From the archives: Rioja — the big taster

The drinkers
Mark Broatch is NZBC’s film reviewer and Director of the World Service.
Chris Bell writes about TV, whisky and music and is NZBC’s Director of Light Entertainment.

The drinks
a. Herederos del Marqués de Riscal Elciego (Álava) Reserva 2000: $46.95 — Accent on Wine, Auckland
From the label: “This Reserva quality wine comes from the oldest bodega in Rioja. Through adherence to time-honoured skills and original techniques, Marqués de Riscal wines retain a distinctive and appealing character, a style reflecting the best virtues of traditional Rioja. Aged in cask for at least two years, followed by a further year in bottle, Riscal Rioja has a ripe, fruity bouquet and a lingering oaky flavour.”
b. Marqués de Murrieta Ygay Reserva 1999: $42.95 — Glengarry Ponsonby
From the label: “85% Tempranillo, 8% Mazuelo, 7% Garnacha”
c. Remelluri Reserva 2000: $39.95 — The Wine Vault, Auckland
The label includes a map, to help you find your way back home, if you happen to have drunk too much of it at the bodega. However, it’s very confusing if, like us, you live in New Zealand. There’s no information about the grape blend on the bottle.

a. Herederos del Marqués de Riscal Elciego (Álava) Reserva 2000: $46.95 —Accent on Wine, Auckland
MB: “Can you smell anything?”
CB: “Very perky. It reminds me of that one we had in Vivace.”
MB: “All the tannins are settled, toned-down, muted, aged the fuck out of. Does it have the mix on the bottle...? No, it doesn’t say. Usually they’re a mix of Tempranillo grapes, sometimes Shiraz and sometimes they put a bit of Garnacha in them. I dunno… this is going to be difficult.”
CB: “In the tasting notes, he’s talking about the white version of this.”
MB: “Oh… I don’t know, it’s got plenty of front and then it sort of fades away, to my taste.”
CB: “It doesn’t taste as good as it smells. Or as much as it smells.”
MB: “No. Well, different.”
CB: “It’s really perky, I think.”
MB: “What’s that taste at the back? I thought it was shoe polish, but…”
CB: “No, I’m not getting shoe polish.”
MB: “No? There’s something right at the end… There’s something slightly sour about it.”
CB: “Mmm. Yeah, just before it finishes, it’s a bit citrusy.”
MB: “Citrusy.”
CB: “Yeah. Just a tiny bit.”
MB: “Well, I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
CB: “That one smells really good, but I’m kind of underwhelmed by it.”
MB: “It’s hard to know… sometimes it’s not until I get to the second or third glass that I can tell. Shall we try the Marqués de Murrieta?”
CB: “Mmm.”

b. Marqués de Murrieta Ygay Reserva 1999: $42.95 — Glengarry Ponsonby
MB: “This is the one that he says, for the price — $40 to $45 — is one of the best value wines in the shop. This is the 1999 Marqués de Murrieta Ygay. Is that a slightly sweeter bouquet…?”
CB: “I’d have said the opposite.”
MB: “Would you? Sourer? Gee. I wouldn’t have a clue.”
CB: “That smells like boot polish to me.”
MB: [groans] “Let’s just make it all up! OK, I’m going to do this…”
CB: “I’m going in… That’s much bigger. It’s got that kind of ruby thing to it, as well, like a sherry… that sort of tawny edge to it.”
MB: “Oh yeah. I didn’t really look at that with the Riscal.”
CB: “No. This is really scientific.”
MB: “Um. Yeah, muted tannins again. Nothing ugly coming through, is there? They’re all about 13%, which, according to the guy in the wine shop is perfect, that’s exactly what they should be. They shouldn’t be above 14%, or you’d have the alcohol pushing through.”
CB: “Yeah… I reckon this is earthier than the Riscal.”
MB: “Yup. I’d agree with that. Yeah, definitely. And it’s kind of got a bigger middle to it, to my mind… maybe not.”
CB: “The Riscal was all top.”
MB: “Yeah, all top, front, whatever you call it.”
CB: “I was sort of making a musical analogy, so with the next one I could go, ‘It’s got lots of bottom-end.’”
MB: “That’s right. Reverb. It’s a nice, balanced wine. Do you like that one? It’s kind of…”
CB: “I like the Murrieta more.”
MB: “That one’s kind of quite sour at the end, as well. It sort of makes my throat go, ‘mmmerrm’.”
CB: “The Murrieta does?”
MB: “Yeah. Is it sour to you? It does taste quite sour. I think it’s all that… This one is… it says on this one, ‘85% Tempranillo, 8% Mazuelo, 7% Garnacha’. Barrel-aged for 22 months. Bottled back when I was a child: June 2002. It says 18° serving temperature. That’s probably sitting inside a hut. Inside a…”
CB: [slurring slightly] “I like this one much more.”
MB: [gulping] “Yup.”
CB: “It’s just got more character, somehow.”
MB: “Mmm.”
CB: “I think all the character in the Riscal was in the nose. And that might just be a first impression thing.”

