Dinner at the Victoria Hotel on the 26th May

For this blind tasting Nick decided to go for Rioja as a theme.

Wines from Rioja in the past, particularly those produced till the 1980s and particularly those makers who were traditional, routinely aged wines in American oak barrels for six, eight, or even ten years which is far beyond today's classifications where the most aged, the Grand Reserva is aged for 5 years in all (most stick to the minimum requirement) with around half of this time in the bottle before release. That over-ageing in oak made the wines more oxidised and with a lighter body than the modern versions.

Winemakers in Spain, as in other old world wine producing areas, noted the shift in wine consumer’s preference towards more fruit-driven, fresher and deeper coloured reds and so today’s wines from Spain are generally younger and easier for most consumers to enjoy. All the wines chosen by Nick are from important makers. Macan is from the famous winemaking team of Rothschild & Vega Sicilia and together with Marqués de Riscal and Bodegas López de Heredia represent the ‘traditional’ classic take while Bodegas Izadi are much more modernist and have even increased their white wine production to a level equal to their red one as are Bodegas Roda.

My favourite of the evening was the Macan which got my as well as the average highest vote together with the Roda that received the same vote as the Macan, I gave the Roda my third placing. This is likely because of my preference for older wines and those 3 years extra years in the bottle did make a difference in my opinion.

As a venue, this time we went for the poolside terrace on Level 8 of the Victoria Hotel next to our usual venue Palazzo Capua and most members expressed their enjoyment of the view and setup – worth another visit for sure.

Iro