2024 Conde Valdemar, Rosé, Rioja DOCa, Spain.
The delightfully fresh and dry Rioja Rosé of Garnacha by Conde Valdemar, all from family owned vines, is bright vidid pink in the glass and nicely crisp on the palate, especially as this is a saignée, making for a refreshing light bodied, tart fruited and mineral toned wine that is perfect for Summer with sour cherry, unripe strawberry, ruby citrus and rosewater leading the way. With food there’s a bit more interest and you get spice and crushed raspberry coming through, which adds to the pleasure and ease of use here with this no pretense and clearly focused version of Rioja Rosé, which certainly will do the trick on a hot day and any picnic you could want. There’s lots of diversity in Rioja these days, with a huge range of non Tempranillo offerings gaining traction, with white Rioja Blanco and Rosé being a more serious category these days. For those curious, beyond the traditional Rioja reds, now is a great time to explore this multifaceted Spanish region with long and storied history. Conde Valdemar, using their higher elevation sites, also has introduced Rioja to the sparkling wine world, with the release of their sparkling Gran Añada, along many other treats that will intrigue the adventurous wine lovers, that want to see Rioja beyond the classic Tempranillo offerings.
Conde Valdemar is a fifth generation family winery with expansive Rioja holdings, mostly within the higher Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Alta zones, which explains the the balanced nature of their wines and they have put a recent effort into their white and Rosé of Rosado wines, like this one, for the export market and to fill a value niche. The Rioja Blanco, looks like a fun wine as well, made from a combination of Viura, the main white Rioja grape, along with Malvasia, a long time Mediterranean varietal, Sauvignon Blanc, obviously a French transplant, and Garnacha Blanca. This zesty Rosé was made using 80% Garnacha and 20% Viura ( the white varietal noted above) and done in the Saignée (Bleed) style from ripe grapes, seeing a cold tank fermentation that lasted about two weeks with a short lees contact before a quick bottling. The addition of the Viura, by winemaker Antonio Orte, really adds life here and retains the energy and acidity, white the Garnacha gives the generous fruit, rounded mouth feel and phenolic structure. The Valdemar family, with their signature Bodegas Valdemar, dates back to 1889, and are known to be innovators in the region, creating Rioja’s first ever barrel fermented white and other unique rare single varietal offerings as well as having vineyards in Walla Walla Valley in Washington State.
($18 Est.) 88 Points, grapelive