c. Remelluri Reserva 2000: $39.95 — The Wine Vault, Auckland
MB: [mouthful of roasted almonds] “Mmm. OK… This is the Rrrrremellurrrrri… Rrremelllllurrrrri [several bogus attempts at pronunciation] Reserva 2000 Rrrrriocccchhha.”
CB: “Your Spanish is getting better.”
MB: “The bottle’s got a nice little map on the back… Doesn’t say anything… something about the old something of the monastery of Toloño. Doesn’t say anything about what’s in it. All right. Rock and roll… Mmm… This is definitely less flowery and perky, isn’t it?”
CB: “Well, my instant impression was that it was really flowery…”
MB: “Well, it’s definitely got more aroma.”
CB: “It’s got a kind of a grassy quality, like mown grass or something. Or maybe not… maybe more like…”
MB: “It smells like a dirty alleyway to me. If I was walking up a street in Spain, I’d say, ‘Should we take this shortcut?’ That’s what it smells like.”
CB: “Actually, now you mention it, I know what you mean [takes another swig]. There’s something rural about it. When I said ‘mown grass’, maybe I meant, like, shit. Like, manure.”
MB: “And it actually tastes the same. No, it actually tastes like it smells, which is the first one — well, to my mind.”
CB: “Yeah, the other two definitely didn’t taste like they smelled.”
MB: “Yeah, definitely agricultural, isn’t it. I don’t know what that means, but… we might be able to find something on the internet about what it’s got in it.”
CB: “Yeah, I’ll look the Remelluri up because it’s got a really weird name.”
MB: [slurring] Rrreemellurrrrri. “It kind of seems less sophisticated to me. To you?”
CB: [gulping down more] “Yeah.”
MB: “Like, it’s not unpleasant or anything.”
CB: “Ah! They’ve got a website, but it’s all in Spanish.”
MB: [slurring heavily] “A very inoffensive wine, that. But it doesn’t seem to have as much character, to my mind.”
CB: “It’s a bit crude, isn’t it.”
MB: “It’s sort of… yeah. Unsophisticated. It must be the country cousin of these.”
CB: [reading from a website blurb] “‘Known not for its aristocratic roots…’ Definitely not. ‘Neither for its successful style of blending modern technology with the traditional extended period in oak, Remelluri has become over the years a cult wine. Its production is tiny…’
MB: “Oh!”
CB: “‘It’s unusual for being a single estate bodega…’ blah, blah, blah…”
MB: “It’s pretty sort of contained as a wine. I think it’s really well done, but... They’ve got all sorts of weird and wonderful varietals over there.”
CB: “It says, ‘Tempranillo, Graciano and Garnacha’. What year are we drinking?”
MB: “2000. These nuts are very moreish, aren’t they? Well, should we try something new? Maybe we’ll get a different impression. Which one did we prefer, do you think?”
CB: “I definitely preferred the Murrieta.”
MB: “Yeah, I think so. Did you?”
CB: “Yeah, definitely. Although, I do tend to agree with you. When I’ve done whisky tastings, the first glass, the first sip, the first sniff was completely not the same as what I thought about it later on. Let’s go back to the Riscal. I want to see what I think of it now.”
MB: “OK. A proper glassful this time. That’s a lovely smell! That’s so comforting. There’s something kind of grandma about it…”
CB: “There is something comforting…”
MB: “Which is what attracted me to Rioja in the first place. There’s just something, like, solid and ‘home’ about it. It’s got a real core to it. It’s not all fucking fancy at the front and blah, blah…”
CB: “Rioja doesn’t feel like winter wine to me. You know, like Shiraz and stuff. Most red wine, I don’t really want to drink it in the summer. But I can imagine myself drinking this in the summer.”
MB: “Yeah, even though it’s got quite a lot of ‘oomph’ to it, definitely. I think because it’s a blend.”
CB: “It’s not as perfumed now as it was when we first opened it.”
MB: “No. But I imagine if you had a sweet tooth, Rioja would be a challenge for you… He says, necking it back like a child with cordial.”

