is something of a secret. It seems that only a minority of consumers like red wines with bottle age, probably because they are now something of a novelty. I remember a tasting ~6 - 8 years ago. I was showing a range of my wines, including a Rioja Joven, almost 50% Garnacha. At the next table, another importer was showing a Rioja Gran Reserva at over 10 years, I tasted it, a beauty (don’t remember the producer). But pale, light, woody. A lot of consumers tasted my Joven and told me they liked it better and it was 1/3 the price of the Gran Reserva. I hope that somehow, some day, consumers develop a taste for well aged wine. Rioja will explode, far and away the best value in the world for red wine with secondary character.

Dan Kravitz