{"id":7076,"date":"2013-04-10T18:07:10","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T18:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=7076"},"modified":"2013-04-10T18:07:10","modified_gmt":"2013-04-10T18:07:10","slug":"iwc-day-three-plus-some-beer-plus-some-nice-riojas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/spain\/iwc-day-three-plus-some-beer-plus-some-nice-riojas","title":{"rendered":"IWC day three, plus some beer, plus some nice Riojas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just finished day 3 of the International Wine Challenge at Lords. It is going well, and I’m enjoying tasting with some excellent wine trade colleagues. Everyone seems to be a team player eager to do a professional job, and this makes my life as a panel chair a lot easier.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are signs that spring is sort of coming, too, with some milky sunshine and slightly above freezing temperatures heading in the right direction. The grass at Lords is normally a vivid green at this time of year, but it’s still looking a bit wintry and brown-tinged at the moment. Some warmth is needed. They were testing the floodlights today.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After tasting we drink beer. Last night I had some Darkstar<\/a> Hophead. It’s a lovely, drinkable, slightly hoppy, subtly bitter pale\u00a0ale (3.8% alc) that tastes great from cask.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Today it was Darkstar Art of Darkness, a lovely brown ale with nice bitterness and some hoppy depth. Not a stout; more a black ale, at just 3.5% alcohol, with perfect balance. So drinkable.<\/p>\n

And there was a tasting of Rioja wines. I’d tasted wine all day, but couldn’t resist trying these and taking some notes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bodegas Sonsierra Perfume de Sonsierra 2009 Rioja, Spain
\n<\/strong> <\/strong>Remarkable packaging. Quite bizarre, but I like it. The wine is quite good, too: modern, vivid and grippy with berry fruits underlain by firm, spicy, grippy structure. Fruit-driven. 88\/100<\/p>\n

Bodegas Baigorri Crianza Blanco Fermentado en Barrica 2010 Rioja, Spain<\/strong>
\nI liked this quite a bit. Lovely nutty, waxy nose with sweet pear, grapefruit and spice. The palate has well integrated oak, some nuttiness and nice fruit. Expressive. 91\/100<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Vina Ijalba Graciano Crianza 2009 Rioja, Spain<\/strong>
\nSuper stuff: fresh, elegant cherry fruit nose leads to a supple cherryish palate with notes of herbs and spice. Nicely fresh and elegant with good acidity, and complex notes of tea and herbs. Lovely. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Bodegas Ontanon\u00a0Reserva 2004 Rioja, Spain<\/strong>
\nFresh and fruit driven with raspberry, cherry and plum fruit. Nice presence and fresh acidity with subtle spicy notes. Lots of fruit here. 91\/100<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Finca Valpiedra Reserva 2009 Rioja, Spain<\/strong>
\nSweetly fruited and quite dense, this is a chunky, modern-styled wine but it isn’t inelegant. Lovely cherry, plum and spice characters. Some tannic grip. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Campo Viejo Gran Reserva 2004 Rioja, Spain<\/strong>
\nNicely complex with some spice and earth savouriness and a bit of grip under the berry fruits. Showing the first signs of maturity, this is drinking well now. 89\/100<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

La Rioja Alta Grand Reserva 890 1995 Rioja, Spain<\/strong>
\nSerious stuff. Lovely sweet aromatic nose with fine herb, tea leaf and spice notes. Mature and complex, and quite delicate. Beautifully evolved and showing real elegance – drinking perfectly now. 94\/100<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just finished day 3 of the International Wine Challenge at Lords. It is going well, and I’m enjoying tasting with some excellent wine trade colleagues. Everyone seems to be a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,116,40],"tags":[389,402,371],"class_list":["post-7076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beer","category-rioja","category-spain","tag-beer","tag-rioja","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7076"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7092,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7076\/revisions\/7092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}