[Back to the Riscal]
MB: “Are you enjoying that one?”
CB: “I’m still not bowled over by it.”
MB: “No.”
CB: “They obviously thought, ‘This wine tastes really average. We’ll have to flash it up with the bottle.’ Put three labels on it and some gold foil.”
MB: “Which one is this one?”
CB: “This is the one that looks like it’s going to be the best.”
MB: “Yeah. Although, you know, you get ropier Italian shit and you know it’s the roughest crap in the world.”
CB: “I mean, two words: Mateus Rosé. But I still think it’s got a bit of citrus in it.”
MB: “Could be, yeah. I’m not disagreeing.”
CB: “Not the thing you get down the back of your throat.”
MB: “On your tongue.”
CB: “Just in your mouth. The feel that you get from lemon juice. But it kind of lacks depth. And look, if you look at the colour of it, it’s nowhere near as tawny as the Murrieta.”
MB: [slurring] “Absolutely. It definitely lacks depth… I mean, it doesn’t lack depth, but there’s not a lot below the surface, is there?”
CB: “It’s like me.”
MB: “Deeply superficial.”
CB: “That can be the heading for this one.”
MB: “But I’m a real convert for the style. It’s just I wish they weren’t quite so expensive. Although having said that…”
CB: “Stop going on about the price.”
MB: “No, having said that, there was one I tried from the shop just over the road, and they do different varieties — I don’t know how they do it, presumably they age it longer — and one had a red label and one had some other colour, and it was just fantastic, and it was $17, which was quite OK. Rock ‘n’ roll.”
CB: “So was that Gran Reserva?”
MB: “What? No, no.”
CB: “It’d be nice to try a Gran Reserva, just to see.”
MB: “Yeeeeaaaah… I haven’t seen one.”
CB: “Maybe you can’t get them here.”
MB: “Maybe not. No, this was just a plain, bog-standard Rioja. But it was great. Really good.”

[Back to the Murrieta]
CB: “Ooh, that’s nice. That’s definitely the nicest.”
MB: “I think so. I definitely think so. But there’s almost nothing to the Murrieta, do you think? It goes down so smoothly.”
CB: “Maybe that’s the thing about them: they’re not really complex. They’re quite strong and heavy, but they’re not hard to drink.”
MB: “No. They’re not like big buggering Shirazes…”
CB: “No.”
MB: “That well, you know, really hammer you around. I mean, they’re great to drink but you know you’re drinking them. Whereas, I reckon you could drink this, and think, ‘Great wine’, and really have a nice experience.”
CB: “See, this… You know it’s got that tawny thing about it. It’s…”
MB: “It’s pitch black, isn’t it.”
CB: “It’s dark, and there’s something sort of chocolatey about it, like really good dark chocolate. I think. I might be completely wrong…”
MB: “No, no! Now that you say it. I’m one of those people who can’t identify things.”
CB: “I think I’ve got a reasonably good sense of smell, in that I can smell things when they’re there. But to actually relate it to stuff…”
MB: “No, I think chocolate is good.”
CB: “Maybe cocoa more than chocolate.”
MB: “Yup.”
CB: [groaning with dread] “I’m going to have to transcribe this tape.”
MB: “Well, there’s big gaps, aren’t there, between us wanking on about stuff. Well, I think we’re agreed: Murrieta.”
CB: “Yes. Although, I want to give the third one a second chance.”
MB: “Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. I just think it was far enough behind that you could say… unless it kicks in really well on the second glass, Roberto’s your uncle. [Final word on the Murrieta] “Yeah, that’s a lovely wine, isn’t it. It really is so polished.”

