Attaque!

A very exciting day in store. We're driving (Jorge Ordonez and myself) to Rioja to meet several winemakers over lunch and dinner at a couple of famous Asadors (grills). It's three hours from Madrid to wind your way across the plains of the north and up into the hills. It's grey and rainy. Well-ordered fields are dramatically broken up by big granite teeth bursting from the earth. Signs for Haro mean we are closing in on Rioja, and lunch. By the time we are in Rioja the rain has stopped and I am starved.

Our lunch is at Asador Alameda in Navarette (heart of Rioja country) with Fernando Remirez de Ganuza.

This is a charming white-tablecloth place with accommodating, unpretentious service best known for their Chuletas di Gallego. The grill here is famous for burning the short white oak charcoal from the Mediterranean (same as you see in Texas, more or less). The owners, Tomás and Esther are a team in the kitchen. The small dining room is loaded with Rioja wine industry types and a few real characters (a gentleman in a conservative suit and tie had flowing long grey hair and a pair of rhinestone-studded purple glasses that would have made Elton John think twice.

A quick rundown of the meal follows.

Fernando brought tiny Ortolans that were flamed with brandy and cooked in oil with fresh garlic. Then Esther's famous croquetas and two kinds of Murcia (blood pudding) - the one from Burgos having rice making it a little crispy. Next, calamari from the plancha with a sauce from the ink and vegetable stock. Finally Chuletas (aged rib steaks on the bone) from Galician beef (Gallega) cooked over charcoal by Tomás. The owners are lovely people, Esther does all the other cooking and Tomás does the grilling that they are famous for. Finally some cheeses for the more mature ‘01 and Leche Fritto to finish us off.

About the wines of Bodegas Fernando Remirez de Ganuza. I have to comment on two things: 1) The harvest, sorting and cellar activities are fanatically clean and orderly; and 2) It was quite cool even in mid-afternoon in the sun and likely frost in the evening - leading me to believe this will not only be a "fresh" vintage (the cool nights at harvest raising the acids) but I am concerned about the dropping sugars and the bit of inconsistency of the grapes I saw in the bunches. Only someone as fanatical in sorting as Fernando will be strong in a year like this. A typical practice for this house that's unusual elsewhere is that the tips of the bunches (which are much tighter clustered and therefore have less ripe skins and more likely to be diseased) are fermented separately and kept from the gran vin.

Tasting notes from lunch:

‘03 Vina Croqueta. Closed and a bit chunky. Good acids. Needs 6 years min. 89

‘04 Reserva. Has that Latour-ish walnut palate and balance. Very fine indeed. May not live forever. Charming and complex young Tempranillo. 95

‘05 Reserva. Long-term project. Built for time. Will seriously reward cellaring. Great tannins, ripeness, acid. Lock away for a least a decade. 95++

‘05 Transnocho. Less time in wood so fruitier, simpler and showing its alcohol more. This is a bladder-pressed wine. 91

‘06 Barrel Sample Reserva. Mineral, edgey and crunchy tannin. Very graphite. 92-94

‘03 Maria. Zoom. Forward and gutteral. Deep and lusty as is the best of the year's character. Some overripe characteristics. 94

‘04 Maria. Rich and complete. Not the immediate appeal of the Reserva. Punchier and firmer. May prefer in 5 years and this score will seem conservative. 93+

‘01 Reserva. At first very closed and dumb. Not giving but rich. Tobacco tannins at first. Opening with air. Expression becomes quite satisfying and the tannins turn to silky plum skins. Mineral and floral character back up the fruit.