Blame it on Rioja

I have long been a fan of Loriñon, the workhorse brand of Bodegas Breton in Rioja Alta, whose winemaker, José María Ryan, oversaw dramatic innovations at Viña Real across the river in the early part of the decade. But only recently have I come around to tasting their whites, and though I have never been especially fond of barrel-fermented modern white Rioja, I quite like this subtle incarnation made from 100% Viura, fermented in American oak, and kept on its lees for four months before bottling.

If the Sierra Cantabria group’s Organza blanco is Rioja’s buttery answer to oaky Napa Valley Chardonnay, I’d say that Loriñon is Rioja’s ‘mountain fruit.’ Lean and lemony, with just a hint of oaky/yeasty richness, Loriñon’s barrel-fermented Rioja blanco offers more complexity and weight than Rioja’s neutral stainless steel-fermented sippers without sacrificing food-loving acidity.

And speaking of food, here is the recipe for a pintxo (tapa) whose compatibility with this wine I can personally vouch for: The Bergara Cocktail from the great Bar Bergara in San Sebastián, whose chef/owner Patxi Bergara paid a special visit to the Napa Valley this week for the Worlds of Flavor Conference at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. I’m out here this week to help coordinate the Rioja campaign’s participation (promotion of our collaborative DVD, a series of themed tastings, plus two seminars led by wine badass Doug Frost MS MW), and it just so happened that we were pouring the Loriñon blanco last night when Señor Bergara arrived at our booth with several trays of the Bergara cocktail.

Let’s just say that this particular moment called for a very brief work stoppage in the interest of research.

Bergara Cocktail

40 slices of pineapple in syrup
40 boiled king prawns
10 apples
1 med. jar Mayonnaise, 1 med. bottle Ketchup, 1 small bottle Tabasco
3 small tins trout roe
1 Pullman loaf

1. Combine Mayonnaise, Ketchup and Tabasco in a large mixing bowl and stir until well integrated. Reserve.
2. Dice pineapples, king prawns, and apples, and fold into mixing bowl with reserved sauce. Keep mixture chilled until an hour before serving.
3. Using a small cookie cutter, cut four small disks out of each slice of Pullman loaf and, using a baking sheet, toast both sides under the broiler.
5. Scoop fruit and prawn mixture onto each toasted disk of bread, just enough to cover.
6. Garnish with small dollop of trout roe.
Makes 80 pintxos.

Bodegas Bretón Loriñon barrel-fermented Rioja blanco 2006 is $11.99/bottle at Winerz.com

This entry was posted on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 7:32 pm and is filed under Bodegas, CIA Rioja DVD, Food pairings, General, Grape Varieties, Recipes, Value Watch, Vinification, White Wine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.