On the main site, and Rioja

On the main site recently:

• A short piece on whether knowledge enhances the enjoyment of wine
• A book review of 1001 wines you must try before you die
• Knoll: serious Austrian wines
• Esk Valley: New Zealand series part 10
• Domaine Saint Hilaire: modern Languedoc wines reviewed
• Craggy Range Tasting: 29 wines tasted and Craggy Range: part 8, New Zealand series
• Hawkes Bay and the Gimblett Gravels: New Zealand's top red wine region
• Domaine Leflaive: a masterclass with Anne-Claude

Tonight I have my twin sister Anne and her husband Dominic staying with their kids, before a big family cricket match tomorrow. We've been opening lots of bottles, including an interesting Rioja. It's really oaky, with lots of vanilla and coconut, plus some menthol and spice from the oak. But it also has really concentrated, well-defined red berry fruit. It's the Vina Izadi Rioja Gran Reserva 2002 (£18.59 Laithwaites).

This wine has me in two minds. Tasted today, I think it's just too much, with too much extraction and intensity and oak all mushed together. The sort of wine that impresses but isn't all that drinkable. However, I suspect it is also the sort of wine that could metamorphose with a decade's bottle age into something elegant and complex, and so I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt. The fruit really is quite impressive.

Also enjoying some chocolate Anne and Dominic bought along: Lindt Excellence 85% Cocoa dark chocolate, which is intense and rich, but not at all bitter. I imagine this could even be wine compatible, because it's not too sweet. In fact, this Rioja works quite well with it, although it shouldn't.