CityLife

Rioja still reigns in Spain

Spring lambs: destined for the pot

THE good hombres of Rioja are getting on their high horse again about their reds being the perfect accompaniment to spring lamb at Easter.

Leaving aside the vexed question of Easter being too early to savour the full glories of the roasted Little Bo Peepsters, there is also competition from the Ribera del Duero.

Rioja and Ribera reds share the same grape, Spain’s benchmark tempranillo, and nowadays a similarly high profile.

A recent tasting of a range of Riojas, showed that they are still a match for their upstart rivals.

Spiked with rosemary

To be plain contrary, I paired then with a mutton (definitely not dressed as lamb) joint spiked with rosemary.

The flavours overwhelmed the modern-style, lightly oaked, softly blackberryish Marqués de la Concordia Tempranillo 2006 (Oddbins, £6.99), but it fared better with a goat’s cheese salad starter.

Two pricier, more traditional Riojas both handled the mutton well – Marqués de Riscal Reserva 2004 (Sainsbury’s, Majestic, Thresher, £13.99-£16.49) and Viña Real Gran Reserva 1999 (Majestic £19.99).

I marginally preferred the Riscal, which has great potential to improve in the bottle On the nose there are herb, mocha and tobacco scents with cherry and liquorice on the palate.

Mustily oaked

The Vina Real is more elegant with well-integrated spicy oak and lots of ripe fruit but less complex than I expect from wines out of the CVNE stable.

Rioja’s whites come in a range of styles from mustily oaked monsters (no longer in the ascendancy) to crisp but neutral gluggers.

The Muga Blanco 2008 (Majestic, £8) is neither, its blend of viura and malvasia offering oodles of green apples and citrus flavours.

Oak sparingly rules the creamy Cosme Palacio Blanco 2007 (Oddbins, £7.99) but some fresh fruitiness is lost in the process.

Pure fruit

There was plenty of pure fruit on offer at a tasting of organic Catalan wines held at veteran Deansgate eaterie Dimitris.

The Albet i Noya range from organic specialists Vintage Roots (vintageroots.co.uk) will feature on a revamped Dimitri’s wine list later this month. The prices quoted are from the Vintage Roots retail catalogue.

Regular readers will know I am no cava enthusiast, but the Albet I Noya Cava Brut Reserva – from the first estate in Spain to go organic 30 years ago – is a silky refresher with a degree of bready complexity from 24 months’ bottle ageing.

The new kid on the Albet I Noya block is from their new their new estate at Can Mila. The new flagship red, La Milana (£15.50) has already scooped gold against French rivals at a French organic competition.

Ripe and intense

This mix of 35 per cent merlot, 35 per cent tempranillo, 25 per cent cabernet sauvignon and five per cent caladoc is ripe and intense but with enough soft tannins to give it the legs to improve over a decade.

The Albet Y Noya workhorse are the Lignums Blanco and Negre (£8.25 the white, £7.85 the red). The blanco blends lightly oaked chardonnay with some sauvignon for easy drinking appeal, the red, with a slash of acidity alongside some soft berry fruit, is more of a food wine well suited to Dimitri’s Greek-focused cuisine.

Looking for credit crunch Spanish wine? Until April 22 Spar are offering the five wines in their Valencia range, normally £4.49, on a three for £10 promotion. The Valencia Red and Rosados are the pick of the bunch with uncomplicated fruit.

Splashing out

A similar three for £10 offer applies to Wine Rack’s exclusive Gran Valero Tinto, but you have an extra week to stock up on this smooth, herby red. It normally cost £5.48 per cent a bottle.

By then, you might feel like splashing out. Catalan-based Torres wines are launching their first Rioja on April 27 in 115 Waitrose stores.

Ibéricos (£8.99) is a crianza made from 100 per cent tempranillo, aged for 12 months in American and French oak casks and then a further six months in the bottle.

Deep cherry red in colour, toasty on the nose, supple and oft on the palate with a long finish, it is a classy effort from the firm’s new winery in the Rioja Alavesa region.

The name Ibericos is in tribute to those wild pigs of south west Spain that make the best ham in the world. Torres suggest the wine would be the perfect accompaniment. Good idea. Let’s stuff the lamb for a while!