Rioja

I'll add one that is my spin on an old budgeting problem:
Why is there so much wine left at the end of my money?
Anonymous

If you have more wine than money we can help!  One of the most important things that we do is help our “Wine Drinking People” turn their wine to cash and our best offer is we can help you drink your wines and then pay you for them!   Yes, you can drink your wines and we will then pay you for drinking them with us!!  You have three chances to come out and drink with us this week and we also take wine as payment for events!  We have at least one person trading in their Chateau Latour to drink 12 vintages back to 1937 this Friday night and Bob is drinking his wine and getting paid for it!

Thursday, January 21, 2021 - 7:30 PM
Aubert Wine Tasting – One of the cult Chardonnay and Pinto Noir producers from California, these wines are very hard to find as the limited production and high scores from the critics make them also very expensive in the aftermarket.  Whenever we acquire a collection that contains wines like Aubert, we put a tasting on the calendar to drink some of them before they sell out.  I can’t believe we still have seats available for this wine tasting!

Friday, January 22, 2021 - 7:30 PM
Chateau Latour Vertical Tasting back to 1937 with Special Guest Dr. Robert Maliner.  Our wine drinking people love drinking Dr. Bob’s wines as this event is SOLD OUT!!

Saturday, January 23, 2021 - 7:30 PM
1971 Vintage Red Burgundy Tasting - A study of 50 year-olds!  There must be a lot of people turning 50 this year as this event is SOLD OUT!!

I cannot wait to get back to traveling to visit our friends in wine country around the world and my next trip will be to Spain.  It has been too long since my last visit to Spain and we already have the entire hotel booked at Marques de Riscal for our group of “Wine Drinking People” that would like to join me and Toni on our trip.  I will have more information as soon as we firm up the dates when the Pandemic is over we will be making a trip to Rioja to visit our friends at Marques De Riscal to stay at the hotel designed by Frank Gehry!

Marquis De Riscal is one of the most famous estates in all of Rioja with the history going back to 1856!  The wines here are magical and are the work of several possessed wine lovers that though out the history of this great property would settle at nothing less than the best.  This is a good way to get ready for our trip to Rioja by drinking some wines from Marquis de Riscal, the 2012 Gran Reserva was Wine Watch’s pick for best Spanish wine under $50 in 2020 but all the wines are excellent from this iconic winery from Rioja.

I can tell you after our vintage Spanish wine tasting on Saturday night that the wines from Rioja will easily last for 50 years in your cellar!   The 1970 Berberana Rioja was drinking beautifully showing us that Spain has been producing some of the greatest values in the world of collectible wines for a very long time.  Today, they are also making some iconic wines that are now on par with what the rest of the wine world is charging for their top wines like the Frank Gehry Selection which is a very limited production wine and is incredibly complex and layered.  The two top wines from the vintage Spanish wine tasting on Saturday were two such wines both the Pingus and Alvaro Palacios’s L’ermitage are over $1000 per bottle for the current release making this 2012 Marques de Riscal Rioja Frank Gehry Selection look like a bargain!!

The Wines of Marques De Riscal

2012 Marques de Riscal Rioja Frank Gehry Selection
Price: $534.00    Your Price: $469.92          Quantity in Stock: 6

A wine destined to write some of the most beautiful pages of Rioja wine in the 21st century.  It takes its name from one of the greatest architects of modern times and the creator of the emblematic Hotel Marqués de Riscal.
The Frank Gehry Selección wine is the fruit of a careful selection of grapes from Marquis de Riscal’s estate vineyards of over 80 years of age.  It is not a wine for collectors, rather pure hedonism.  A wine which will live an eternity. The worthy heir to the very best that this house has given. 
A wine to caress the senses. The second glass is better than the first, when it has had a chance to breathe and opens up to reveal the quantity of nuances it displays. For long, slow drinking. A wine for friendship, a wine for calm moments. You mustn’t be in a hurry to enjoy each sip.

2015 Marques de Riscal Baron de Chirel Reserva Rioja
Price: $78.75       Your Price: $69.30            Quantity in Stock: 28
The first vintage of Barón de Chirel, in 1986, was a response to the growing interest in fine quality Riojas. Since the outset, Marqués de Riscal has had very close ties with the winemaking methods of Bordeaux. At around that time Marqués de Riscal was working with a consultant named Professor Guy Guimberteau, successor to Émile Peynaud, who in his Bordeaux oenological training also had Francisco Hurtado de Amézaga as a student. Later, in 1997, Paul Pontallier, director general of one of the five Bordeaux premiers crus, Château Margaux, also joined. From this relationship sprang the idea of making an experimental wine which would revive the grandeur of those mythical Médoc Reservas brought right up to date with the technology and resources of the 20th century.

Vines aged between 80 and 110 years’ old were selected, with very low yields and better quality grapes. The wine was only made in the best vintages when the vines express the full character of the terroir; the “New Era of Rioja” had just begun. Pioneer and precursor of what would later be known as “high expression wines”. After the success when it first broke into a market hungry for fine quality wines, an endless procession of wines began to appear in the wake of Barón de Chirel, enjoying great prestige among the most discerning consumers.

