La Rioja Flashcards
Explain the difference between La rioja and DOCa Rioja
La Rioja= autonomous community=province of Spain (was Lagrono)
DOCa Rioja= wine region in north of La Rioja and parts of this also fall into Navarra and Pais Vasco
Who were the original inhabitants of La Rioja
Berones, Celtibarians and Vascones
How did the Phoenicians arrive in La Rioja and when
Sailed up Ebro in 11c BC
Introduced wine
Who defeated the Romans in La Rioja
Visigoths
After the Visigoths who controlled La Rioja and when
Moors - from 8c to 10c - but disputed
Al Andalus
Wine making tolerated not banned
Who eventually controlled La Rioja in 14c between Castile and Aragon
Castile
Who were the largest owners of vineyards in Middle Ages
Monastries eg San Millan de la Cogella: Suso and Yuso (upper and lower)
Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela
What were the original Rioja wine laws of 1560
Designated area for grapes
wine transported in specific vessels
seal to guarantee origin
Which organisation was founded in Rioja in 1787
Real Sociedad Economica de Coseheros de Rioja
monitored wine quality and exports
What are the ‘glosses’
The Glosas Emilianes 11c
First texts with Castillian spanish
Derived from Latin
Monastery of Yuso
Who was Gonzalez de Bereco
Priest from Yuso monastery
writer poet
First in Castillian spanish
When did Castillian Spanish become the official language of Spain
late 15c
When did La Rioja become an independent province
1812
then revoked in 1822 and re-instated in 1833
Who was Marques de Murrieta
Exile in Bdx during Carlist Wars
Brought back wine knowledge
In 1850, Luciano de Murrieta (subsequently the Marqués de Murrieta) established Rioja’s first commercial bodega in cellars belonging to the Duque de Vitoria and began exporting wines to the Spanish colonies.
Who was Marques de Riscal
There was an early attempt by Manuel Quintano, the dean of the cathedral of Burgos, to bring the Bordelais method at the end of the 18th century, but he was ahead of his time. It was to happen, but a little later, when the Marquises of Murrieta and Riscal really pushed for it. Camilo Hurtado de Amézaga, Marqués de Riscal, had lived in Bordeaux since 1836 and was eager to reproduce its wines in Rioja. So he brought the ways and the means, the grapes, the barrels and even a French winemaker, Jean Pineau, and with all that he created his winery in 1858.
Why was Haro important as a town in Rioja in 19c
Train station linking Rioja to other cities
Quicker to send wine to areas (inc France) to those impacted by mildew and phylloxera
When did Rioja first become a DO
1925
When was Logrono renamed to La Rioja
1980
Autonomous province in 1982
What is the location of La Rioja
N=Pais Vasco
E= Navarra
S= Aragon
W=CyL
Capital = Logrono
2nd smallest Spanish region
Named after the río (river) Oja, a tributary of the river Ebro,
What is the climate of La Rioja
Continental
Maritime influence from Bay of Biscay
Wetter and cooler in Rioja Alvesa
Cierzo wind
Sheltered by the Sierra de Cantabria to the north and west, it is well protected from the rain-bearing Atlantic winds that drench the Basque coast immediately to the north. within this single DO there are several entirely different wine-producing regions.
What is the topography of La Rioja
Mountains
Montes Obarenes and Sierra de Tolono, Sierra Cantabria (North)
Sierra de Demanda andSistema Iberico (South)
Protect from meseta
What is the highest peak of La Rioja
Monte San Lorenzo 2,271m
What rivers flow through La Rioja
EBRO = Spain’s longest river
120km
plus 7 rivers = zone of the 7 valleys
What is the cierzo
Wind from Bay of Biscay
autumn and Winter
100kmh
Chases away humidity
What are the 3 main soils of Rioja
1 Calcereous clay (30%) - steep terraces
2 Ferrous clay 25% (Alta and Orientale)
3 Alluvium 45% (Alta and Oriental)
What are the main red varieties in La Rioja
Tempranillo (originated in La Rioja)
plus
Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Graciano
What is the main white variety in La Rioja
Viura = Macabeo
Average vine age is high in Rioja and can be matched by wine quality if yields are restricted.
