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Local Event
Cost: Free
This Friday (Oct 7th), we would like to tour one of Spain's finest wine regions with you: Rioja! Here is the exciting list of wines we will taste:
Muga Rioja Blanco 2021
This elegant wine is made from viura, garnacha blanca and malvasía de Rioja grown on calcareous and ferrous clays and hand-harvested. After light maceration of the must with the skins in the press, the wine ferments in different sized wooden vats and new French-oak casks with very lightly toasted wood sourced from the Nevers region. Once fermentation is complete, the wine remains for 4 months in the casks, with lees stirring or “bâtonage” twice per week during the first months and once a day during the final month, so as to keep the fine lees in contact with the wine to protect it from oxygen and to give a smoother mouth-feel and more complexity. This wine has a lovely straw-yellow color and is intense and complex on the nose with floral aromas of white blossom, jasmine, stone fruit and citrus, pears, apples and banana. Very smooth and balanced on the palate, you can sense the freshness and minerality in the mouth, with very well-integrated acidity, giving the wine length and a very long finish with hints of vanilla and citrus fruit. Serve with grilled fish, shellfish and rice dishes or perfect for drinking by the glass as an apéritif.
Muga Rioja Reserva 2018
Muga makes this Rioja Reserva from tempranillo, garnacha, mazuelo and graciano grown on calcareous clay soil from the tertiary era. Harvested by hand, this wine is fermented with indigenous yeast in wooden vats. Aged for 24 months in casks made from selected oak. The wood is sourced in a proportion of 80% French oak and 20% oak from America. The wine is fined before bottling using fresh egg whites. It is then left to refine in the cellar for a minimum of 12 months before release for sale. The wine has a bright ruby-red color with medium depth and a garnet rim. Intense and complex on the nose with primary fruit aromas of raspberry and blackberry, secondary aromas of vanilla and liquorice and a subtle hint of tertiary aromas such as chocolate and ripe fruit. Very well-balanced on the palate, with good acidity and soft tannins. The finish is long and fruity. Perfect for enjoying now, but also thanks to its great balance and structure, a wine you can lay down for a number of years. This wine will make an excellent match for meat dishes, such as t-bone steak, and also with charcuterie and all kinds of casseroles.
Anza (Diego Magaña) Rioja 2020
Diego Magaña is already one of the hottest names in the new generation of young Spanish winemakers, and as great as his wines are, he’s only just getting started. Son of Juan Magaña, whose Viña Magaña estate in Navarra has achieved iconic status over the last four decades, Diego began working alongside his father at the family bodega in the mid-2000s. In 2014, his love of the wines of Bierzo and his close friendship with Bierzo superstar Raúl Pérez inspired him to strike out on his own. This wine is made with 95% tempranillo along with some garnacha, graciano, mazuelo, viura and malvasía riojana from 30 to 50+-year-old bush vines in pure limestone soils. Fermented with indigenous yeast in open-top wood vats with whole bunches as the vintage allows and raised for about a year in one 4,000L tina and 225L barrels, all used oak.
Anza (Diego Magaña) Rioja Edición Especial Limitada 2020
This ‘Especial’ wine is also made mostly with tempranillo along with some garnacha, graciano, mazuelo and a significantly higher percentage (10-12%) of the white varieties viura and malvasía riojana. From Magaña’s oldest parcels, these 75 to 90-year-old bush vines are grown in pure limestone and worked entirely by horse. The wine is fermented with indigenous yeast in open-top wood vats with whole bunches as vintage allows and raised for about a year in used 500L barrels. Diego maintains that his goal is to produce the purest, highest-quality, and (most importantly for him) the most drinkable Rioja possible. Pair with tapas, hamburgers, stews, pork, lamb, chorizo and other cured meats.
Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondoñia Reserva 2010
Bodegas R. López de Heredia has a well-earned reputation as the stalwart traditionalist of Rioja. Pioneering single vineyard wines in the region, the Tondonia vineyard is their most famous. Over 100 hectares, it is situated in a shell-shaped depression on the right bank of the river Ebro, where the most typical Rioja wines are grown. This is a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho (they use the masculine form of the name of the grape) and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo. The wine is fermented in the ancient oak vats from when the winery was created 144 years ago and matured in well-seasoned, American oak barrels for six years. This producer releases their wines 5-10 years after the vintage and stresses that their wines are designed to age. The 2010 Tondonia is a vibrant, ruby red color with a light, fresh texture. Notes of vanilla, red cherry, red currant and dried berries. Rich, plush, very dry, smooth and developed yet still fresh, with firm tannins, good balance and great length. This is drinking beautifully now and will continue to develop in the bottle for years to come. Fabulous with a plate of Ibérico ham and aged manchego.
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Tribeca Wine Merchants
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