With any family winery, particularly one with a history that dates back several generations, one must understand the past in order to appreciate the present. At Bodegas Luis Cañas, the winery’s traditional winemaking style and methods have evolved over time but the focus on constantly finding ways to produce quality wine has never wavered.
1999 Remelluri La Granja Rioja Gran Reserva
Wow. A lovely example of a more classic style Rioja. Incredibly elegant and sophisticated with tons of complexity. Both black and red fruits on the nose backed with earth, spice, and some vanilla. Medium in body with less acidity than expected, it had a structure and smoothness that was simply beautiful with a nice savory finish. Drinking perfectly in our estimation but in no danger of breaking down for a while yet.
Excellent+
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Restaurante José Maria sits on the Plaza Mayor in the town of Segovia in Spain. Segovia is a spectacularly beautiful city about 50 km North of Madrid. In 1985 it was declared a World Heritage Site. We ended up in Segovia as the first stop on the Fine Vintage Tour of Ribera del Duero and Rioja. And what a first stop it was! We kidded our tour guides that they had peaked early, that they could not possibly keep up this quality of food and wine over the week in front of us.
Pintia is one of the creations of Spain’s (arguably) most famous winery: Vega Sicilia. The lineage of this wine is so important to how it has achieved greatness, that Pintia must be understood in the context of its forebears.
2005 Pintia
Impossibly dark for an 11 year old wine. Very expressive nose that sends up blackberries, raspberries, baking spices and hints of vanilla. On the palate all of the dials are turned up: dark fruits galore are mixed herbs and spices that continually change as the wine evolves in the glass. Full body, with lots of everything: fruit, oak and tannin. This is big and muscular but wonderfully balanced which keeps it from feeling heavy. Comes across as very youthful with lots of drying tannins, that marry well with the fruit and are not at all harsh. Years, no, decades left in this wine. The finish is long and begs you back for another sip. Very sophisticated and utterly delicious.
Extraordinary – 2010 vintage available at BC Liquor Stores for *$73 ($84 including taxes -*This particularly good value, given the quality)
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