What is Vara y pulgar
pruning method, called vara y pulgar, is unchanged, and similar to the guyot system. A vara (meaning stick or branch) with seven or eight buds produces the current year’s crop. The pulgar (meaning thumb) is a short shoot with one bud which will produce the following year’s vara.
What are coscheros
Grape growers of La Rioja who produce a young red wine using a method similar to carbonic maceration. Whole grapes ferment in berry then burst Fermentation with wild yeasts on skin Crushed by foot, filtered and bottled Cosheca=vintage year
What is the main wine style of Rioja
Tinto >95% red grapes
Blended! Eg 70% Tempranillo 20% Garnacha +
Fermented carbonic maceration for joven or SS
Aged in American oak
Blanco (5%)
SS
Rosado >25% red
Roija - OCW red grapes
The number of permitted grape varieties was increased in 2009 to 14 (five red, nine white), and their distribution varies in different parts of the region. The most widely planted variety is the dark-skinned tempranillo, which ripens well on the clay and limestone slopes of Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa, where it forms the basis for the region’s best wines and in 2012 was planted on 48,000 ha/115,000 ha, more than three-quarters of the total vineyard surface.
Most Riojas are blends of more than one variety, however, and wines made from the garnacha vine, which after phylloxera superseded native varieties in the Rioja Baja, are often used to add body to Tempranillo, which can taste thin on its own in cooler vintages. Two further red varieties, Mazuelo (Cariñena or carignan) and graciano, are of relatively minor importance. Owing to its susceptibility to disease and its low productivity, Graciano fell from favour with Rioja’s vine-growers before a strong revival in the 1990s, when the area devoted to this variety grew back to 200 ha/500 acres and varietal versions are no longer oddities.
The cabernet sauvignon vines which arrived with the French in the 19th century are allowed as ‘experimental’ grapes and may be used, as merlot is too, in blends as minority components, but may not be mentioned on the label except as ‘other varieties’.
The fifth red wine variety, authorized in 2009, was Maturana Tinta. But, in a chaotic turn of events, a different variety has actually been planted under that name which can be found on labels.
Rioja Alavesa
BASQUE Sierras of Toledo and Cantabria Section of the zone north of the river Ebro which falls in the Basque province of Alava Maritime influence Coolest 21% vineyards 13,826ha Terraces on chalk Tempranillo
Rioja Alta
CLASSIC Sierra de la Demanda Section of the zone north of the river Ebro which falls in the Basque province of Alava Maritime influence Wettest Highest 42% vineyards 27,653ha (2x alvesa) Terraces on varied soil Tempranillo
Rioja Oriental
BULK Some in Navarra Provides Garnacha to blend The suburbs of Logroño south and east Med influence Warmest Driest Lowest 37% vineyards 24,361ha Ferrous clay and alluvium Garnacha Tinta
What are the 4 minimum requirements for an aged Rioja and the extra for Blancos and roasados
1 Use 225l oak barriques
2 No oak chips
3 Uninterrupted aging time
4 CR must approve aging of blacos and roses
5 <5% white (if destemmed) <15% (if whole bunches)
What is the term generico for Rioja wines
5 points
= Joven = Coshecha (harvest)
Guarantee of origin and Vintage No aging requirement Release 1st or 2nd year of harvest 40% of wines produced Green label
What is the term crianza for Rioja wines
4 points
Released in 3rd year- NOW CHANGED NOT TESTABLE
Tintos
>12/12 in barrel
few months in bottle…. But no minimum time
[Now released after 24/12]
Blanco/rosado
>6/12 in barrel
[Now released after 18/12]
40% wines produced
Red label
What is the term reserva for Rioja wines
4 points
Tinto Release after 3 years >12/12 barrel >6/12 bottle Blanco/Rosado Release after 2 years >6/12 in barrel 18% wines produced Brown label
What is the term Gran Reserva for Rioja wines
4 points
Tinto Release after 5 years >24/12 barrel >24/12 bottle Blanco/Rosado Release after 4 years >6/12 in barrel 2% wines produced Blue label
When was the Rioja bottle seal first introduced
1926
What must be on the label
Rioja Trustseal
Harvest
Colour code for aging
What are Vinedos Singulares
date, definition and 7 requirements
2017 Individual vineyard classification
1 >10yr contract for supply of grapes 2 >35yr vines 3 Well-balanced and not vigorous vines 4 20% lower yield than standard 5 Hand harvested 6 Production traceable 7 Quality assessed as brand
What are Vinos de Municipo
date, definition and 4 requirements
1999 Individual village classification
