Viña Pedrosa’s story begins with Mauro Pérez and the lands
that he loved and worked on throughout his life. He was a hard-working and
innately intelligent man who taught his children to respect the land and take
pride in their work. Today, the winery is on the vineyards that he left his
family, in Pedrosa de Duero in the Spanish province of Burgos.
Believing deeply in the huge potential of the family
vineyard, in 1980 the Pérez Pascuas siblings decided to found their own winery,
pursuing their dream of making top quality wines and keeping the long tradition
of winemaking alive.
Viña Pedrosa is now a robust and world-renowned venture
involving two generations of enthusiastic wine connoisseurs who give their all
to achieving the Bodegas Hnos. Pérez Pascuas goal: transforming the fruits of
the earth into the best possible wine.
Now let’s talk about the levels of Rioja. And what the rules
are for each category.
Rioja has a wine control board, called the Consejo Regulador
DOCa Rioja, who inspects the quality of producers to ensure consistency. There
are 4 different main styles of Rioja wine.
Rioja used to be called “vin joven” which literally means
“young wine.” Now when a wine is labeled Rioja you can assume it’s a base-model
Tempranillo. These wines don’t have the tannin structure or oak flavors that
are common in the higher end wines. What they don’t have in structure they make
up for in zippy fruit. Try this level of Rioja as a great example of the true
varietal characteristics of Tempranillo wine.
Crianza
A minimum of one year in casks and a few months in the
bottle. For white wines, the minimum cask aging period is 6 months. At the
Crianza level, the wines are most commonly aged in used oak, so the oak flavors
are not as strong. The goal of Crianza is a high-quality daily drinking wine. It’s
not too rich, but with Tempranillo’s natural high tannin it has quite a bit
more body than Merlot. It’s like a great valued Cabernet Sauvignon.
Reserva
Selected Red wines of the best vintages with an excellent
potential that have been aged for a minimum of 3 years, with at least one year
in casks. This is where Rioja tastes serious. At the Reserva level, winemakers
often age their wines longer than the minimum and select better grapes. Many
Rioja wine enthusiasts swear by Reserva level because they are a medium between
super fruity Crianza and oakey-bottle-aged Gran Reserva.
Gran Reserva
Selected wines from exceptional vintages which have spent at
least 2 years in oak casks and 3 years in the bottle. For white wines, the
minimum aging period is 4 years, with at least one year in casks. The Gran
Reserva level of Rioja experiences the most oak-aging. This gives Rioja wine
the most tannin structure and age-worthy potential. What’s interesting about Gran
Reserva is that most winemakers select the best grapes for this level and age
them for as long as the wine needs. This means most of the new release Gran
Reservas are around 10 years old or older when you first see them available.
Now you know all about Rioja! Let’s get to this wine.
California Cabernet fans looking to discover Old World wines
should look no further than Ribera del Duero, just north of Madrid. Here you'll
find Tempranillo, locally known as Tinto Fino. The intense dark fruit of the El
Pedrosal is smoothed by American and French oak for 12 months, imparting notes
of mocha and vanilla. The wine is
beautiful in the glass. Deep garnet in
the glass. The aroma’s simply jump out
of the glass cherry, dill, cloves, leather just a joy to breath in. Then you taste; so smooth violets cherries
tannins to finish. This one it would be easy to drink the entire bottle!
Cost $28.99
Cheers,
The Villages Wino
All wines available at Two Old Hags
wine shop in Leesburg. Unless otherwise
noted
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