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JR's notes:

By the beginning of 1999 it had become apparent that Rioja was cheerfully taking orders for the newly-released 1995 reservas as the fabulous 1994s were already almost sold out. This was a great pity because, although wine-producers have to have something to sell, the quality of the 1996 and 1998 vintages was good if not great, and the 1997s were at least decent. Hwever, by the time you read this, the '94s and '95s may be nothing but a memory. This article was published in DECANTER in March, 1999. The DECANTER website is at www.decanter.com

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HOLDING SOMETHING IN RESERVE

John Radford looks at Rioja Reserva

The fundamental difference between France and Spain when it comes to maturing wine was described to me by a senior winemaker in Rioja, a long time ago. "Go to a French Château" he told me, "and talk to the winemaker. He will extol the virtues of his wine, sell you a bottle, and tell you to keep it for five years. A Spanish customer would then hand back the bottle saying, 'no thanks. You keep it for five years. Now, sell me a bottle you made five years ago.'"

One of the reasons Rioja did so well so soon in the 'on trade' (uniquely amongst Spanish red wines) was because it was released when it was ready to drink, and would also age with consummate grace, sometimes for many years. Restaurateurs could buy it with confidence in the knowledge that the longer it lasted, the better it would become. In an unknown restaurant in an unknown town, the house Rioja is still, almost always, the safest option for the wary diner.

To be classified as Reserva a wine has to meet certain quality criteria. Samples must be lodged with the Consejo Regulador and approved by a tasting panel. The wine must spend at least 36 months maturing, of which at least one year must be in cask, and the ageing period may not begin until December 1st following the vintage. What this means in real terms is that a wine called Reserva made from grapes harvested in the autumn of 1996 may have completed its malolactic fermentation by the end of November 1996 and gone into storage on the first of December 1996. At some time between then and the 1st December 1999 it must a spend a year in oak, after which date it may be released.

Is that enough time in the cellar? Most of the major houses exceed the legal minimum ageing requirements (see 'The Top Ten' on this page) but, of course, we have to trust them to release the wines when they consider them to be ready. In cask terms, they have a choice: American oak, French oak, Spanish oak, old oak (little effect on the wine) or new oak (lots of effect on the wine)... It's like a game of three-dimensional chess. But we also trust them to know what they're doing and we understand that the reputation of a particular house rests upon the eventual quality of its wines.

This was not a problem until the early 1990s, when drought, harvest-time rains and dwindling quantity made it very difficult to get the quality of grape needed for good Reserva wines. The 'Great Houses' of Rioja simply paid more and cornered the market in the best grapes; the rest were left with what they could get, which explains the paucity of good Reservas from 1992 and 1993. Mother nature repaid the debt in 1994 and 1995, however, by providing two of the finest vintages of the century, albeit small (1994) and average (1995) in quantity terms.

The situation was exacerbated as stocks of quality mature wine from the early 1990s ran out. The 1991 had been very good and some houses are still supplying it as their Reserva. Few houses, on the other hand, made decent Reserva wines in 1992 and 1993 so the legal release-date of the 1994s (01DEC97) saw a flood of young wines on to the market from companies desperate to get their cashflow back into the black. The problem - to purists - was that these were exceptional wines, wines which would have continued to improve for twenty years or more, perhaps becoming some of the greatest Riojas of the 20th Century... Except that they would all have been drunk, long before then.

The 1995 vintage provided much more quantity at equally high quality, and these wines became available for release on 01DEC98, to similar cries of 'infanticide' from Rioja aficionados. They are available now, but prices are high and the enthusiasts are snapping them up to store until... What shall we say? 2020?

There is a saving grace. Good (if not great) wine in generous quantity was made in 1996, 1997 and 1998, with the last being the best of all. These (1998) wines may never reach the heights of the 1994 and 1995 and, in any case, won't be released as Reserva until 01DEC01 but they will be worth waiting for. In the meantime, if you're buying 1994 and (heaven help us!) 1995 Reservas, please store them, and drink something else in the meantime. Hold something in reserve!

THE TOP TEN

Many of the major Rioja houses have always exceeded the minimum criteria, and also seem to manage to make great wines even in the most dismal years. This is a personal view of the 'Top Ten' Reservas - in strictly alphabetical order (and you may notice that there are, in reality, eleven):

Barón de Chirel - an unusual Reserva from the Marqués de Riscal (see below), with about 45% Cabernet-Sauvignon (sailing very close to the regulatory wind). Current vintage: 1994

Barón de Ley - single-vineyard Rioja from the Baja subzone (Navarra). Now very reliable after a bad patch in the late 1980s. Current Reserva vintage: 1994

Contino - a single-vineyard Rioja from the Alavesa. Experimenting with micro-vineyards. Current Reserva vintages: 1986 (magnums only), 1994, 1995

Imperial, CVNE - very reliable wines from an old-established winery with state-of-the-art winemaking kit. Mainly Alta grape. Current Reserva vintages: 1991, 1994

Marqués de Cáceres - excellent wines from one of the 'new-wave' pioneers in the Rioja Alta. Current Reserva vintages: 1991, 1994

Marqués de Murrieta - very old-fashioned style with anything up to 4 years in cask before release. Current vintages: Reserva 1995; Reserva Especial 1991

Marqués de Riscal - another bodega which went through a bad patch in the late 1980s but now on thoroughly good form. Current Reserva vintage: 1994

Remelluri - another excellent single-vineyard estate in the Alavesa which makes only Reservas. Current vintage: 1994

Viña Ardanza, La Rioja Alta - classic wines with, typically, three and a half years in oak. Current Reserva vintage: 1990 (almost all gone), 1993

Viña Real, CVNE reliable as above (Imperial) but this is mainly Alavesa grape. Current Reserva vintages: 1989, 1994

Viña Tondonia, López-Heredia - this company eschews the use of such 'modern' terms as Reserva, but makes very fine old wines in the ancient style for those who can afford them. Current Reserva vintage: 1987

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