White Tempranillo and Acacia Barrels in Rioja?
On-the-ground-in-Rioja sleuth Tom Perry has dug deep to produce the first tasting notes that I know of for a wine made from White Tempranillo, a white grape mutation of the region’s premier black grape, recently added to DOCa Rioja’s list of approved grapes for wines carrying the authority’s contraetiqueta, i.e., back label.
In a recent post on his blog, Inside Rioja, Mr. Perry reports that he recently uncorked one such wine, a gift from a friend in the industry: an experimental 100% White Tempranillo aged in Acacia barrels. Mind you, this was an experimental bottling from the 2007 vintage, before the grape won official approval, so obviously the wine did not carry a DOCa Rioja contraetiqueta, and as far as I know, Acacia is not an approved wood type for Rioja; I will have to verify, but my understanding is that by law, barrel-aged Rioja must be aged in oak.
Still, the grape sounds promising. “The wine was surprisingly tasty,” Tom writes,
straw yellow color, a nose that combined citrus, butter and dried apricots which reminded me a little of viognier if it weren’t for the citrus. It had a medium mouthfeel, and tasted citrusy with apricots along with a little black licorice.
Heading to Rioja myself in a few months; I must make a mental note to seek one out for myself.
July 11th, 2009 at 5:30 am
Hi Adrian, The wine in question came from grapes grown in a vineyard at the La Rioja Viticultural Research facility, vinified and aged there. If you get in touch with Juan Bautista Chávarri, he can tell you all about it. The government of La Rioja did the experiment with the acacia barrels and the wine, Viña Grajera, is given away to visiting dignitaries and sampled at tastings given by the government. It is not available commercially.
All the best, Tom