Headline Heroes: Rioja and a return to roots

By Andrew Catchpole

Published: 23 October, 2024

Despite the still-popular image among consumers of Rioja as a ready-to-drink offer of easygoing charm, born of multi-regional blending and generous American oak, evolution in the region and its style is by no means a new-fangled thing. Finca Allende (the name means ‘further’) was arguably the most powerful precursor of the modern face of Rioja, bringing in single vineyard focus on terroir, coupled with the likes of new French oak and 100% Tempranillo in its top cuvée, as far back as the tail end of the last century.

Others followed, at first gradually, then a trickle turned to a wave as producers sought greater expression of terroir, with single vineyard and single plot wines coming to the fore, along with single variety wines, all helping to express the complexities and possibilities of this diverse and far flung-region. Certainly Spain’s recent ‘new wave’ of wines has increasingly been celebrated by merchants and drinkers in markets such as the UK.

However, it’s probably fair to say that the innovation and evolution in Rioja has been somewhat more masked due to a lingering image rooted in its more traditional styles. This was further embedded by the rise of Parker point-chasing styles through the nineties and noughties, which were largely ‘international’ in character.

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Jamie Tonkin, Spanish specialist and owner of Old Chapel Cellars in Cornwall, speaks of a “new generation that wants to peel back the layers and rediscover the shape and identity of Rioja wines”, imagining a region without the impact of outside influences, but also committed to expressing its terroir.

“This highly skilled generation is championing carbonic maceration, terroir, individual vineyard sites (à la Allende), and including non-approved grape varieties,” he says, adding that to achieve this new identity, producers are sometimes having to step outside the strict rules of the governing Consejo. More recently, however, the Consejo itself has made moves to allow village and single vineyard wines, encouraging even more producers to follow this path.

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Vinous revolution

Tonkin singles out Bodegas Artuke as a leading light in this vinous revolution, but adds that many are following in its wake, such as UKAN, a project which showcases the specific terroir of Laguardia, or Real Agrado, which has a very traditional range, but also some Viñedos Singulares, which similarly champion the terroir of Rioja Oriental. Sense of origin, often coupled with old vines and lower-intervention winemaking are the typical hallmarks of many of these newest of ‘new waves’.

At Ramón Bilbao, which majors on fresh iterations of traditional styles, but with its own innovative range of ‘newer’ styles, head winemaker Rodolfo Bastida explains how this evolution is really just a natural progression towards a better expression of the Rioja region as a whole.

“A land with as much potential as Rioja allows for the crafting of a wide range of styles, offering the opportunity to meet the demands of various consumers,” he says. “[This spans] those seeking the most classic style, which has long defined the region, to the more specialised consumer, looking for the cutting-edge expression of the region through single-vineyard wines,” he adds.

One good example of this from Ramón Bilbao is its Limite range, with a Limite Norte Tempranillo Blanco and a Limite Sur Garnacha championing these two less-well-sung varieties, while the producer’s single finca (vineyard) Lalomba Riojas draw on more mainstream grapes but with the aim of “each vineyard reaching its fullest expression”.

“The knowledge of the vineyard has been key to the evolution of the region,” says Bastida. “With a deeper understanding of our viticultural heritage, Rioja has been able to bring out the maximum expression of our parcels.”

This looking back to move forward echoes much of what Tonkin says about the new generation of wines from Rioja. Bastida continues: “Looking back at our origins, with our more classic style, we began by crafting more generic wines, such as our regional wine: Crianza, or wines that define a sub-region, such as Reserva, Gran Reserva, or Edición Limitada, leading up to the expression of a single village, our Mirto.

“Now, it’s time to represent new areas and single vineyard wines. In this way, we encompass the broad spectrum of styles present in the region.”

The upshot, in addition to delivering wines with greater individuality that appeal to the more wine-savvy and even geeky drinker, has also been a wealth of fresher styles, sometimes with lower alcohol levels (though not always, by any means), and yet also wines which may more clearly express their development with age.

All in all, the developments in the diverse region that is Rioja have been exciting, generating renewed interest and even giving merchants and sommeliers new stories to tell to fresh, would-be consumers. Moreover, with the whites and rosados also now making more of a splash, this traditionally heavily red-biased DO continues to explore its broad potential. And, judging by the uptake among merchants and wine savvy on-trade, the excitement surrounding Spain’s broader new wave of wines is beginning to envelop Rioja’s increasingly varied offer as well.

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The new distribution partnership with Freixenet Copestick is big news – what does this mean for the company?

Ramón Bilbao has grown rapidly in the UK market in the last decade or so – historically, we were mostly an on-trade brand, but over the past few years we’ve been making more headway in the retail arena. We identified Freixenet Copestick as a company that has the insights, tools and access to help us succeed in retail. In the on-trade it has wide market coverage, from national and regional groups and route to market, through to the very best UK restaurants and wine shops via its Jascots subsidiary, as well as a brilliant online retail experience with Slurp. We have a wine for every area of its business, and it has a sales avenue for every wine.

What does this year’s centenary mean for Ramón Bilbao?

We’re telling the world how our thirst for adventure has characterised the 100 years since Don Ramón Bilbao established his eponymous winery. He had one aim: to share the wines of his Rioja homeland with the world. We’re also celebrating 25 years since Rodolfo Bastida came to lead our winemaking.

All year, we’ve been running our global ‘100 years inspired by curiosity’ campaign, and we’ve featured a gold centenary stamp on all bottles. We also have a limited-edition Centenario duo of wines planned – one with a foot in the past and one very much in the future. In honour of the future, we are inviting some centenary winery friends from around the world for a discussion about what the next 100 years hold.

What have been the biggest changes and evolutions during this time?

So many changes for us and for our DO. From a move to higher-altitude wines for fresher styles, pale pink rosés and wines aged in concrete… but probably the biggest change (and challenge) has been the growing global awareness of sustainability and looking after the environment for our children and their children. We became members of Wineries for Climate Protection in 2017, we work with the Sustainable Round Table, we were one of the first to ensure our winery uses 100% renewable energy, and now we have wines in 40% lighter weight bottles. Our goal is to be carbon neutral by 2050.

Specifically, Ramón Bilbao has expanded into Rueda, what are the synergies and objectives with these additions?

It’s a decade ago now since our winemaking team went to Rueda in search of a white wine with all the elegance and freshness that has become the hallmark of our Rioja reds. We’re now in our 14th vintage with our Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo wines. Our Rueda winemaker, Sara Bañuelos was this year named Young Winemaker of the Year by Tim Atkin in his Rueda report.

We will also continue to delve deeper into the terroir we have in Rueda – such an extreme landscape but one capable of producing remarkable Verdejo and stunning Sauvignon Blanc. We believe Rueda is going to be making some of Spain’s finest white wines in the future.

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