A Highly Educated Wine

Last night I drank a wine that definitely kicks it old school. R. López de Heredia Viña Gravonia Crianza 1999 is a white wine from one of the oldest bodegas in the Rioja Alta region of Spain.

Bodegas López de Heredia—owned and operated by the family that founded it in 1877—uses the same traditional methods that have been employed for over a century. They seem to eschew all modern technological advances in winemaking.

Fermentation takes places using ambient yeasts in 100-year-old oak vessels that were originally made on the premises, not in gleaming, temperature-controlled, stainless-steel vats using pre-packaged yeasts. The wines are aged in barrel for a minimum of three years before bottling. Many are aged for much longer periods in barrel and then in bottle before release.

Did I mention that the barrels used for aging are hand-crafted by the winery’s own coopers using whole trunks of oak imported from the United States? The trunks are sawed into staves, left to dry for a year and a half, toasted to just the right degree and shaped into barrels. Obviously, the López de Heredia family is a patient bunch, not looking to make a quick and easy buck.

According to the winery’s website, the period of extended barrel aging is a necessary step in the development of a wine’s character and a “pedagogic act,” during which the wine is “educated” in a slow and deliberate manner—which “should never be rushed.” The slow oxidation that occurs through the pores of the wood literally breathes a different character into the all of their wines, whereby primary fruits are softened and overlaid with secondary and tertiary flavors and aromas.

The 1999 Viña Gravonia Crianza, made from 100% Viura grapes, spent four years in barrel before it was bottled. This wine would make a great companion for any type of seafood or poultry. It was the perfect dinner guest for freshly shucked clams and a salad of mixed greens. With a nuttiness and slight pungency that borders on salty, it was dry and crisp with subtle citrus fruits—just what you would expect from a highly educated wine.

Tags: wine