RIOJA Wine Masterclass: Crianza, Reserva & Gran Reserva EXPLAINED & TASTED

[@Tugger4me1]

I just love Rioja in all its variations, I am in no way a wine snob or have any clue about wines I just know what I like and I love Rioja. It is my no1 go to as a drink. I have never had a bad one yet although some are better than others and the state of my taste buds at the time make a difference. I also have a habit of a bowl of black and green pitted olives, Feta cheese, sun dried tomatoes along with crusty bread with olive oil & balsamic vinegar dip. My idea of a perfect lunch.

[@NoSediment]

Reading Your comment and somehow wanted to be part of that lunch! 🤤🤤🤤

[@welshtoro3256]

Good video, explanation and tasting Agnes. My wife is Spanish so my cellar is probably 90% Spanish with a healthy amount of Rioja as you can imagine. My parents in law live in Bilbao most of the year and it's only a short journey to the heart of Rioja itself. Apart from the wine the region is packed with ancient history. Rioja wine has really been on a journey. Thirty years ago it was a byword for Spanish wine. Most people outside the country knew virtually no other type of Spanish wine. A bottle of Rioja was seen as good value, full bodied, no nonsense red. Spanish white was nowhere. Today, people are far more familiar with individual producers and the entire range of possibilities in the region. We have the old producers who continue to make seriously excellent wine and a lot of wonderful and talented new producers with fresh insights and ideas. Those ideas have been rubbing off on the old guard who are now producing fine, inexpensive, entry level 'Roble' (young wine with less oak than Crianza) or even no oak at all. We had a slight disagreement about age and Montalcino and I have to admit that I have recently tasted some excellent wines from that region without any age. 1 point to you. Now, allow me to say that good quality Crianzas can age perfectly well and can peak, without going downhill, for some time. I agree that oak aged Riojas are good to go but they can enjoy quite a lot of ageing in the bottle. However, one of my greatest regrets was a 90's vintage Tondonia which should have been open sooner. All the best. WT 🍷

[@theeclecticchef]

I very much appreciated this review, and God bless you for pronouncing Rioja correctly. American viewers try to correct my pronunciation to Mexican Spanish. I am a 40-year student of wines of the Iberian Peninsula; Rioja is the primary red wine I drink. I live in the US and UK, buying Rioja is easier in the UK. Even in large wine retail conglomerates in the US Rioja isn't kept well. My benchmark Rioja is Faustino I, even if it varies year to year. Today I bought two bottles of Faustino I , 75th anniversary, "only" Reserva not the usual Gran Reserva for GBP 12.50, we'll see. That said, to my surprise, Marks & Spenser's own label Gran Reseva, El Duque de Miralta, bested the Faustino I did a side-by-side taste of. As best I can tell the M&S comes from Cesar Fernandez/El Coto Winery. For the money, it is top-notch IMO. Thanks again for this. I'd love to see you do a piece on Manzanilla, another Iberian passion of mine.

[@juanmanuelmunozhernandez7032]

Something close to my heart

[@NoSediment]

Unfortunately, I have to agree, Tempranillo has been for a while now considered as the best grape of Rioja. However, I believe that certain terroirs actually are not that well suited for Tempranillo, and I feel that this notion is changing now. Winemakers realise that there are certain grape varieties that will grow better in certain climates’! It shouldn’t always be just one grape.

[@GlennReed-r2t]

Beautiful Rioja 😍 video Agnese! You are such a valuable 💕 wine educator for the global wine 🍷 community.

[@LadyAceRoxy]

Also Lopez Heredia is one of my favorite producers, excited to see it here! I have got to try one of the aged whites and one of the aged rosés and they were incredible, and I love the reds I have tried so far, so I will look out for Bosconia!

[@maxslavik1108]

Really love your channel and the quality of all your videos! This one definietly didn't dissapoint either :) I always mix up the pronounciation of the Spanish Reserva and the Italian Riserva, much to the disdain of my Spanish friend - but then why does Riserva flow off the tongue so much easier! Cheers for the video!

[@NoSediment]

Hahaha, me too, but I always mix up the grammar part - is it I or E in the middle! 🤷‍♀️

[@oscarramirez3361]

Great video! I appreciated the blind tasting, it added suspense. I also started my love affair with wine in Spain and always come back to Riojas. I would love to see more videos like this one in the future. Thanks!

