The 2008 Trasnocho is a blend of 90% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano and the remaining 5% comes from the skins of the Viura and Malvasia grapes that have been used for the whites. I think it’s worth taking a minute to explain the name and origin of this wine, as the grape blend might sound a bit weird. The Riojan tradition in the old times was to ferment whole bunches in open concrete pools, which produced a sequence of different quality wines: the first wine, lighter and less alcoholic, was called lagrima (tear). The next one, slightly denser was called medio. These two were obtained by gravity. The third wine was the repiso (over-trodden) obtained by foot-treading the bunches. Once trodden, the bunches were left overnight in the lagar and a wine flowed from them which they call trasnocho (free translation: ‘overnight’) which was the cleanest of all wines, obtained slowly without any intervention through the night. The bunches were then taken to the press to extract the press wine. The trasnocho wine was drunk at Christmas in the families of the cosecheros as it was the first to be ready, falling clear naturally, and showing the character of the vintage. The negociants would buy that year’s wines based on the quality of the trasnocho. The modern interpretation of this process that Remirez de Ganuza makes is a little more complicated and is as follows: only the destemmed grapes from the top half of the bunches are used: the bunches are selected on a sorting table, cut in half and only the top half is destemmed and its grapes used to produce wine in a vat, letting the fermented juice flow down from the vat naturally. Around 85% of the wine is extracted like this. The skins are then pressed gently through their self-invented press: a PVC water-filled bag that is introduced into the vat and left to slowly extract about 70% of the liquid remaining in the skins overnight. That is what, after aging for 22 months in new French (80%) and American oak, they call Trasnocho. The 2008 version of it is very dark-colored, young-looking, with a bright purple rim. It feels young and a little backward, and takes time to start revealing itself. The nose is very spicy, with notes of cinnamon and clove that reminded me of a Moroccan pastille, dark chocolate, bright, ripe and very clean fruit, blueberries and cherries with a fresh herbaceous note that lifts the nose. It develops a beautiful floral note of violets with time in the glass. The palate shows a very balanced wine, round, with very fine, sweet tannins. A superbly crafted modern Rioja that should age slowly and gracefully but that can be drunk now. Drink 2014-2028.
Fernando Remirez de Ganuza, who never stops inventing things (a sorting table that washes the grapes, four wheels to rotate one barrel and stir the lees), only had three new wines to show this year. But I also had a mini-vertical of the as yet unreleased white Reserva (but two vintages have already been reviewed here!) which has a much more classical profile than any of his other wines. I’m looking forward to the wines coming onto the market and following their evolution, as I think the 2010 is great and should develop beautifully. The first vintage to be released will be 2008, but only 1,800 bottles exist. I had an interesting conversation with Ganuza and he reminded me of one thing I always say about Burgundy: the most important thing is the producer. When I say that, most people look at me and say: “How can you say that? Burgundy is the essence of terroir, the place on earth where the concept has been most studied, best understood and defined!” It is indeed, and I completely agree, but the vineyard, the Grand Cru has the potential to produce world class wines, but it’s up to the producer to realize that potential – or kill it! That’s why, yes, the vineyards, the terroir are extremely important, but human intervention is key. This is all because one of Fernando’s points was that people say “Wine is produced in the vineyard,” an
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