1 Winery in village
2 >85% grapes come from village - rest from nearby village
3 >10 yr contract for supply of grapes from nearby
4 Production traceable
What are Vinos de Zona
date, definition and 4 requirements
1998 Individual subzone classification (eg Alvesa, Alta)
1 Winery in zone
2 >85% grapes come from zone - rest from nearby zone
3 >10 yr contract for supply of grapes from nearby zone
4 Production traceable
What are Espumosos de Calidad de Rioja
date, definition and 6 requirements
2017 Quality Sparkling wines of Rioja
For quality production not in Cava DO
1 abv 11-13%
2 Metodo traditional
3 >25% authorised red for espumoso rosado
4 > 15/12 sur lie for generico
5 >24/12 sur lie for reserva
6 36/12 sur lie for gran reserva with vintage label
7 Sweetness = Brut Nature, Extra Brut and Brut
Off-dry wines are allowed in the Espumosos de Calidad de Rioja designation. T or F
False - only dry <12g/l
What date did Rioja become DOCa
1991
What is the Barrio de la Estacion
Haro Rioja near the railway station
What are the % for vineyard area for the 3 areas in Rioja
Alvesa=21
Alta=42
Orientale =37
What are the grape varieties grown in Rioja Alvesa
Tempranillo, Garnacha and Graciano
In which Rioja Zone is Garnacha Tinta the primary variety
Rioja Orientale
What are the 3 topographical features that affect the climate of Rioja
Mountains - Sierras
Ebro River valley
Coastal influences (Bay of Biscay)
What is the name of the Rioja wine label security system
Rioja Trustseal
For vinos de Municipio - what % of grapes can come from a neighbouring village
<15%
La Rioja is Spain’s second smallest autonomous region. T or F
True
Balearics are smallest
What is the primary grape of DOCs Rioja
Tempranillo
Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo are authorised for vinos blancos by the Consejo Regulador T or F
True
Name the north/northwest wind that pummels La Rioja
Cierzo
For a wine to be classified as ‘Vinedos Singulares’ how old do the vines have to be
> 35 years
Which DOCa Rioja zone has the highest average temerature
Rioja Oriental
What is the regulated minimum time in bottle and barrel for a Gran Reserva Vino tinto
> 2yrs in barrel
>2yr in bottle
What is the minimum time before release for a Reserva vino blanco or vino rosado
24 months
For a wine to be classified as ‘Vinedos Singulares’ yields must be at least what % lower than standard DOCa yields
20%
Which Rioja zone id the smallest
Rioja Alvesa
If whole bunches are used in the production of vino tinto in DOCa Rioja, a minimum of 95% of red grapes must be used. T or F
False 85%
95% if destemmed
Fr ‘espumosos de Calidad de Rioja’ what 3 sweetness categories are allowed
Brut Nature
Extra Brut
Brut
What are the 3 main soil types in Rioja
Calcareous clay
Ferrous clay
Alluvium
What % of red varieties must be used for vinos rosados
> 25%
Which DOCa Rioja wine zone has the most diverse soil make up
Rioja Alta
What is ‘vara y pulgar’
Thumb and Stick VTS
Like guyot
DOCa Rioja production area covers all of the La Rioja autonomous region. T or F
False- only northern half
Name the 3 zones of DOCa Rioja
Alvesa, Alta and Orientale
Name 3 common blending grapes for Tempranillo in DOC Rioja
Garnacha Tinta, Graciano and Mazuelo (Carignan)
What is the name of the mountain range located to the north of DOCa Rioja
Sierra de Cantabria
In which century was the Real Sociedad Economica de Cosecheroes de Rioja created to protect La Rioja’s reputation
18c 1787
Which 2 men had great influence over Rioja’s wine industry in 19c
Marques de Murrieta
Marques de Riscal
What are cosecheros
Growers who produce a young red wine using a method similar to semi-carbonic maceration
For ‘espumosos de Calidad de Rioja’ what is the minimum lees aging time for the Reserva category
24 months
Wines have been produced in Rioja for approx 3000 years since who inhabited the Iberian peninsular
Phoenicians
Why is La Rioja called the zone of Seven valeeys
7 tributaries from Sisterma Iberico to the Ebro river
Rioja - OCW - Early history
There is archaeological evidence that the Romans made wine in the upper Ebro valley (see spain, history). Wine trade was tolerated rather than encouraged under the Moorish occupation of Iberia, but viticulture flourished once more in Rioja after the Christian reconquest at the end of the 15th century. The name Rioja was already in use in one of the statutes written to guarantee the rights of inhabitants of territory recaptured from the Moors. Rioja’s wine industry grew around the numerous monasteries (see monks and monasteries) that were founded to serve pilgrims en route to Santiago de Compostela, and the region’s first wine laws date from this period.
