Rioja Vines ‘En Vaso’: Towards a Redefinition of Tradition?
Saturday, September 5th, 2009In Spanish viticultural jargon, the term ‘en vaso‘ (in a glass) refers to bush vines,or head-trained vines, meaning vines that grape growers leave free-standing, without wire training or trellises of any kind.
I don’t know the precise numbers/percentages of growers who still employ this traditional method (must make a note to ask the Consejo’s press officer when I am in Rioja in October), but I can say that, in addition to the use of old clones, old vines, and native yeasts, viticulture ‘en vaso’ is perhaps the most salient common denominator I encountered among top vintners I have visited there on numerous trips, regardless of where those same winemakers’ bottlings fell along the traditional/modern continuum.
This is not to say that there are no great Riojas made from trained vines (the wines of Artadi, for one, comes to mind).
But just to illustrate my point—a notion also driven home in a recent Eric Asimov piece in the New York Times—I pulled a handful of photos taken by my colleague Jon Stamell while we were in Rioja together in September 2007.
What, besides the fact that these are all very old vines cultivated ‘en vaso,’ do you suppose these vineyards have in common?
The answer will appear in an upcoming post.
