2005 Marqués de Vargas, Hacienda Pradolagar, Rioja

Marques de Vargas

In the heart of the Ebro valley in Rioja, just outside the famous wine town of Logrono are located three famous wine Bodegas, known as the Three Marquis; the other two eponymous dignitaries being Murietta and Romeral. Marques Vargas is a single, large vineyard, covering over 65 hectares, all of which are extremely well located and produces benchmark Riojas.

Under the expert stewardship of the La Mata family the wines have maintained a traditional Rioja identity but have their own individual personality achieved though a combination of meticulous husbandry in the vineyards and a fine attention to detail in the winery. The grapes are fermented and then pressed and the wines are then aged in new oak barrels for 15 months. They are then kept in bottle a further 2 years prior to release. Only red Reservas are produced and the wines are well structured, fruit-driven and stylish.

Best of BBX: Rioja

Tempranillo/Tinto Fino

A high quality red wine grape that is grown all over Spain except in the hot South - it is known as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero, Cencibel in La Mancha and Valdepenas and Ull de Llebre in Catalonia. Its spiritual home is in Rioja and Navarra where it constitutes around 70% of most red blends.

Tempranillo-based wines tend to have a spicy, herbal, tobacco-like character accompanied by ripe strawberry and red cherry fruits. It produces fresh, vibrantly fruit driven "jovenes" meant for drinking young. However Tempranillo really comes into its own when oak aged, as with the top Riojas  where its flavours seem to harmonise perfectly with both French and American oak, producing rich, powerful and concentrated wines which can be extraordinarily long-lived.

In Ribera del Duero it generally sees less oak - the exception being Vega Sicilia where it is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and then aged for an astonishing 7 years in oak and is unquestionably one of the world`s greatest wines.