Rioja - OCW 19c onwards
For centuries Rioja suffered from its physical isolation from major population centres, and the wines found a market outside the region only in the 1700s, when communications improved and Bilbao became an important trading centre. In 1850, Luciano de Murrieta (subsequently the Marqués de Murrieta) established Rioja’s first commercial bodega in cellars belonging to the Duque de Vitoria and began exporting wines to the Spanish colonies. The Rioja region benefited unexpectedly, but substantially, from the all too obvious arrival of powdery mildew in French vineyards in the late 1840s. Bordeaux wine merchants crossed the Pyrenees in large numbers and in 1862 the Provincial Legislature in Alava employed a French adviser to help local vine-growers. Shunned by smallholders who were concerned only with the requirements of the local Basque market, Jean Pineau was finally employed by the Marqués de Riscal, who set about building a bodega at Elciego along French lines. It was finished in 1868, four years before Murrieta built its own similar installation at Ygay.
When the phylloxera louse began to devastate French vineyards in the late 1860s, yet more merchants came to Spain in search of wine. French duties were relaxed and Rioja enjoyed an unprecedented boom which lasted for nearly four decades. New bodegas were established, among them the Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España (CVNE), López de Heredia, La Rioja Alta, and Bodegas Franco-Españolas, all of which were heavily influenced by the French. During this period the 225-l/59-gal oak barrica, or barrique, was introduced from Bordeaux, and these influential maturation containers are still sometimes referred to as barricas bordelesas in Rioja (although American oak was the popular choice). Helped by a new rail link (see railways), Rioja sometimes exported 500,000 hl/13.2 million gal of wine a month to France in the late 19th century.
Phylloxera did not reach Rioja until 1901, by which time Bordeaux had returned to full production with vines grafted onto phylloxera-resistant rootstocks. Spain also lost its lucrative colonial markets and Rioja’s wine industry declined rapidly. A number of new bodegas were established in the period following the First World War and Spain’s first Consejo Regulador was established in Rioja in 1926, but the Civil War (1936–9) and the Second World War which followed put paid to further expansion. Recovery came in the late 1960s and 1970s, when, encouraged by growing foreign markets and the construction of a motorway connecting Logroño and Bilbao, a number of new bodegas were built in the region, several with the support of multinational companies, which later sold back the wineries to Spanish firms.
Rioja - OCW - climate and geography
Rioja enjoys an enviable position among Spanish wine regions. Sheltered by the Sierra de Cantabria to the north and west, it is well protected from the rain-bearing Atlantic winds that drench the Basque coast immediately to the north. Yet Rioja’s wine producers rarely experience the climatic extremes that burden growers in so much of central and southern Spain. It is difficult to make climatic generalizations, however, about a region that stretches about 120 km/75 miles from north west to south east. Indeed, Spanish critics argue that within this single DO there are several entirely different wine-producing regions.
The vineyards range in elevation from 300 m/984 ft above sea level at Alfaro in the east to nearly 800 m on the slopes of the Sierra de Cantabria to the north west. Average annual rainfall increases correspondingly from less than 300 mm/12 in in parts of Rioja Baja to over 500 mm in the upper zones of Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa.
Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa share a similar climate and are distinct from each other for mainly administrative reasons, although there are soil differences between the two. Many of the best grapes are grown here on the cooler slopes to the north west around the towns and villages of Haro, Labastida, San Vicente, Laguardia, Elciego, Fuenmayor, Cenicero, and Briones. These zones share similar clay soils based on limestone. Downstream to the east, the climate becomes gradually warmer with rainfall decreasing to less than 400 mm at Logroño. Where the valley broadens, there is a higher incidence of fertile, alluvial soils composed chiefly of silt. Around Calahorra and Alfaro in Rioja Baja the climate is more mediterranean. In summer, drought is often a problem here, and temperatures frequently reach 30 to 35 °C/ 95 °F.
Rioja OCW - red grapes
The number of permitted grape varieties was increased in 2009 to 14 (five red, nine white), and their distribution varies in different parts of the region. The most widely planted variety is the dark-skinned tempranillo, which ripens well on the clay and limestone slopes of Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa, where it forms the basis for the region’s best wines and in 2012 was planted on 48,000 ha/115,000 ha, more than three-quarters of the total vineyard surface.
Most Riojas are blends of more than one variety, however, and wines made from the garnacha vine, which after phylloxera superseded native varieties in the Rioja Baja, are often used to add body to Tempranillo, which can taste thin on its own in cooler vintages. Two further red varieties, Mazuelo (Cariñena or carignan) and graciano, are of relatively minor importance. Owing to its susceptibility to disease and its low productivity, Graciano fell from favour with Rioja’s vine-growers before a strong revival in the 1990s, when the area devoted to this variety grew back to 200 ha/500 acres and varietal versions are no longer oddities.
The cabernet sauvignon vines which arrived with the French in the 19th century are allowed as ‘experimental’ grapes and may be used, as merlot is too, in blends as minority components, but may not be mentioned on the label except as ‘other varieties’.
The fifth red wine variety, authorized in 2009, was Maturana Tinta. But, in a chaotic turn of events, a different variety has actually been planted under that name which can be found on labels. When regional viticulturists began recovering old, minority grape varieties around the turn of the 21st century, several red ones showed good potential. Maturana was one. It was later identified through dna profiling as Galicia’s Merenzao, which, in turn, is the Jura’s trousseau—present for centuries, under several names in Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands. Another red grape was named Maturana Tinta de Navarrete, as it was recovered and reproduced from a few vines in that Rioja village. Although the ‘Trousseau’ Maturana was the one registered with the Ministry of Agriculture, the deep-coloured, peppery one from Navarrete was preferred by growers and planted commercially. The Consejo Regulador looked the other way when it was identified as just ‘Maturana Tinta’ on labels. In 2011 it was shown to be Castets, an almost extinct member of the Bordeaux grape family.
Rioja OCW - white grapes
Historically, until phylloxera arrived, Rioja’s chief white grape variety was called malvasía, a synonym for the lowly alarije of west central Spain. On its own, it produced rich, alcoholic, dry white wines which responded well to ageing in oak. However, Viura (known elsewhere in Spain as macabeo) took over as the most planted light-berried variety in the region and from the early 1970s, fresher-tasting, cool-fermented, early-bottled white wines were in fashion all over Spain. By the 1990s, most white Riojas were made exclusively from Viura, and Malvasía vines were extremely difficult to find, although some of the traditional oak-aged whites and new barrel-fermented wines are blends of Malvasía and Viura.
A third traditional grape, Garnacha Blanca, was legal but rare. In 2009, Verdejo, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay were also permitted but may not be a majority component of blends. There has been very little interest in them. Also legalized then were three recovered white local varieties that have attracted considerably more attention: Tempranillo Blanco, a relatively recent mutation of Tempranillo; Maturana Blanca, which is not related to either one of the Maturana Tintas; and Turruntés, a local name for the albillo Mayor which is more common further south, around the Duero/Douro River.
Rioja OCW - viticulture
ineyards in Rioja tend to be small, especially in Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa, where vines are often interspersed with other crops. Vines used to be free-standing bush vines trained into low goblet shapes (see gobelet), but of the thousands of hectares of new vineyard which have been planted since the 1970s, most are trained on wires. This resulted in a marked and alarming increase in yields in the region in the 1990s, even before irrigation was legalized in the late 1990s. Official DO limits are 63 hl/ha (3.5 tons/acre) for white wines and 45 hl/ha for reds.
