2020 Bodegas Beronia, Rioja Reserva, La Rioja, Spain.
The deeply flavored and rich 2020 Rioja Reserva by Bodegas Beronia shows of its dark Tempranillo profile on the palate with a rounded, sveltely smooth layering of blackberry, plum, cherry and black fig fruits, as well as smoky vanilla, subtle roasted coconut, cedar, wilted flowers, grilled herbs, and anise notes. This vintage, per usual here saw a careful selection of 95% Tempranillo and 5% Graciano grapes coming from old vines, averaging at least 40 years old, seeing a col long maceration period and then going into a mix of American and French oak barrels. The Reserva is aged a minimum of 18 months in the wood, which are custom coopered for Beronia exclusively, giving the best of both styles, with the American barrels adding a creamy texture, soft tannin feel and the French adding a bit more elegance and fruit transparency. The classic Reserva wine, after completing its maturing in the oak then gets another 18 months of resting in bottle in the cold cellars at Beronia before release. Beronia, now part of the portfolio run by Gonzales Byass, the famous Sherry house and international powerhouse wine company, so the wines are easily available world wide, but still made with an independent spirit and sustainable ethic. This Reserva, maybe not the most thrilling Rioja for those more intense enthusiasts, is a quality effort and one that provides a good baseline for those new to Rioja and is enjoyable, especially with hearty cuisine. In terms of the bigger houses of traditional Rioja, I usually go for La Rioja Alta, but I have also been a long time fan and drinker of Beronia and newbies to the world of Rioja can be safe in grabbing any of the Beronia wines, and in particular this Rioja Reserva bottling and be well served. Also, I often see this wine put on special sales in the bigger retailers, at two for one pricing, so keep your eyes open for deals.
The Bodegas Beronia was founded in 1973 by a group of friends, who as they put it, were united by their love of gastronomy and wine, so they built up this brand with a mission to produce great wines to complement their local culinary creations. The results proved successful and it was thus that Bodegas Beronia became one of Spain’s go to Rioja wineries, and over time things really took off here and the production rivaled other big houses. The flagship Beronia winery is in La Rioja, Spain, with a second winery now solely dedicated to the production of Verdejo wines is located in Rueda, providing the company with top reds, made from mainly Tempranillo from Rioja and the whites from Rueda. Beronia is now led in winemaking by Alejandro López, the winemaker and manager of Beronia, who has taken over from the legendary Matías Calleja, who ruled the cellars here for 40 years. Beronia is in good hands and a new generation has lifted the winery up and while they are focused on tradition, there’s a new life here and I found the latest releases very delicious and of course it is hard to beat the value here. In fact, López has become a star in his own right, in 2018 he was recognized by Decanter Magazine as one of the 10 revelation or new winemakers in Spain. Beronia, who honored tradition, but needed to innovate pioneered the use of mixed oak barrels, a combination of American oak staves and French oak ends, which led to more elegant wines. The marriage of the two, the winery notes, results in a unique combination of complex aromas and flavors, with less overt American new oak elements, including the toasted coconut signature and allowing a more subtle vanilla and smokiness to show through, especially on the longer aged reds, as seen here. The more mainstream Rioja wines can be huge crowd pleasers at family gatherings and parties, especially wines like this, which give big flavors, smooth textures and easy on the wallet, especially if you don’t want to pay for Cabernet (Napa Valley) or Bordeaux of this level quality.
($22 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive