I DON'T know who first said, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" but it ain't for me. When someone treads on my last nerve ending, I turn to Rioja, my liquid comfort blanket, and so far, it’s never let me down. Rioja is a Spanish classic that was made good by a stroke of luck that came in the form of Bordeaux winemakers who were driven south by the spread of a vine disease in the 19th century.
They took with them their knowledge of wine making and ageing in oak and they added that to a region with some interesting but largely boring local varietals, namely Tempranillo. It turned out that all Tempranillo needed to turn it from a duckling to a swan was a wee bit of time in a barrel. Yep, it’s all about the oak, folks and the more time in barrels, the softer it becomes which explains my preference for the Gran Reservas which have had at least 3 years ageing. The other classifications are Reserva and Crianza with decreasing time in wood and then finally there are the young wines or Jovens but I'd rather be waterboarded than drink the latter.
Tempranillo and Grenache, the other main grape of Rioja are both light and fruity until they see a tree and then they develop these lovely deep toasty vanilla flavours. With some grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, too much wood can overpower the wine however, in all my years of tasting, I've never found a case of too much oak in Rioja, but my hunt continues ladies and gents. Anyway, I've got a cork or two to liberate so toodle pip until next week.'
Belezos Gran Reserva Rioja
Remember Meg Ryan faking it in ‘When Harry met Sally’? Trust me there's no fakes when you taste this gorgeous wine. Dark brambly fruit on the nose with hints of leather, tobacco and spices on the palate all wrapped up in a soft vanilla finish. Mmmm
Corney & Barrow, Ayr £22.51
Marques del Romerol, Reserva
A rich but very soft wine with ripe summer fruits and a lovely toasty finish
Marks & Spencer £14.00
Gerard Richardson
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here