Decanter World Wine AwardsFaustino releases Rioja Chardonnay
- Monday 20 February 2012
Chardonnay, Verdejo and Sauvignon Blanc have been allowed in white Rioja since 2007, although few growers have taken advantage of the ruling, many winemakers regarding the liberalisation of planting regulations a mistake. A tiny percentage of the total hectarage of Rioja is planted to foreign varietals.
Ninety per cent of Rioja’s 270m litre production is red, of which the majority is Tempranillo, with 5% Rosé and 5% white wines, mostly Viura.
Faustino is the largest family-owned company in Rioja, producing some 1m cases. The company planted its first Chardonnay in 1990 for Cava production, and in 2009 it extended its Chardonnay plantings for still Rioja wine to a total of 26 ha.
The 2011 Faustino V Blanco, with 25% Chardonnay, will be launched in London in March.
Javier Pérez of Faustino has said the wine, ‘reveals more aromatic and herbal hints’ than its all-Viura predecessor.
Although this is the first high-profile commercial Rioja Chardonnay, bodegas have experimented with the grape for years.
The Rodríguez family of Remelluri planted it experimentally in the late 1980s, and Remelluri Blanco has had the variety in its blend since the mid-1990s.
The major producer CVNE also had an experimental plantation in 1993, although they never marketed the finished wine.
The only other Rioja seen in the UK with a Chardonnay element was from Rioja Baja bodega Finca Manzanos.
That wine, barrel-fermented white with 15% Chardonnay and the rest Viura, won a commendation at the 2011 Decanter World Wine Awards.
According to Víctor Fernández de Manzanos, ‘Chardonnay helps us to create a Rioja white with a complete structure, filling all the gaps that Viura or Malvasia are not able to fill.’
Have your say!
Colin Harkness
March 07 10:03
My apologies - I seem to be having problems with the internet. I have written two additional comments to my original following those from John Radford and James Swann. They disappeared without my finishing them! Thus I don't know if they have been sent or not!
James Swann
February 23 10:02
It's a difficult one. Rioja certainly understands the need to diversify into white wine production. However, wines such as Palacio's Placet, not to mention Lopez de Heredia, show clearly that high-quality wines, both traditional (the latter) and modern (the former) can indeed be grown from Viura.
With all due respect to you, Colin, I am a little perplexed by the notion of Rioja as a once powerful winemaking area, unless I have misinterpreted the comments.
Rioja, much like Bordeaux, can appear the more conservative and slow moving, yet, precisely as with the latter region, it is in fact constantly changing. It has the experience and pedigree to ride out trends and crises and its commercial success demonstrates this.
Whereas I recognise the motivation for adopting international varieties in Rioja, I am not at all convinced the region will find commercial success with these.
However, in terms of Rioja, I feel a recent note by Tong magazine, of Belgium, surmises the position quite succinctly "The segment of over-expensive wines, like Super-Tuscans and garage wines from all over Europe is dead, and there are signs that iconic wine styles like Rioja and Chianti are coming back".
Certainly, this would appear to be reflected in the world of fine wines.
John Radford
February 23 08:10
I have to disagree with Colin Harkness about Viura. Its poor reputation has, in my opinion, been caused by lazy winemaking and a lack of interest generally in white wines in Rioja. Viura performs well under traditional winemaking with plenty of barrel-age (most notably López de Heredia). Álvaro Palacios, for example makes a stunning modern Viura (Plácet), and in recent years other bodegas have made Viura wines with great subtlety and complexity. Add to this the 'reclaimed' varieties Maturana Blanca and Tempranillo Blanco alongside the Malvasía and Garnacha Blanca and you have an excellent 'palette' with which to work.
colin harkness
February 21 11:28
I am delighted that Faustino (and Baron de Ley, according to an earlier Decanter newsflash) have grasped the nettle and realised that Viura does need help.
I'm all in favour of tradition, provided it tastes good! For me Viura without the assistance of oak is fairly characterless. The better white Riojas almost always have an element of oak, be it FB (fermentado en barrica) and/or oak aged, but still give nothing like the pleasure gained from aromas and flavours of other white wine grape varieties.
The newly approved varieties, Chardonnay et al will enhance the flavour and aroma profiles of white Rioja as well as the general reputation of a once wonderful wine making area, now tarnished by too many barely average wines, which comply with all the rules laid down by the Consejo Regulador, but which do not at all reflect the magnificence of Rioja at its best.
Finally, re white Rioja, one only needs to look at sales to realise that something has to be done to make Viura more attractive to modern day wine lovers - oak has helped, but it's not the answer, the new varieties are!