Put Ribera del Duero on your team
In sports, winning an MVP award is the highest individual honor, and right behind it is the lesserknown and oft-overlooked MIP award. The Most Valuable Player stands out above all others for obvious reasons, but the Most Improved Player — she’s the one to watch. She’s the one who has come the furthest in the shortest amount of time.
If you’re the MVP, dripping with natural talent and drive, where do you go from there? Another MVP? Multiple MVPs? It’s a nice trajectory if you can swing it. It’s also a lot of pressure. But the MIP? Nowhere to go but up. And everyone is pulling for you.
We all pulled for our buddy “Bag,” who won his college football team’s MIP award as a lowly freshman and went on to set school records by the time he was a senior. Drastic improvement followed by overwhelming value. If Spanish wine regions were individual players instead of, well, Spanish wine regions, the MIP award would have gone to Ribera del Duero years ago.
Through the 1970s, the region was little-known outside of its home country. It produced mostly unremarkable wines, with only two exceptional wineries: the legendary, well-established Vega-Sicilia and the upstart Pesquera. The appellation was officially established in 1982 — the theoretical MIP award would have come into play shortly thereafter.
Capital and talent flowed in, and today Ribera del Duero is known for its tempranillo-based dry red wines, which range from fruity and instantly accessible, to more brooding and powerful. It’s home to scores more wineries than ever, and many are respected by wine experts.
Situated on a high plain in the Castillo y Leon region, ranging from about 2,500 to 2,800 feet in elevation, Ribera del Duero sits in north-central Spain, about 100 miles north of Madrid. The region’s name translates to “bank of the Duero,” referring to the famous river that runs through it before becoming the Douro in Portugal and flowing out into the sea. Drastic temperature shifts have a great effect on the wines, with hot, sunny days and cool nights allowing tempranillo to fully ripen while retaining acidity.
Note, though, that the grape variety is also locally called tinta del pais and tinto fino, and according to local regulations, red wines must be composed of at least 75 percent of it. Blending grapes include cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec and garnacha, though many Ribera del Duero reds are 100 percent varietals, with potent levels of alcohol in the neighborhood of 14 percent.
They love their oak barrels in Ribera del Duero, and the famous red wines fall into three main categories: crianza, reserva or gran reserva. Crianzas spend at least 12 months in oak barrels and are released two years after harvest. Reservas see at least 12 months of oak aging and are released three years after harvest; and gran reservas spend a minimum of 24 months in oak and are released five years after harvest. (The region also produces rosados and a tinto joven, or “young red” style, which can see no time in barrels, or up to 12 months. It hits store shelves only a few months after harvest, but most tinto joven doesn’t travel far from where it was made.)
Some of the more famous gran reservas of Ribera del Duero are eyepoppingly expensive. But bottles at the reserva level might save you a few shekels over comparable offerings from the main competition, Rioja, which many would argue deserves the Spanish wine region MVP award year after year. These are clearly different wine styles, despite both being tempranillo-based and a relatively short distance apart. Rioja wines are generally more elegant and gentle compared with the concentrated and powerful wines of Ribera del Duero. It’s not exactly apples to apples but still let’s all keep tabs on Ribera del Duero to see if it is able to replace its “I” with a “V.” It’s the kind of player you always want on your team — the one that keeps getting better.
Folks in and around Ribera del Duero are partial to pairing the wine with the classic local dish lechazo, a young, roasted lamb. If you don’t happen to have one of those handy, the wines also pair well with grilled meats, game and casseroles. Hearty fare. This is not wimpy wine. Expect some combination of ripe dark fruits, leather, tobacco, anise, herbs, cocoa, toast, vanilla, spice and minerality with full body, grippy tannins and zingy acidity.