Ultimate Rioja Wine Tasting 🍷 Spain's Most Famous Tempranillo!

Okay, Rioja, what the hell is it? Where is it from? Why is it so good? If you've ever heard anything about Spanish wine, read anything or drunk Spanish wine, you've probably come across Rioja. I'm James Blick, co-founder of Devour Tours. We run wine tastings and wine tours throughout Spain and I wanna make you a Rioja guru over the next few minutes. I'm gonna give you some really fantastic information that'll get you up to speed, help you make better choices, drink better wine. I'm also gonna drink these three fantastic Riojas in your company, so stick around. Okay, before we dive in and start drinking these wonderful wines together, I'm gonna answer three really basic questions that we often get asked about Rioja on our wine tours and wine tastings. Number one, is Rioja a grape? No, it's not. Rioja is a wine region in Spain. It's the most famous wine region in Spain. You see, we have 69 wine regions in Spain and Rioja, as I say, is just one of them, but it's the most famous. Two, so if Rioja is not a grape, if it's the region, what is the grape in Rioja? Well, in red Rioja, the most predominant grape and the most famous one is Tempranillo. This is actually the most famous red grape in Spain. Number three, is Rioja always red? Is it always a red wine? No, it's not. There are white Riojas and some white Riojas are spectacular and there's a long tradition of making white wine in the region, but generally, we think of it as a red region. If someone asks you for a bottle of Rioja, they probably mean red. All right, easy questions out of the way. Let's dive into the wine and drink some together and given we're gonna drink the wine now, I should mention where we are. We're in a wine bar in Madrid called La Fisna. It's in the Lavapiés neighborhood and it is one of my favorite places to drink wine. They have a fantastic selection of Spanish and international wine by the glass, so check it out if you come and visit. Okay, this guy, we're starting with a wine that is a legend in Rioja. It's from a winery called López de Heredia and it's called Viña Tondonia and this is a winery that's been around since 1877 and as I say, they're really, really famous and they make what we call traditional Rioja and effectively, what that means is they make their wine in the style that the wines were made in that region 100 years ago. They haven't changed a bit. They're very stubborn and rightly so, so when you drink this style of Rioja from this winery, you're gonna be tasting, it's like a time machine. It's like jumping back into the past, tasting what the wines once were like. So what does that mean? Well, let's have a smell and a sip and find out. So with these wines, you smell what we call tertiary aromas. You smell the kind of aging because this guy has been aging for 12 years and that's very typical of old school Rioja. You'll see the label says 2005. It was only released this year in 2017. It's the latest vintage in a sense and the result is something that smells of dried figs, of vanilla from the oak. Wow, these wines are so spectacular. It's like, how special to be able to taste a wine like it might have so long ago. Savory notes, like leather, there's fruit in there but it's not super, super fruity like some more modern styles are. Now, if you ever go to Ado, where this place is, where the winery is, it's a town in Rioja, you have to visit these guys. Walking in, you're walking into like a wonderland of wine. There's moss all over the walls. It's like a living organism. A barrel stacked. You can see how they make and toast the barrels. It is a truly wonderful visit and so this is what we call a traditional Rioja. Now, we're gonna move on to a more modern style. Now, this is a personal favorite and first of all, I wanna say thank you to Maria Fernandez from the company that looks after the marketing for this winery because I emailed all three wineries and these guys sent me two bottles and so that was very, very generous because this is not a cheap wine. So, thank you very much. Okay, now about this wine. So, we've had traditional Rioja, now we're moving into modern Rioja and Roda is a winery that opened 110 years after the last guy in 1987 and what happened in the meantime? Well, styles of wine changed a little bit and so they became more fruity, more fruit forward, more intense and that's what we get in modern Rioja and that's what we get in Roda. Now, one thing to keep in mind, when you go and visit Rioja and Ado, that particular town I was talking about, literally a five minute walk up the road from Lope de Heredia, you can visit this bodega, this winery and you can taste their wines. You can literally walk around and then you can go and walk into the town and eat roast lamb for lunch. So, visit Ado, that wonderland of wine. Sorry, I'm babbling. Onto the wine, I'm gonna try it. Yes, intensity, fruit, black plums, chocolate. Fuller, warmer, more fruity, dark fruit. I mean, it's delicious. They're both delicious. I suggest checking out these guys because it's really unique wines. They're elegant, but they're really bold and expressive. Okay, wine number three, getting a little bit tipsy. Now we're gonna move to a really famous winery that's caused a bit of a stir lately and let me geek out for a second, tell you what's happening in Rioja right now. So, the problem in Rioja is that you can buy a bottle of Rioja that's three euros all the way up to 600 euros and that's really confusing for the consumer and so, guys like, well, guys, wineries like Artadi were saying, please let us give a bit more specificity on the label and say Rioja, but then say exactly where in the region our wine is made because it's made in a really famous part of the region and the region is so diverse. So, by knowing where it's made, you might know a little bit more about what the wine might be like. But see, the Rioja labeling requirements didn't allow that to happen. So, you know what these guys did? They left the region. I don't mean physically, but they left the governing body and they took the little Rioja label off the back of their wine so they could do whatever they want with their labeling and now the Rioja region has responded and in the future, they will allow people to write the kind of the village or the area in Rioja that their wine is made. It's again, that modern style, really extracted, really dark, really fruity. Wow. That is a big, juicy, really rich wine. It's delicious. I mean, this is a wine that just, it's a crowd pleaser, but not in a cheap and tacky way. This is one that you could serve for your friends. It's really, really reasonably priced. Serve it for dinner and everyone will love you. Trust me. So guys, check out these three wines. They're all delicious from Rioja. They all tell a different story of the region and they're all a little bit unique. So do check them out. If you wanna buy any of these wines, there's links below to do that. If you wanna come on a wine tour or come to one of our wine tastings, then check out devourtours.com. If you wanna drink great wine, come to La Fisna when you're in Madrid. And if you like this video, give me a thumbs up, please. That sounds really biggy, but go on, give me a thumbs up. If you wanna see more videos about how we eat, drink, live and love in Spain, then subscribe. Also, I have one more thing to ask for. I wanna hear from you guys. I have a question. Tell me what Spanish wine regions you want me to make videos about. If you're interested in sherry, or if you're interested in, I don't know, a wine region in Catalonia or in the north of Spain, then just let me know in the comments below and I'll make a video about it. I'll drink three wines with you from that region and tell you a little bit about it. Great to see you guys. I'm gonna stick to my wine now. I'm gonna get back to it. Salud. Thanks again.