Today’s Rioja Blanco is blazing new trails, looking forward while continuing to leverage a glorious past
I arrived in Logroño this summer for the intensive Rioja Camp educator program, put on by the Rioja Wine Academy, looking forward to luxuriating in a sea of red wines, some aged to a russet, mushroomy finish, others bright, fresh and sparkling with cherries and strawberries and, still others, with that sweet spot between just picked berries, spicy oak and dried fruit. I looked forward to digging deeper into Spain’s particular focus on maturation levels and its new emphasis on diversity and terroir, and, yes, to its creamy whites, based on the ‘Queen’ of Rioja white grapes, Viura, with their golden hues and slight, but intoxicating, oxidative hints of nuts and honey. I experienced all this….and so much more.
Excellence in Whites, Sustainability and …. the Future
But, what I was not expecting was the range and innovation of the white wines of Rioja and, as they move into the future, the brilliant balancing act they are achieving between a past focused on aging in oak and the dominance of Viura and new grape varieties and less traditional winemaking. In fact, with due respect to my enduring devotion to Rioja’s reds, Rioja whites became my obsession during Rioja Camp, and it all started our very first morning with Master of Wine Pedro Ballersteros’ lively presentation on Rioja’s Ten Points of Excellence, in which three Rioja white wines were featured as paradigms.(1)
For ‘Excellence in Whites,’ I felt on familiar ground with a 2010 200 Monges Reserva Selección Especial Blanco, a predominantly-Viura (70%, Malvasia, 20%, Garnacha Blanca 5%) Rioja Blanco, teetering delightfully on the sea-saw between fresh and vibrant fruit and mouth-rounding richness from oak and age. It is a complex wine with multiple levels of flavor and aroma: yellow fruit and citrus, a spray of dried flowers, satiny vanilla, honey-nuts and herbs, representing today’s ‘traditional’ Rioja Blanco. Pure heaven.
Then, for something completely different and a solid inkling of the emerging ‘modern’ Rioja Blanco, for ‘Excellence in Sustainability,' Ballersteros poured Sierra de Toloño’s Nahikun Blanco field blend, leading with Viura and including Calagraño, Malvasia, Rojal, and more, spontaneously fermented and aged not in the traditional 225l oak barriques, but in old 500l barrels. Like a walk in a wild vineyard, it was redolent of yellow wildflowers, dropped apples, soft almonds and fine stone; it was fresh but not overly forward, with complexities that continued to develop on its long finish.
For ‘Excellence in the Future,’ Ballersteros poured, quite notably, not a red, but a white, Viticultores de Lapuelbla Adventicia, with not one drop of Viura in it. Vinified almost exclusively from Garnacha Blanca, a grape increasingly featured in white Riojas (although only about 3% of plantings), it was also blended with a touch of the ancient grape Calagraño, all from vines planted in in 1920 in a tiny vineyard 700 meters above sea level. The mission of micro-production Viticultores de Lapuelbla is to “rescue small ancestral vineyards on the brink of disappearance and create parcel wines with a truly unique character and aura.” And, indeed, it did, cryo-macerated for 24 hours and aged gently on the lees in French oak and glass demijons, the winemaking showcased the essential beauty of this rich-bodied mutation of Garnacha Tinta in this fresh wine ripe with blossoms, peaches, pineapple, vanilla and honey. An old vineyard, an overlooked variety, small production and young producers: bringing Rioja back to the future.
Rioja Whites Used to Rule….
In its earlier days as a wine region, white grapes dominated the vineyards of Rioja, but when phylloxera decimated France’s vineyards in the mid-19th century, some twenty years before it appeared in Spain, and dried up France’s supply of red wine, Bordeaux winemakers descended on Spain’s most vine-friendly regions, including Rioja, for new grape sources, spurring a new emphasis on planting red grapes, as well as Bordeaux winemaking techniques that have defined Rioja winemaking ever since. This led to the continuing minimization of white plantings in Rioja, which reached a low of about 5% in the mid-2000s.
