Rioja & the worst wine glass, ever
Year 14, No. 13
In my neck of the Mediterranean woods, the big news over the weekend was big temperatures in that regionally, we broke 40C for the first time this year. I very much realize that this is not news to readers in the Balkans, huge swaths of the United States and well, a great many places in the world these days which have been sweltering for some time already this summer.
In fact, in Catalunya the high temperature wasn’t the news but the fact that we’d not reached it until the second half of July as opposed to 2023 and 2022 when it had arrived a month earlier. In some ways, this is normal-ish as shown by the phrase in Catalan, pel juliol, ni dona ni cargol as to say that it’s damned hot in July and there are no snails nor, “lovin’”.
The heat is rather important for the grapes though given the other popular phrase, no hi ha juliol sense verol, “there’s no July without ripening”.
All of this is not to say that things are fine and all problems are solved. Harvests are still taking place earlier than they ever have. A winery down the street from me was already pulling out the picking boxes to clean and get ready to do battle in short order. For those in sparkling wine country, they’ll be neck deep in grapes even sooner as, to misquote Game of Thrones: Harvest is Coming.
But I’m very happy to release the annual report for DOC Rioja as it takes a look at the past vintage with the young 2023 wines as well as the other recent vintages. Despite being one of Spain’s oldest regions (Rioja and Sherry go back and forth on this) there’s a great deal of movement and it’s important to check in often. Nothing is static in Spanish wine, even in Rioja, as new producers are making many exciting wines while old concepts such as Reserva and Gran Reserva are quickly drifting away.
Drinking wine is of course the most important reason to make this exalted liquid though and for that, you need a glass. If you’ve ever thought, “this is the worst glass I’ve ever used”, take a moment, hold my beer, and consider what is the worst wine glass I’ve ever used (*) to see if you agree. All additional suggestions/hate mail are very much welcome!
Drink well, be well.
-Miquel
(*) Free to read
The Featured Report
Rioja Report 2024
Epic and forming all that upon which modern Spanish wine has been built, we see the release of the annual Rioja Report taking a look at current vintages and the interesting trends happening in the region.
And now this
It’s a funny thing to say, but gastronomy makes a wine region, at least in terms of visiting. Here, via the Food Through Wine series, I take a look at the most recent addition to the Priorat nyam nyam scene in the form of the 5 star XL hotel of Mas d’en Bruno.
If you’re not familiar with the wines of the Mallorca, do peruse the latest releases from Vins Nadal who I initially met when working on the Mallorca Report last year. They’re doing some fine work with the local varieties.
And lastly, if you missed it, the Cul de Cuvée has a lot to say about, well, everything.