[@NoSediment]

Thank You! Maybe knowing the wines I selected, it was a bit obvious, but somehow, for me, blind tasting will always allow more room for the wine and less judgement from the label. 🙏🏻

[@liamblake937]

Lopez is freaking amazing! Like you, Im always amazed when i revisit them.

[@NoSediment]

Yes, they offer such an amazing wines! Always excited to open a bottle. 🍷

[@GlennReed-r2t]

Agnese, you're a beautiful intelligent ambassador 💗 for Latvia 🇱🇻. 🇱🇻 to the world! Oh yes you are! Oh yes you are!

[@vincentcarida569]

Love Rioja!! Thanks for the education! I would love to have you do a video on single vineyards and Terrior!

[@uberandy666]

Rioja got me into wine. I will always love them. They are amazing value, and will always be the best steak wine (yes Bordeaux, I said it)

[@NoSediment]

Perfect, let’s keep it out there! 🙌

[@niclasaronsson8939]

Another very interesting video and could not agree more about Rioja, such value for money. Thanks for the info about Remelluri! Will sure try it asap! Looking forward to Your next video!

[@MrJcalvino]

Quality/Price ratio is unmatched. For 15€ you can find great value.

[@NoSediment]

I agree! Such a bargain’ 💯

[@acidDrop2000]

LdH Viña Cubillo Crianza is a favorite crianza of mine, while La Rioja Alta Reserva is my go to reserva. both of these just haven't let me down.

[@NoSediment]

I agree, and I was really trying to locate it for this video (I wanted to highlight lesser known wines from this producer), but unfortunately it was not available in my market. 😭 La Rioja Alta was also on my list, but since I made the switch, this is what I stayed with. 🙌

[@LadyAceRoxy]

Would love to see any videos on Rioja! One of my favorite types of wine, and the whites are such an undiscovered secret.

[@NoSediment]

🤫🤫🤫 I actually want to make a separate video on the whites of Rioja. I completely agree with You! 🥂

[@danielmagg6096]

i noticed that gran reserva is very deep colored since more extracted often and takes longer to turn garnet because of the depth of color... maybe just me, but i made the same experience with ribera del duero

[@NoSediment]

I think extraction will depend on the producer as well. My other comment would be - Gran Reservas will usually have some percentage of Graciano and Mazuelo, which tends to be deeper in color than Tempranillo or Garnacha.

[@-itkindaworks-]

Thanks again for the great video! I'm a bit sitting on a fence with Rioja when it comes to the preference between the new style (like e.g. Artadi) and traditional one with more american oak infused mature style. I'm also kind of returning back to the old style which were my first 'good wines' when finding the world of wine. Remelluri is a great producer - it pairs very well with slow cooked veal tongue which has a rolling stones logo stamped on it 😀

[@NoSediment]

That dish sounds like something amazing, which I probably would never eat. 😊😪

[@-itkindaworks-]

@@NoSediment I believe it's a creation of Chef Kristovskis (?) and we had a change to try it some time ago with an excellent class of Remelluri. A great pair 😁

[@meat_loves_wasabi]

Rioja & Argentinian Malbec are my favourites

[@NoSediment]

In my view two completely different styles that perfectly accompany grilled steaks! 😅🤤

[@JabadSBS]

Rioja and spanish wines are so underrated...

[@steviebeavie1]

good reviews! Thanks, great content!

[@fitnesswitheasye5722]

More Rioja videos please!

[@NoSediment]

Got it! 👍

[@henriklindhansen6456]

López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Reserva 2010. Is probaly the best wine for the monney. out there. At about 45 euros.. Grand Reserva is About 300e, and i hope to finde a 2010 one day :)

[@charlesthedeadlifter4376]

I have a bottle of Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva Rioja that I'm saving!

[@NoSediment]

Perfect, I also save mine for very special occasions. 🙏🏻

[@anaceccato7345]

Excellent 🎉

[@NoSediment]

Cheers! 🍾🥂

[@ЧеловекИдеи-б3ц]

It's very interesting, how you define Gran Reserva wine. Because Remelluri is not an usual Rioja. It's from small region called Rioja Alavesa and wines from that are not similar to Rioja Alta's wines. They are very different wines.

