when you want, where you want.
Weekend Wine: Gateway to the Glories of Rioja
Imagine playing for the Houston Texans and forgoing pads because you thought it made you faster. Or working in the kitchen at Uchi or Barley Swine without a knife to feel closer to the primary ingredients. In the world of wine, dry farming and head pruning are the equivalent.
Credit: Telmo Rodríguez
The techniques add danger and difficulty to the process of winemaking. Too little water and you get no grapes. Head pruning makes automation more difficult and thus caring for and collecting the grapes is much more expensive. Back when I wrote the first edition of The Wine Roads of Texas, there was only one winery in the state with the cojones to even try the idea, but the result was the best Merlot in the state. That was Lone Oak Vineyards outside of Tioga.
One of the reasons I am always enthusiastic about Spanish wines is they often combine these techniques and I believe they add to the quality of the wine. That is, if the winemakers are willing to absorb the financial risks, pay the added costs, and offer fealty to the dry Spanish climate. Winemakers who go to all these lengths are rewarded with tiny grapes and not very many of them. But each cluster of grapes is loaded with flavor, intensity, and pop-out-of-the-glass aromas.
The latest winner is a Rioja from Bodega Lanzaga. Called simply Lanzaga ($39), this wine just oozes with cherry as well as black and red berry fruit aromas, resulting in rich, intense flavors. It is a combination of Tempranillo, Graciano, and Garnacha grapes. The generosity of tastes makes this wine a magnificent pairing for any sort of grilled meat or rich stew.
The company that makes Lanzaga is Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez. Mr. Rodríguez makes wines that vary in price from $10 a bottle to $200 a bottle. The other wine worth searching out is called LZ ($15), and despite being less than half the price, it offers many of the same characteristics as Lanzaga. Either wine will please anyone who already loves Rioja. They are also great gateway wines to learn more about the region.
The post Weekend Wine: Gateway to the Glories of Rioja appeared first on The Austin Chronicle.