NYT article: The 'Napafication' of Rioja

Please remember that Rioja was raised with Bordeaux in mind, and both Marqués de Riscal and Marqués de Murrieta (the two main pioneers) were designed to compete with Bordeaux Chateaux. Barrels are not usually new. The best example in the market would be Lopez de Heredia (Viña Tondonia, Viña Bosconia) whose barrels can be incredibly old. Some people love their wines. Some hate them.

The Reglament for Rioja

==== Rioja wines are divided into different categories, which are based on minimum ageing periods:

* Guarantee of Origin: Wines which have not undergone the "crianza" process.

* Vino de Crianza: Wine in its third year, matured for at least one year in oak cask.

* Reserva: Carefully selected wines, aged for at least three years, of which at least one is in oak cask.

* Gran Reserva: Belongs to great vintage´s wines which have been aged at least two years in oak cask and three years in bottle. ====

Modern style Rioja wines use variable proportions of new oak (ranging from 100% to, say, 50%), which is usually french oak. Some, as Finca Allende, do not use the official backlabels of crianza-reserva- granreserva, and decide the aging time depending on the vintage.

However, the debate between traditional and modern has led many of the traditionalists to modernize a bit (not López de Heredia) and I find their wines better now than 8 years ago. And I think that they have improved them without losing their traditional character.

For example, Marqués de Cáceres has put in the market three very succesful Reservas lately, from 94, 95 and 96 vintages. I think Reserva 96 is their current vintage in the market. And it does not look tired at all. Actually, I am surprised of how fresh the wine looks, considering it is a 9 years old wine.

Other wineries, such as Martínez Bujanda, has built a new winery for their "modern" wine: Finca Valpiedra, which is a great wine made more in a modern style but still plenty of Rioja character. Same with CVNE and their Chateaux winery "Contino". Truly wonderful wines from Contino (not that the wines from Viña Real or Imperial are bad), such as Contino Viña del Olivo or Contino Graciano. BTW, in a blind tasting that I arranged one year ago, with several Reservas from 1998 (not a great vintage), the CVNE Imperial Reserva 1998 displayed magnificently.

So, as a conclusion, I think that all styles are still present in the market, and the "modernists" made the "traditionalists" to stop presenting perennial faults (oxidized wines, dirty and old barrels) as Rioja tipicity.