While today’s resurgence of Rioja whites is slow but steady, a renewed emphasis on the potential of Rioja whites in both the Spanish and International market led to the approval of 6 new white grape varieties for Rioja Blanco in 2009, including Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, and the designation of new vineyard acreage for white varieties, all of which has led to an astonishing 50% increase in white plantings since 2015. While whites still represent only 11% of total Rioja wine sales, that represents an almost 40% growth rate over the past three years, dovetailing advantageously with increased international demand for white wines as consumers turn to food-friendly, lower alcohol, and more accessible wines. It is notable that Rioja has overtaken Rias Baixas, which has popularized Albarino internationally, to become number two in volume of white wines produced in Spain, with more than 35 million bottles sold in 2023.
Of the 200+ wines I tasted over three and a half days, whites indexed well beyond their 11% share as we enjoyed a remarkably wide range, from unaged terroir/variety-focused whites to iconic Crianzas, Reservas and Gran Reservas. And this is not surprising, as white winemakers in Rioja today have more tools in their toolkits than red winemakers – with 9 authorized grape varieties, nearly twice that of reds. This could also be because Rioja whites are, perhaps, less burdened by the rigid expectations consumers have of Rioja reds. And the wines offer incredible value and individualism when put up against the aged whites of Burgundy or Bordeaux. In fact, it is hard to think of another region that makes white wines in such a wide range of techniques and styles, especially as the Rioja Joven/Generico label allows winemakers considerable leeway.
Rising Vineyard Stars
In addition to Garnacha Blanca, Rioja’s other two rising white stars are Tempranillo Blanco and Maturana Blanca. Tempranillo Blanco, or White Tempranillo, is a mutation of the revered Rioja flagship red grape, Tempranillo, and was discovered as a single greenish-yellow grape cluster in a 100% Tempranillo vineyard in 1988. That little cluster was nurtured into one of the authorized white grapes of Rioja and is increasingly finding its place in the Rioja mosaic. It showed up in many of our tastings, always impressing with its pronounced flavors, sometimes floral, sometimes tropical, and almost always with a touch of white strawberry. But the first tasting was perhaps the most memorable; after all, what could be more exciting than tasting a brand-new grape for the first time, and one that exists nowhere else in the world? This was courtesy of Bodegas Illurce, whose vineyards and winery we visited in Rioja Oriental. Their Tempranillo Blanco is creamy and delicious, with a floral, peachy intensity, a sizzle of pineapple, those white strawberries and defined acidity.
The discovery of Tempranillo Blanco runs side-by-side with the resurgence of Maturana Blanca, which is appearing increasingly in blends and starting to shine brightly as a single-varietal wine. Its first recorded reference is in 1622 and, according to ‘Wine Grapes’, while it once took on the name of the Galician grape Ribadavia, it is more than likely indigenous to Rioja. Almost extinct, it was rescued by Logroño winery Ijalba, who planted the first vineyard dedicated to it in 1995, and were the first, and still one of the few, to produce a varietal wine from the grape. Ijalba 100% organic Maturana Blanco, which spends time in concrete vats and on the lees, was completely different from anything else I had tasted, with a rich nose full of fleshy stone fruit, guava, pineapple and wet stone, all of which repeated and lingered on the palate.
Of the several blends I tasted that feature Maturana Blanca, a stand out was the 2020 Flor de Muga Blanco Reserva which is 40% Viura, 30% Garnacha Blanca and 30% Maturana Blanca. I tasted it during a group tasting of the pioneering giants of Rioja in Haro. Available in the US for under $50, the Flor de Muga is a brilliant alternative for a consumer who seeks wine with the history, prestige and complexity of a Burgundy white, without a price point in the $100s. I loved introducing this wine to my Asheville, North Carolina WSET students who reveled in its intense and complex aromas of citrus, blossom, pastry, pineapple, wet stone, hazelnuts and more – and it was an object lesson for them in defining finish in a white wine. (Hint: it is long.)
