June Wine Club – Rioja

This month’s Wine Club meeting we took a look at two Riojas. I really the value of Rioja as I find you get a very big wine for a very reasonable price. The take home bottle, 2004 Lar de Paula Reserva, was rated a 90 by erobertparker.com so I was looking forward to trying it. The Muga Reserva was picked up as a comparison bottle.

"This is why Amy takes the pictures for this blog and not me"

Here the LCBO Information on the wines –

LAR DE PAULA RESERVA 2004

VINTAGES 208207
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 21.95
Wine, Red Wine
14.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : D
Made in: Region Not Specified, Spain
By: Heredad De Baroja
Release Date: May 14, 2011

Tasting Note - The purple-colored 2004 Lar de Paula Reserva is 100% Tempranillo with a classic bouquet of cedar, mineral, earth notes, black cherry, and blackberry. Medium-bodied, it is dense and layered on the palate. Black fruit and spice notes are buttressed by moderate ripe tannin leading to a pure, fruit-filled finish. Give it 3-4 years to fully blossom and drink it from 2012 to 2024. Score - 90. (Jay Miller, erobertparker.com, June 2009)

MUGA RESERVA (V)

VINTAGES 177345
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 23.95
Wine, Red Wine
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Rioja, Spain
By: Bodegas Muga S.A.
Release Date: N/A

I was amazed at the strength of the nose on both wines as just pouring them out the room was filled with their aromas. The nose on the Lar de Paula had big aromas of blueberry, blackberry and spice. The nose on the Muga was a nice mix of leather, sour cherry and some mushroom lurking in the background. Tasting the Lar de Paula you’ll find a raspberry flavour dominating this wine. The structure on the Lar de Paula was good with lively acidity, tons of tannin. I actually think this wine could use a couple of years down to soften the tannin. The Muga’s main flavour was sour cherry. The Muga was a much softer styled wine as the tannin level was much lower than the Lar de Paula and the acidity was a touch more muted as well. I slightly preferred the Muga over the Lar de Paula without food.

Monica, (one of our Wine Club members) was nice enough to do up a big pot of chili to go with the wines. The chili was very good and the Lar de Paula quickly became the crowd favourite as the chili neutralized the high tannin and the wine became very polished and smooth. The Muga with the food couldn’t stand up to the bold flavours of the chili and seemed lost at times.

Both wine were enjoyed by everyone and even though the Lar de Paula was the favourite, I don’t think anyone would have been too disappointed to take home a bottle of the Muga either.

It was a fun session and I’d like to thank Monica for the chili as it really did pair well with the wines.

Cheers!

Mark