In my view, there’s Rioja, and there’s Rioja!
Commentators like myself, and others far more eminent than ‘little’ me, have expressed concerns about the standard of some wines labelled with the prestigious, much vaunted and highly valued epithet DOCa Rioja. There’s a reason for this.
Following rumblings from writers, broadcasters and tasters as well as from some within the DOCa, there are signs that the ‘consejo regulador’ is getting a grip, and, to a point, producers too. The bottom line was (I use the past tense deliberately, with fingers crossed – incidentally, haev you evre tried to tpye with fingers corssed?!) that, because the name Rioja alone sells wine, thanks to the past, justly earned fame of the product, some wines, which frankly did not at all pass muster, were still allowed to be marketed. Such wines were not representative of DOCa Rioja at all, and did a dreadful disservice to the region.