[MB back to the Remelluri; CB annoyingly still on the Murrieta]
MB: “I’m coming round to it!”
CB: “Is this the third one?”
MB: “No, you haven’t got the third one.”
CB: “You have?”
MB: “Yeah. I like the colour.”
CB: “I bet it’s not as good as this one.”
MB: “No, but as I say, second glass, you know. I mean, look at that, it’s pretty good, isn’t it?! And my voice is going higher and higher in pitch! Ah, pissed already. It doesn’t take much. That’s the trouble, how many years of drinking? Twenty-five, maybe. I’m no better. It still takes me about a bottle… Yeah, there’s a kind of sourness to it, a top note, if you were thinking perfume or something. No, you’ve still got the Murrieta. Have you still got that one?”
CB: [maudlin, slurred, tired and emotional] “I think so, yeah.”
MB: “I don’t mean to hurry you. I don’t. I really don’t.”
CB: “I’ve got to catch up because it’s too annoying, trying to compare pears with apples.”
MB: “All right. Let’s rock ‘n’ roll. Are you coming round to it?”
CB: “Yeah. It’s definitely between the Murrieta and the Remelluri now, isn’t it?”
MB: “Oooh! that’s a big call. That’s a big call. That’s a big call. The Riscal is the most expensive one! Shall we compare?”