[@NoSediment]

I don’t think I define Gran Reserva in this video. I talked about the ageing requirements for each style to acquire the label. 😊 Alavesa is one of the three subregions of Rioja, I wouldn’t call it small. I am really sorry, but I don’t understand Your comment. 😪

[@panaceiasuberes6464]

My rule-of-thumb for Gran Reservas coming out of Rioja is very simple: if a wine is made with grapes from a place I can't spot from Castillo de Davalillo's tower, I'll pass. Also, 5 years after the Vino de Município label being established, they look like a won bet, with not just micro-terroir but, most importantly, micro-climate expression finally making sense economically. These are my favourite wines coming out of Rioja in the last couple years.

[@Ruirspirul]

that is an amazing anime shirt!😮

[@IA_Z_V]

The reality is that the classic clasification is mostly used by really big wine factories (im not going to even call them winery) where quality is sacrified for quantity. The best Rioja wines nowadays are using “Cosecha” label, so the producer decides when to release the wine, having more fresh and less woody wines, showing the terroir, fruit and acidity and less influence of the wine coopers which is what you notice in classic Riojas

[@NoSediment]

Lopez de Heredia uses the classic classification, and I think they make marvellous wines! Remelluri uses it - and their quality is really high, I don’t think that is 💯 case. 😅

[@ROGER-yo9cy]

Marqués de Cáceres 😬

[@Colin-o9b]

Sweetie

[@fkp05]

Viña Bosconia is longer in oak casks than most Gran Reservas... 5 years. Just say'ing.

[@NoSediment]

I think they only use neutral oak though. 🤔

[@ptg01]

LOVE LOVE LOVE old world Rioja !!!

[@andrewyarosh1809]

What are you talking about? Rioja only comes from Spain, which is an “Old World” wine. What other kind of Rioja do you think there is?

[@NoSediment]

I also love the older style Rioja wines, not to say that the new, more fruit driven and less aged are not as good. But these classic examples have something great to offer! 🍷 Cheers!

[@ptg01]

@@andrewyarosh1809 I meant older, aged. Ala Gran Reservas

[@Tugger4me1]

Would be nice to see some wines of a value more acceptable to the normal working person say below 25euros or pounds. As much as I love Rioja I flatly refuse to pay more than this for a bottle of wine.

[@FleshertonGallery]

Most modern Rioja has none of the traditional style as those made many years ago. Not enough oak and to much use of stainless steel to p,eases the none educated wind drinker.

[@andrewtate8303]

Your rite Reseva and Gran Reserva Rioza isnt as good as it used to and I keep trying to find something good

[@QualeQualeson]

I know Rioja isn't synonymous with Tempranillo, but that's pretty much the extent of my experience. And sadly, Tempranillo is probably my least favourite grape thus far, but I can't really say what taste it is exactly. Some distinct, dominant note in every Tempranillo that I find unpleasant. Maybe someone can chime in and tell me what that something is.

[@ConsciousAsianSoup]

Go to the Toro region in Spain. They have my favorite expressions of Tempranillo.

[@QualeQualeson]

@@ConsciousAsianSoup What's different about it? Can you define it you think?

[@ConsciousAsianSoup]

@QualeQualeson might be a hot take, but 1. I feel the Quality/Price ratio skews toward Toro (for quality dry red wine) because the attention in "the west" goes to Rioja or Duero. 2. If you like Oak, Red/Black fruit with good acidity. Toro leans more "new world" if that is your wheel house. If you want an example (which also might be a hot take) I specifically love the wines from the Matsu House.

[@QualeQualeson]

@@ConsciousAsianSoup Thanks so much. I'll admit I'm not capable of imagining that I'll like _any_ Tempranillo, but in the name of science, which is what I'm doing anyway with wine, I will try one on your recommendation. My store has a good selection of Matsu. They're not cheap though: "Matsu El Viejo" 2020 42 EUR, "Matsu El Viejo 2019" 42 EUR, "Matsu El Recio" 2018 46 EUR, "Matsu El Picaro" 2021 36 EUR just to mention some. If this is considered value, they'd better be outstanding, because Spanish and Portuguese wine usually is value as you know.

[@MrJcalvino]

What is your favourite kind of red wine?