Remelluri Rioja Reserva 2016

Description

Remelluri Rioja Reserva 2016 is an iconic wine and the flagship wine of the Remelluri estate owned by renowned winemaker, Telmo Rodriguez and his sister, Amaia; Telmo is renowned for his stance against the more commercial and over-oaky style of Rioja and has several different interests throughout the Rioja region including

• Bodega Lanzaga and
• Lindes de Remelluri.

Remelluri Rioja Reserva 2016 is produced with minimal intervention, from old vine Tempranillo grapes blended with a little Graciano and Garnacha (Grenache) and it is certified organic. This vintage was one of the best in recent memory producing Riojas that are considered to be very balanced with good acidity and longevity. In the hot and dry summer after a mild and wet spring old vines fared much better than young vines and the better producers limited the volume of grapes or yield by green harvesting in order to make sure of optimal fruit. Flavour ripeness was high and the heat helped to soften the tannins in the grapes meaning that this wine was very approachable. Now, several years on, Remelluri Rioja Reserva 2016 is still displaying lots of red berry flavours together with the spicy, savoury and forest floor notes that you would expect form a well-made Rioja. It is a very  complex and elegant Rioja Reserva that never disappoints!

Rioja is one of two wine regions with Spain’s highest qualification level, DOC or DoCa, the other region being Priorat. There is so much Rioja on the UK market and much of it over-priced, overly sweet and over-oaked because that became the trend from the turn of the century. But there is a danger of the DOC qualification being devalued which is why Telmo is rebelling – or going back to basics. I have had the good fortune to meet him a couple of times and he has told me that Rioja should not be a “recipe”, that there is fortunately no longer one style of Rioja as modern winemakers like him focus on the fruit, the ‘terroir’ and more traditional methods. Telmo has been described by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate as “Rioja’s number one Terroirist”.