NB.: Any prices, vintage ratings and drinkability expressed are those current at the time this article was published, and may have changed in the meantime. This article is Copyright ©

=================================================================

JR's notes:

This was a challenge set me by the then editor of WINE magazine, Susan Low. The details are in the standfirst. It appeared in the December, 1997 issue. The WINE magazine website is at www.wilmington.co.uk

=================================================================

Dreaming of a Rioja Christmas...

"Is it possible", they asked John Radford, "to drink nothing but Rioja wine on Christmas Day and still fulfil all the needs of what is most families' greatest gastronomic extravaganza of the year?"

Of course it is. You'll need a good wine merchant with a wide range, but Rioja wine was born and bred to supply the tables of wealthy and powerful families across northern Spain, and you only achieve that by filling all the corners. Here's my suggested Christmas Day Rioja Redoubt...

11:30 Time for an aperitivo, so let's have some Cava. Yes, most of it is made in Catalunya but several bodegas in La Rioja also make a sparkling wine from 100% Viura grapes, fresh, crisp, clean and just the thing to get the palate sharpened in time for lunchy munchies - try Royal Carlton Extra Brut from Bodegas Bilbainas, or Conde de Haro from Bodegas Muga, for example, but don't fall into the trap of calling it 'Rioja Cava': its legal name is 'Cava from La Rioja'.

13:00 Tapas or nibbly bits line up here, as a rule, and a crisp, dry, still cool-fermented white wine is classic here. Most famous is probably Marqués de Cáceres Blanco but all the major houses make one or another. Try Cosme Palacio Blanco if you like just a touch of oakiness, or one of the new- wave barrel-fermented whites if your taste is for something richer, such as the Monopole Blanco from CVNE.

14:00 If you're into fishy things before the main course, this is the time for a classic oak-aged white Rioja with plenty of golden, vanilla flavour - perhaps CVNE blanco reserva if you like it fresh and delicately-oaked, or Ygay from the Marqués de Murrieta if your taste is more classically holistic.

14:30 The main course - and I'm assuming something meaty here - provides the big choice. If it's turkey, poultry, duck or goose a full-fruit joven or crianza from the Marques de Griñón would be a good example. For lamb or beef something a bit 'meatier' - say a majestic reserva from Contino or the unusual varietal Garnacha reserva from Martínez Bujanda. And if your taste runs to game - a haunch of venison, perhaps - something more traditional should do the trick - Viña Ardanza reserva from La Rioja Alta, perhaps, or a gran reserva from the Marqués de Riscal.

15:30 Cheese next, and if it's not Stilton then it jolly well ought to be - but only from Colston Bassett or Long Clawson, of course: resist pale imitations! Here we need a real classic - Viña Tondonia gran reserva or Gonzalo de Berceo from Bodegas Berceo ought to do the trick.

16:00 Pudding - traditional Christmas pudding of course. You probably think that Rioja is finally stumped, but no. Have you tried the dulce Brillante from Bodegas Bilbainas or the semidulces Parral from Bodegas AGE and Satinela from Marqués de Cáceres? No? Well, you're in for a big surprise.

17:00 And finally, that big cigar you've been promising yourself all year, with a glass of Rioja Brandy from Bodegas Bilbainas - old, gold and, admittedly almost impossible to find in the UK. Until somebody spots it and starts importing, that is.

And after that, it's time a for good siesta!

Body copy - 505 words