Deep Dive: Rioja and Ribera del Duero, Wednesday 9th April 2025
Tutored Tastings
Treat yourself, your family or a client to one of our exclusive tutored tastings. One of our experts will guide you through a range of wines or spirits while educating you on the evening’s topic. From style and regional focusses to cheese and wine pairings, these are unmissable chances to broaden your wine and spirits knowledge.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
Book
Description
Join us for an exploration of the magnificent wines from two of Spain’s most illustrious wine regions: Rioja and Ribera del Duero. While both regions are celebrated for their mastery of the Tempranillo grape, their unique terroirs and climatic conditions create distinctive expressions with their own individual characteristics. Additionally, there other grape varieties, ageing classifications, and differing approaches to oak, which results in a fascinating array of flavours and styles. This tasting will also highlight the far-too-often-overlooked categories of Rioja: white and rosé.
For a grand finale, we will savour two of Spain’s most iconic wines: a 2004 Único from Vega Sicilia, often regarded as the country’s unofficial First Growth, and the 1981 Tondonia Gran Reserva, a mesmerizingly complex Rioja that has aged to perfection over four decades.
Wines to be tasted:
Apéritif: 2018 Gramona, Imperial, Corpinnat, Brut
2023 Plácet, Valtomelloso, Palacios Remondo, Rioja
2019 Ripa Rosado, José Luis Ripa Sáenz de Navarrete, Rioja
2020 Flor de Silos, Cillar de Silos, Ribera del Duero
2019 Macán, Bodegas Benjamin de Rothschild & Vega Sicilia, Rioja
2014 La Granja, Gran Reserva, Remelluri, Rioja
2015 Gran Reserva 904, Selección Especial, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
2015 Peñas Aladas, Gran Reserva, Dominio del Águila, Ribera del Duero
2016 Quiñón de Valmira, Álvaro Palacios, Rioja
2004 Único, Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero
1981 Viña Tondonia Tinto, Gran Reserva, Bodegas R. López de Heredia, Rioja
Dress code: smart casual
Event details
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