Remirez de Ganuza Rioja Blanco Reserva

The Remirez de Ganuza Rioja Blanco Reserva 2021 is an absolute masterpiece. Top white Rioja holds a special place for me as it got me into wines in the first place. (For good or bad!). That was back with the Marques de Murrieta 1986 Reserva white. As a complete newbie to wine it just stood out as being totally unique to anything else I had tried up until that point. It is still my second favourite wine ever as well and I’ve tried tens of thousands of different drops in my time, including multiple vintages of some of the world’s most sought after names. Sentiment probably plays a part here too but it’s a style I’ve always loved. Back then though white Rioja really wasn’t on many peoples radar and I very happy to see many folks seek it out nowadays. It’s only taken about 30 years but I feel progress is being made. Nowadays there are two distinct styles of white Rioja, ones like this oaked style and a fresh, fruity style made in stainless steel with no oak influence at all. I’m partial to both but favour the original, oaked variants. Also I know that a lot of people run a mile when they hear the word ‘oak’ and white wine. I need to write a piece on it but it doesn’t generally concern quality wines that have spent time in oak barrels. (There are several upmarket guilty parties that overuse oak, for a variety of reasons, but in general it is in steep decline.) This can, in the main, be laid at the feet of inexpensive bulk, big brand whites. The main culprits would be old school Aussie and USA Chardonnays in particular. (Although a lot of wine producing nations are guilty of it too.) At the price point they can’t employ oak barrels so they use oak chips, staves and powder to attempt to mimic a barrel style. These are the elements that leave that nasty, cloying finish and have put so many people off oaked whites in general. If you’ve ever tried a top Australian Chardonnay, like the Tapanappa Tiers, then you will see the major difference. Much more like a top Meursault from Burgundy. Anyways, I’m off on a tangent as usual. Style wise this is oaked to perfection with a core of fresh, zippy lemon, nutty notes, ripe green apple, peach, melon, butter and cream with a wonderful saline, outstandingly long finish. I was lucky enough to try the 2019 vintage of this wine, sadly it all got snapped up on the day, and it was almost perfect. Backs up what I have been told that this wine seems to improve with age. Drinking wonderfully right now but I’d love to try a bottle in a few years time and see what has developed. Sadly not made in huge quantities though so one to snaffle up now.