Two Modern Classics Sprung from the Past
During Rioja Camp, I experienced so many extraordinary wines that were indicative of the brilliance of today’s Rioja whites, but it is impossible to cover them all, so I will end with two striking and classic examples: one a modern interpretation of a Viura-dominant Rioja Blanco and the other, a just-revived classic that, stylistically, is a one of a kind.
One of my favorite Rioja winery visits, among so many remarkable visits, was to Remirez de Ganuza in Rioja Alavesa, the first winery in Rioja to receive 100 Parker points for a wine. Remirez de Ganuza describe themselves aptly as ‘creators of contemporary Rioja.’ Sadly, their founder, the visionary Fernando Remirez de Ganuzo, passed away this year. He was a butcher who saw a vineyard for sale at the base of the ‘sleeping lion’ (the part of the Sierra de Cantabria that looks like a lion) and purchased it, became a viticulture expert and vineyard broker and then dedicated himself to making ‘the best wine’ in Rioja. To do this, he pioneered multiple innovations in winemaking equipment, focused on precision and careful selection of grapes, gentle pressing and a dedication to terroir. And it shows in the wines, each a distillation of its place.
The Gran Reserva Blanco was gorgeous, but it was the 2021 Remirez de Ganuza Reserva Blanco that startled me, like a Meursault-squared, magnified and Rioja-fied. A blend of carefully sorted Viura (75%), Garnacha Blanca and Malvasia (20%), it is fermented and aged on lees in French oak, and displayed a bold elegance and creamy freshness with chamomile, lemon curd, peaches, toasted almonds, and the gentlest touch of crushed stone. Each step of the way, this contemporary Rioja Blanco reflects its founder’s innovations, leveraging Rioja winemaking tradition as a launching pad to gently ‘extract’ the essence of grape variety and terroir into the wine. It is available for around $50 in the US.
Finally, I want to pay tribute to a wine that epitomizes the adage that ‘what is old can be new again’ and was one of the most unusual of any of the wines tasted. It startled, in a very positive way, all three of the very experienced educator palates I tasted it with. From the revered and historic Bodega CVNE (V pronounced as a long U due to a long-ago printing error), the wine is 2020 Monopole Classico Reserva. Monopole is Spain’s oldest white wine brand and this version was produced from the 1920s to the 1970s, at which point it was discontinued. Recently revived after a 40-year hibernation, its star player is Viura and it is produced with the finesse CVNE brings to all its wines.
But, here is the twist, and the one that had my British American taste buds popping: it spends 8 months in oak, some of which are Manaznilla sherry casks that are not fully dry (Manaznilla is a biologically-aged fino sherry known for capturing salty sea air into its bouquet). The influence is subtle, but transportive – to somewhere near the sea, indeed. The wine has a surprising roundness, shows first the apricot, peach and pear of the Viura, and then, a lightly-toasted, salted-almond edge shimmering in waves across the palate. It was the first wine I tasted in our group tasting in the heart of Rioja, and is still the last wine I remember. It is available for around $30 in the US.
All Hail Rioja Whites
While Viura is still king, queen and in-between when it comes to Rioja whites - and it has earned that role – the style of its long reign is changing and adapting as its 8 authorized grape courtiers help carve out a new modern identity in blends and varietal wines. With so many vineyard and winemaking options, some based on tradition, some completely new, Rioja whites can no longer hold to one definition. As winemakers seize the opportunity to meld a glorious past with a very exciting future, it is clear that the white renaissance in Rioja is well on its way. And I, for one, will be spreading the word…and the wine.
For more about Rioja Wines, visit riojawine.com
For more about the Rioja Wine Academy and its educator program, visit riojawineacademy.com
Rioja Wine Academy provides a free online platform to anyone, with courses that start at the beginner level and go up to educator level. It is a fantastic resource of learning all the details of Rioja, from grape varieties to wine styles, classifications, history and much more.
Some of the wines below are available at fine wine shops or on Wine.com, others are harder to find, but worth the search or, alternatively, take a trip to Rioja to taste them, it won’t disappoint!
(1) For a recording of this seminar, go to www.riojawineacademy.com
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