OUR TASTING NOTES:  The 2015 Barón de Chireloffers up a beautiful bouquet of coco, vanilla, dried meats with notes of sweet tobacco spice with red plum and cherry berry fruit lovely complexity on the nose.  Silky smooth on the tongue with wonderful freshness and a long-layered finish very complex and wonderful freshness.  The most modern style from this winery all French oak and the vines are over 100 years old.   Finish 45+  TASTING DATE 10/21/20.  Most Excellent

2010 Marques de Riscal Rioja Baron de Chirel Reserva
Price: $81.75       Your Price: $71.94            Quantity in Stock: 3
(93 Points)  Neal Martin reviewed the 2010 Barón de Chirel Reserva before bottling in May 2012, and now all the good things he saw in that sample are confirmed by the bottled version. The nose offers a clear Bordeaux profile that is quite classical with cedar wood, lead pencil, tea leaves, leather and cherry aromas. On the palate the fine-grained, sophisticated tannins of the Cabernet are very well integrated with the oak and are countered by good freshness and length in a very classical harmonious style. This is a great showing for Chirel. Approximately 30% of the grapes used were Cabernet Sauvignon.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2012 Marques de Riscal Rioja Gran Reserva
List Price: $47.50               Your Price: $41.80
Marqués de Riscal Gran Reserva is a timeless wine which represents almost two centuries of the winemaker’s skill. It has the traditional style of the Rioja Alavesa, recalling the aspirations of the founders of the bodega back in the 19th century.
The experience and know-how of the bodega ensure that the best vintages of this wine will keep for 50 years or more in the bottle, preserving a delicious flavor for sure. A wine for eternity.
WINE WATCH TASTING NOTES:   The 2012 Gran Reserva is 100% Tempranillo A beautiful bouquet of dried tobacco spice, smoked charcuterie, dark plum and cherry berry fruit with notes of dried herbs and more, very complex bouquet. A good amount of berry and plum fruit on the tongue with silky smooth tannins and lovely freshness balanced long finish. Finish 45+         TASTING DATE 10/21/20.  MOST EXCELLENT

2015 Marques De Riscal Finca Torrea Rioja
List Price: $28.75               Sale Price: $23.50
Cherry red with good depth of colour and few signs of evolution. Intense nose, with hints of dark fruit, spices and slight toasted nuances. Elegant on the palate with good structure, round, long with a fresh, fruity finish.

A bit about Marques De Riscal:

Even those who don't drink will love a visit to this winery. The Marqués de Riscal City of Wine is a place where wine culture invades your five senses. You can taste a glass of good red while you take in the architectural work of Frank Gehry, breathe in the smell of the vines, listen to the wind in the leaves and experience the pleasure of a wine therapy session on your body. What more could you ask for?  You guessed it an amazing culinary experience is available here as well.

The Marqués de Riscal City of Wine offers a wide range of gastronomic options that range from the most traditional regional cuisine to the most avant-garde dishes. Under the guidance of the Riojan chef, Francis Paniego, the Hotel Marqués de Riscal, A Luxury Collection Hotel, offers the fine dining Restaurante Gastronómico, recognised with a Michelin Star, and the 1860 Tradición, as well as the hotel bar, Vinoteca & Bistró. The Asador Torrea grill completes the options with its outdoor barbecue grill. A perfect combination for turning your visit into a total experience.

The chef Francis Paniego, creator of the gastronomic character of the Hotel Marqués de Riscal, was the 2012 winner of the National Gastronomy Prize for the Best Head Chef. His particular style in the combination of traditional Riojan cuisine with a personal, contemporary touch has earned him three Michelin Stars, two for his restaurant, El Portal de Echaurren, in Ezcaray, and another for the Restaurant of the Hotel Marqués de Riscal, the first chef from La Rioja to be recognised with this distinction.

Located in the town of El Ciego, in Alava, this winery has succeeded like few in creating a world of proposals around its alma mater, wine. For this reason, it has built its own City of Wine, a complex comprising the historic Marqués de Riscal winery (1858), the oldest in Rioja.

This wine emporium is the result of centuries of working with vines and the fruits they produce. During the 16th and 17th century these vineyards expanded exponentially, and by the early 19th century wine production had reached 1.8 million litres, making this the most important town in the entire Alava region of Rioja in terms of wine production.

The eye-popping architecture of the Hotel Marques de Riscal makes a real statement; designed and built by Frank O. Gehry who Vanity Fair labelled ‘the most important architect of our age’. Glass-walled rooms offer views of the medieval town of El Ciego where history and culture flourish like the grapes hanging from their Rioja vineyards.

The transformation of the winery is a bridge between the 19th and 21st century for its owners, and Gehry's intervention was an important innovative element. Its building, which could be called sculptural, is now an iconic element of the landscape of El Ciego, with a characteristic curved titanium-covered outside that twists to show the chromatic tones of the winery: reds similar to wine; the gold of the mesh used by the winery; and the silver of the capsule of the Marqués de Riscal bottle.

The red wines of the "Marqués de Riscal" series are both traditional and modern Riojas. They are made using the latest technology but are loyal to tradition, with the excellent grapes of the best-known local Rioja varieties (tempranillo, graciano and mazuelo) and high-quality barrels. The winery has a range of wines with Designation of Origin Rioja, which it has been producing since 1858. One of the most outstanding is its Frank Gehry selection red, 100% tempranillo, with an intense color and potent aroma combined with a complex and open expression in the mouth. In terms of its white wines, Marqués de Riscal can also boast about having the largest vineyard of the Designation of Origin Rueda.

The winery offers daily-guided tours, lasting approximately an hour and a half, which show you the winemaking process as well as a small wine-tasting session with appetizers.

The hotel offers local tours as well, exploring the Basque-flavored culture around the area. As a border town between the Navarre and Castille kingdoms, the village has seen a fair amount of history in its nearly 1000 years. With the hotel as a piece of 21st-century imagination, the juxtaposition is an interesting look at the transformation of architecture. Glass rooms overlook the village below like a futuristic castle over an ancient feudal town.