Rioja OCW - wineries and vinification
Grapes are usually delivered to large, central wineries belonging either to one of the co-operatives or to a merchant’s bodega. Most wineries in Rioja are reasonably well equipped with a modern stainless steel plant and facilities for temperature control.
Rioja winemaking is characterized not by fermentation techniques but by barrel maturation, however, and the shape and size of the 225-l barrica bordelesa introduced by the French in the mid 19th century is laid down by law. The regulations also specify the minimum ageing period for each officially recognized category of wine. In Rioja, red wines labelled crianza and reserva must spend at least a year in oak, while a gran reserva must spend at least two years. In common with other Spanish wine regions, American oak has been the favoured wood type for wine maturation. New American oak barrels give the soft, vanilla flavour that has become accepted as typical of Rioja, but a similar effect can also be achieved by slow, oxidative maturation in older barrels. French oak is used increasingly, however. Over 40% of all Rioja falls into one of the three oak-aged categories above (the rest is either white, rosé, or sold as young, unoaked joven red, much of it within Spain), and the larger bodegas therefore need tens of thousands of casks. Most bodegas renew their barricas on a regular basis; new oak use is on the increase and the number of traditional producers who pride themselves on the age of their casks is dwindling. Some new producers are also spurning the traditional categories and bottling their oak-aged wine with a basic, generic Rioja back label. This enables them, among other things, to use different sized barrels or larger oak vats.
After the widespread adoption of cool fermentation techniques in the 1970s, the amount of oak-aged white Rioja progressively diminished. López de Heredia, Marqués de Murrieta, and only a few other bodegas upheld the traditional style by ageing their white wines in oak barricas. For whites labelled Crianza, Reserva, or Gran Reserva, the minimum wood-ageing period is just six months with a further year, two years, or four years respectively before the wines may be released for sale. By the mid 1990s, a large number of producers had switched to fashionable barrel fermentation, however, in effect reviving the region’s traditional white wine vinification method.
Some reds as well as whites may occasionally need acidification.
Rioja OCW - trade
Rioja’s vineyards are split among nearly 20,000 growers, most of whom tend their plots as a sideline and have no winemaking facilities of their own, although in Rioja Alavesa they have been financially encouraged by the Basque regional government to acquire them. Many growers have an established contract with one of the merchant bodegas, whose numbers rocketed from about 100 in the mid 1990s to more than 500 a decade later. Others belong to one of the 30 co-operatives that serve the region and receive around 45% of the grapes. Most co-operatives sell their produce, either as must or as newly made wine, to the merchant bodegas, who blend, bottle, and market the wine under their own labels.
In the 1980s, a number of bodegas bought up large tracts of land to plant their own vineyards, although few have sufficient to supply their entire needs. A number of single estates, such as Contino and Remelluri, have also emerged, with the distinction, rare for the region, of growing, vinifying, and marketing their own wines.
Like other Spanish dos, Rioja is controlled by a consejo regulador. Based in Logroño, the Consejo keeps a register of all vineyards and bodegas and monitors the movement of stocks from the vineyard to the bottle. The Consejo also maintains laboratories at Haro and Laguardia where tests are carried out on all wines before they are approved for export. After a long debate dating from the 1970s, Rioja was granted doca status in 1991. The qualifications have little to do with absolute quality, the single most important being that Rioja’s grape prices are at least 200% above the national average. The Consejo Regulador set itself the target of mandatory bottling within the region, was defeated in the eu court in 1992, but finally won on appeal in 2000.
The Ebro river separates La Rioja from which 2 regions
Pais Vasco and Navarra
Frank Gehry designed which famous winery
Marques de Riscal
Which zone overlaps 2 autonomous regions
Rioja Oriental
What is Rioja’s primary white grape
Viura
In which year did Rioja attain the first DO status
1925
What is the dominant grape in DOCa Rioja
Tempranillo
Which DOCa Rioja zone has the largest % of planted vineyards
Alto
Which DOCa Rioja zone is the direst
Oriental
Which is the top tier of the DOCa Rioja Terrior classifiation
Vinedo Singular
