Bodegas RODA Rioja Wine Tasting back to the 2004 Vintage

Wine and cheese are ageless companions, like aspirin and aches, or June and moon, or good people and noble ventures.
M.F.K. FISHER, introduction, Vin et Fromage

One of the few places where you can still get vintage wines that have been aged at the winery is Spain and today, we have an offering on one of the best values in the world of fine wine- Rioja.

This is one of the “New School” Rioja producers, Mario Rotllant and Carmen Daurella are the minds behind this project and I was luck enough to meet them at the winery on my last trip to Spain in 2001 with Eric Solomon who was the first importer to bring these wines in the US.  I remember visiting the winery in the town of Haro shortly after its completion and being blown away at the facility and the story of their journey to make not only one of Spain’s greatest wines but one that will stand the test of time on a world stage.

After seeing the elaborate set up and hearing both owner’s story of their quest to make the best possible wine which lead them to Rioja it was time to taste the wine and after all that hype, the juice lived up to my expectations.  That was when I asked Carmen what the price of the wines would be.  He just raised his hand and said “don’t ask about the price right now, just enjoy the wine.”  That’s when I figured the price would be high but to be able to acquire all these old wines directly from the source when they are all over 10 years old now I think the prices on the wines on this offering are incredibly reasonable.  All of the wines on this offering just arrived from Rioja a few weeks ago and how it’s time to see how they are drinking.  We will be opening over a dozen of these RODA wines all over 10 years of age and all of them came directly from the cellars of RODA in the town of Haro.  Provenience is everything and this is the best possible scenario for collectibles.

Join us as we will be tasting the new releases from Roda along with a vertical tasting of older releases back to the 2004 vintage.  The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $195 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

Bodegas Roda Rioja Wine Tasting
Thursday, February 16th
7:30 PM

2018 BODEGAS RODA SELA RIOJA
2018 BODEGAS RODA RESERVA RIOJA
2017 RODA RESERVA RIOJA
2017 BODEGAS RODA RODA I RESERVA RIOJA
2011 BODEGAS RODA RESERVA RIOJA RODA I
2010 BODEGAS RODA RESERVA RIOJA RODA I
2009 BODEGAS RODA RESERVA RIOJA RODA I
2007 BODEGAS RODA RESERVA RIOJA RODA I
2005 BODEGAS RODA RESERVA RIOJA RODA I
2004 BODEGAS RODA RESERVA RIOJA RODA I

Menu
Jamon de Serrano and Manchego
Chorizo Stew
Mongolian BBQ Kurobuta Pork Loin with Torta Espanola
Creme Flan with Pedro Ximenez Caramel Sauce

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $195 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

A bit about Bodegas Roda:

Rioja is protected in the north by the Cantabria mountain range, that continues getting together with other mountain ranges to end up in the Mediterranean Sea through the Pyrenees.  The southern part of the Ibérica mountain range separates Rioja from the Castilian plateau and continues, also without interruption, until it gets to the Mediterranean Sea.  These two mountainous systems connect to the West with the Obarenes mountains and this union is just broken by the Ebro river, that cuts the rocks to enter La Rioja and get through it until it discharges in the same sea.

In this area of confluence of these mountain ranges and river is located BODEGAS RODA and its most important growing area.  In the late 80’s, a new generation renews the vine and wine sector. Mario Rotllant and Carmen Daurella arrived in La Rioja with the firm intention of creating a project able to provide the world of winemaking with something new. This is where a fascinating, ambitious, exigent and unprecedented adventure began: BODEGAS RODA.

BODEGAS RODA is located in the edge of the river Ebro, in a balcony of the Railway Station District (Barrio de la Estación) in Haro, La Rioja, over a XIX century “calado”. The vine growers used to use it to stock their harvests, that would be, subsequently, sent to Bordeaux by train to mitigate the damages caused by phylloxera.

RODA was founded in 1987. Four years after the foundation the construction of the winery begins, it finished in 2001.

The facilities where custom-made according to the necessities of the RODA wines: adapting in each phase, the number of vats to the selected vineyards in each vintage, a bioclimatic room, product of an unprecedented bet for innovation, and two aging rooms directly bored in the rock.

There are quite a few things that made RODA revolutionary in Rioja when they started in the late 1980's.   In RODA wines from other vintages are never used to modify or refresh the present vintage?  In order to keep the identity of the vintage in their vineyards, they don’t even buy wines from other wineries.

RODA controls around 20 vine parcels distributed in the best ecosystems of the area, from which every year only the best ones are vinified?

Unlike many producers in Spain the vinification is made in French oak vats with temperature control.  In addition, the aging is 100% made in French oak barrels.

RODA has always understood the landscape as the vision of a group of excellent vineyards where that game of different Atlantic, Mediterranean and Continental climates generates the diverse configurations of Tempranillo, ripened in a profile of red fruit to make RODA or in a profile of black fruits to make RODA I.

RODA cultivates 120 hectares of vineyard, 70 of those are self-owned and the 50 hectares left are from local growers with which we have different agreements. They are distributed in different ecosystems that go from altitudes of 380m to 650m above sea level.

RODA vineyards are in an environment with the influence of three different climates.

The Cantabria and the Ibérica mountain range, merge in the Obarenes Mountains, a mountainous barrier only cleaved by the Ebro river. In this area we find the RODA vineyards where the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Continental climates capriciously play.