Blame it on Rioja

Tamara Lover’s recent two-part series on Rioja for Gothamist (Return of Rioja and Return of Rioja, Part Dos: The Reds) triggered a succession of disparate thoughts when I came across both articles a couple of days ago.

First off, Ms. Lover has an awesome name. Like Pecorino Tartufello, Tamara Lover is just plain fun to say out loud, especially if you extend the first vowel sound of her last name just slightly and affect a faux Euro-accent, as in “I have taken a lover.” And then there’s the vaguely anticipatory aural effect of combining “Tamara” (which sounds a whole lot like “tomorrow”) with “Lover,” as in (again with a faux Euro-accent) “Today, she is friend. Tamara? Lover.”

Second, Lover’s brief foray into Spanish colloquial usage (describing how the adjective “cojonudo” - a word that derives from the Spanish word for balls, cojones - denotes something that’s really really good) not only reveals her sensitivity to the fact that it’s impossible to separate the products of a place from the culture of the people who make them, but also brought back for me a rush of memories from my days in Madrid in the mid-1990s, when I learned sometimes vulgar, almost always hilarious ways to describe situations or emotions I had encountered my whole life but never knew how to articulate–that is, until I discovered how the Spanish had been doing it all along.

And finally, there was a tinge of envy when I read over Lover’s tasting notes for her recommended whites, specifically for a wine I’ve been jonesing for in recent weeks but have never tried: Marqués de Murrieta’s Capellanía Reserva 2002, a single-vineyard white wine made from 100% Viura and aged for 36 months in American oak.

Check back tomorrow, Sunday, August 12, 2007, for Rioja Lover, Part Two