Rioja Makes White Too You Know!

What’s the first thing that comes into your mind when someone says Rioja? Red wine? Tempranillo? I thought so! Most people associate the region with its red wines and don’t get me wrong, there are some stunning red wines coming from the area and wines that I grew up with drinking include Marques de Riscal, Beronia and Marques de Caceras – but only their red wines. I wanted to find out more about white wines from Rioja so yesterday, while at the Rioja Grand Tasting, I decided to buck the trend and not taste any reds, simply look around and taste all the whites.

It was, at first, hard to find any whites as in a country that’s so dominated by red wine consumption like Hong Kong and a region that’s so dominated by red wine production like Rioja the whites are sometimes forgotten, pushed to one side or not even brought to Asian tastings. Luckily there were a few and, as long as they were available in Hong Kong, we tried them (we don’t see any point in telling our Hong Kong readers about wines they can’t buy here).

White wines from Rioja are usually made up from the Viura grape (in other countries it may also be known as Macabeo) either alone as a single varietal bottling or bended with the two other common Rioja white grapes of Malvasia and Garnacha Blanca. They are characterized by great fruit on the nose and the palate and their crisp vibrancy that makes then perfect hot climate wines – thus well suited to the Asian climate. I am willing to gamble that they are also great matches with foods like Sichuan or Thai (maybe I’ll do that story closer to summer time) as the vibrancy and acidity in the wines I can imagine would really compliment some spicy flavoured food.

One of the reasons the Rioja whites are often maligned is that, honestly, wine producers in the region focus most of their attention to making reds. This is not just because Chinese people like drinking red wines but the two countries drinkers have a commonality here as 90 per cent of local Spanish wine consumption is also red. Thus, white wine takes a back seat.

I am a lover of white wine as much as red but in Hong Kong (and especially this year), it seldom gets very cold so my intake of wines is predominantly white. Scouring the hall for the whites the first I came across was the Arnegui Blanco from Bodegas Felix Solis. The wines was fresh and lively with plenty of fresh fruit and one I can imaging drinking through our hot summer months here. The same can be said for the Valenciso, a blend of Viura and Garnacha Blanca that had a little more body to it because of its oak barrel fermentation. 

Over lunch I was fortunate enough to have the chance to taste an absolutely divine white wine from Conde de Valdemar the oak fermented Finca Alto Cantabria 2010. I was just fantastic! A 100 per cent Viura, this wine was by far the most popular wine over lunch and that in itself is incredible as it was the only white amongst three reds. What astounded everyone around the table was it's versatility in food pairing being able to work well with red meats -  and in particular a braised beef shank. Stunning! 

A label caught my eye of a wine that I had certainly tried before but (astoundingly) could not remember where or when I tried it before and, upon tasting the wine was amazed that I had not remembered what it tasted like as it was phenomenal. The wine was on the Bodegas Contador table and is part of the wine production from cult wine maker Benjamin Romero – someone whose wines I really love to drink! It has an amazing mouth feel and a fantastic finish and I honestly could have just drunk it all day! It’s predominantly Garnacha Blanca (almost 50 per cent) with a quarter Viura and quarter Malvasia. It does not come cheap though as one would expect from Benjamin Romero.

Vina Bujanda Blanco is another great, inexpensive wine that should be gracing all picnic tables and barbeques over the summer. Coming in at less than HK$100 it is a real bargain and, having had the pleasure of having this wine on occasion before yesterday’s tasting, I know it goes really well with food, especially seafood and dishes such as sushi and sashimi plus ceviche or something like a scallop Carpaccio are a great pairing to this wine.

Marques de Caceras is the largest producer of wine in Rioja and they make a great range of whites, reds and rosado's from entry level up to Gran Reserva. The white they were showing yesterday was chock-full of minerality and was clean and crisp. The wine has plenty of fruit and is meant to be drunk as young as possible in order to get the most from the fruity nature of the wine. It is 100 per cent Viura also.

Bodegas Muga is also one of the larger producers of wine in the region but is known for its quality and attention to detail. Their white wine is an oak fermented blend of Viura and Malvasia and there are plenty of tropical fruit flavours such as pineapple on both the nose and the palate. The 2012 vintage was a tough one for growers but the resulting wines are ones of character and lively fruitiness.

Bodegas Taron Blanco is another 100 per cent Viura and one that as soon as I tasted it knew it was going to be one of my boat trip wines for the upcoming summer. In fact, even as I stare out of the window at almost 9am watching the sun shimmy its way between the Tin Hau buildings and eventually reaching my office, I can still recall the easy drinking nature of the wine and, for sure, there will be a lot of this consumed in the coming months!

Finally, there was the Bodegas Contador Que Bonito Cacareaba again from Benjamin Romero which was, again, outstanding. Made up from almost three quarters Garnacha Blanca and the rest Malvasia and Viura this wine has a great body to it. It is an elegant wine with a citrus nose and notes of stone fruit such as plum. There is good integration from the oak fermentation but not too overpowering which makes the wine easy to drink, but thought provoking too. Overall, another great wine from this winery.

What strikes me more so than anything about white Rioja’s is that they are all perfect warm weather wines, regardless of the oak or lack thereof. I don’t know why more people don’t drink these wines as I have always found the best pairing for Spanish food such as Jamon Iberico to be a white wine rather than a red wine. I think it just works better with the salinity of the ham much better than red. Also, these wines are meant to be drunk young, when their fruit is at its optimum, thus ensuring you are getting a lovely fruity wine, most of which have the crisp acidity we look for wine hot weather drinking wines.

Wines Availability:

Bodegas Muga – Montrose Fine Wines, 24/F Wanchai Central Building, 89 Lockhart Road, Wanchai
T: (852) 2555 8877 www.montrose.com.hk

Conde de Valdemar – Wine N Things Hong Kong, Unit B1, 1/F Block B, Vita Tower, 29 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen, Hong Kong. T: (852) 2873 5733 wine@winenthingshk.com / www.winenthingshk.com

Marques de Caceras – Kedington Wines, Unit F&G 18/F Golden Sun Centre, 59-67 Bonham Strand West, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong T: (852) 2898 9323 info@kedwines.com

Arnegui – Telford International Company Limited T: (852) 2722-5066 www.telford.com.hk

Valenciso – Martin Lanuza HK Limited T: (852) 3543 1216 martinlanuza.hk@gmail.com

Vina Bujanda – Victoria Wines Limited, 16/F, Po Wah Commercial Center, 226, Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong. T: (852) 3469 9965 info@victoriawines.com.hk  / www.victoriawines.com.hk

Bodegas Taron – Fionson Group, Rm 1006 Tower B New Trade Plaza, 6 On Ping Street, Sha Tin, NT. T:(852) 2145 8777 kevin@fionson.com.hk / www.yesvino.com

Bodegas Contador – Prince Fine Spanish Wines, Rm 2601 Well Fung Industrial Centre, 68 Ta Chuen Ping Street, Kwai Chung, NT. ivylaw@pricewines.com.hk  / www.pricewines.com.hk