[Side by side comparison: Remelluri and Riscal]
CB: “What’s this one, the Remuera?”
MB: “The Remuera of wines is on the left. What shall we do…? Which one do you prefer in the nostrils? Yup, the Riscal is far more subtle.”
CB: “I think we should have been drinking them out of these sherry copitas all along, because they collect the smell better.”
MB: “The Remelluri is a real rock ‘n’ roll smell now!”
CB: “How dare you come back, you bastard!”
MB: “OK. I’m going to try the Riscal.”
CB: “I still think it’s got that chocolatey, cocoaey… or was that the other one? I can’t remember now.”
MB: “Mmm. Mmm. I think the Riscal is kind of heavier tasting to me, but honestly, the Remelluri has really pulled back. It’s made up some ground, hasn’t it. It seemed thin and pathetic and anorexic.”
CB: “It was crude, I thought.”
MB: “Yeah, like an anorexic farm girl.”
CB: “Or maybe even a fat farm girl…”
MB: “It’s still, I think, unavoidably agricultural.”
CB: [clearly just agreeing with everything now] “Yes, yes, I totally agree with that.”
MB: “But it’s pleasant. Like, you enjoy going to the country.”
CB: “Country matters.”
MB: [shouting] “‘I’m a country member…!’ I remember.”
CB: “Yes, definitely agricultural.”
MB: “Yes, the Riscal is far more refined than the Rrrrrrrremelllllllurrrrrrri. Less offensive. But it’s kind of less interesting as a result, isn’t it?”
CB: [stunned silence]
MB: “Mmm? Don’t you think?”
CB: “Yes, yes, it is. I agree with you. This was the one that was the best in that price range?”
MB: [belches loudly]
CB: “Yeah?”
MB: “Er… No, no. That was… that was… this is slightly cheaper, the Remelluri was about five dollars cheaper than the other two. But the Murrieta was, he said, the best value for $40 to $45 in the shop.”
CB: “Yeah, the Riscal is sort of inoffensive. I can imagine, like…”
MB: “It’s refined though, isn’t it?”
CB: “I can imagine rich, Spanish people drinking the Riscal with dinner. But I don’t think it’s as interesting as the other two.”
MB: “It’s a different kind of interesting from the Murrietta.”
CB: “A different kind of interesting… that’s another good heading. We might need to have lots of crossheads in this review.”
MB: “But… I mean… you know… I think there’s a world apart… myself. But we’ll probably try the Murrieta and go, ‘That’s fuckin’ shit. Eeeuuuuwwwwww!’”
CB: “No, I don’t think so. Not at this stage.”
MB: [semi-coherent] “Well, we’re trying it next. Hmm… Yeah, it’s definitely… yeah… there’s definitely more interest because it’s agricultural. But, you know, it’s got a lot… more… going on. But the Riscal is smart and cleverer and intelligent. It’s like a race between the rich boy and the young boy who wets his bed every night and he has to run home to take the sheets off the line. Do you remember that film?”
CB: “No.”
MB: “So what are we saying? What are we in favour of?”
CB: “Rioja. You drink wine for different reasons than you drink Scotch. But with whisky, the really good ones that I like are the most extreme, you know?”
MB: [mouth full of nuts] “Islay whiskies.”
CB: “Yeah. And the Remellura, to me, is the Islay whisky of the three. I still think the Murrieta is the best, but I kind of think this has got so much character, you forgive the fact that it smells like manure.”
MB: “I think that’s absolutely right. Isn’t that weird? Because the Riscal is the one we thought would fucking knock us over.”
CB: “Yeah.”
MB: “The one with the gold wire on it, third place. How sad!
CB: “I would say it was pretty close, though, between the three of them. As you say, the Riscal is really refined, and I suppose there would be circumstances where that would really work, where you’d want to drink that kind of Rioja.”
MB: “Oh yeah, you wouldn’t want to drink the Rrrrrrrremelllllllurrrrrrri, um, all the time.”
CB: “No.”
MB: “But if you were… yeah.”
CB: “Do the Spanish drink Rioja with dinner?”
MB: [whispering] “I don’t know, really. [On a roll, shouting unnecessarily] They drink a lot, but they drink it over a long period. Like, they’ll drink from ten in the morning until sort of midnight, but they’ll just have a glass here, a glass there, after work, before work… As far as I can tell anyway. They’ll have one in the morning, with their coffee. They’ll have one at lunch. Maybe a couple at lunch. Then they’ll have one after work, then they’ll go out for tapas late, have a sleep, and then their tapas. As far as I can tell…”
CB: “I’m not sure my system would survive that.”
MB: “Yeah, but they don’t drink all the time. Instead of bingeing…”
CB: “Not so much the drinking, but the way they eat, as well.”
MB: “Mmm.”
CB: “Maybe you’d get used to it.”
MB: “I don’t know about the eating late at night. But they do, all the time. Maybe that’s why they get fat when they get old. So are we going to do the Murrieta and then call it a day?”
CB: “Yeah.”
MB: “Now, I think that the Murrieta has the best label, too. Which is no inconsiderable thing. People buy a lot off the label.”
CB: “Although, it has lots of fonts.”
MB: “Yeah. The Riscal bottle is like a woman’s dress after a party: it’s starting to look a bit sad. The wire, you know.”
CB: “The wire’s starting to look a bit sad. And I noticed when you brought it in that the wire had cut through part of the label.”

[Final thoughts on the Murrieta]
MB: “I still think it stands up because it’s got complexity.”
CB: “Am I imagining it, or is the Murrieta actually the sweetest of the three?”
MB: “I don’t know. I wouldn’t like to say. There’s definitely a kind of… it’s got a sort of… there definitely is a like a… a kind of… like a preserved… not preserved… processed fruit thing about it. I’m thinking, like, guava or something.”
CB: “I’m getting guava… I’m getting… pissed.”
MB: [shouting] “I’m getting legless. Legolas!”

Our verdict: The ranking
1. Marqués de Murrieta Ygay Reserva 1999: $42.95 — Glengarry Ponsonby
2. Remelluri Reserva 2000: $39.95 — The Wine Vault, Auckland
3. Herederos del Marqués de Riscal Elciego (Álava) Reserva 2000: $46.95 —Accent on Wine, Auckland