Drink Bill Knott
GRAHAM GREENE’S TIPPLE
Graham Greene loved Rioja.
In Monsignor Quixote, Sancho, the Communist ex-mayor, takes the eponymous priest to Madrid’s famous old Sobrino de Botín for dinner. He orders two portions of suckling pig and ‘a bottle of the Marqués de Murrieta’s red wine.
‘ “I’m surprised that you favour the aristocracy,” Father Quixote remarked.’
Greene was a friend of Vicente Cebrián, the owner of the Marqués de Murrieta bodega and of Castillo Ygay, which lends its name to the estate’s two greatest wines. I know this because, about 20 years ago, I was given a tour of the bodega by Vicente’s son, after which he asked me to sign the guest book, but not before pointing out a previous entry, dated 4th August 1987. Written by Greene to Cebrián, it argues that winemakers, like writers, will never retire: ‘Retirement is the most deadly of all diseases. It kills more people than cancer.’
Cebrián, sadly, was unable to test this assertion, succumbing to a heart attack in his late forties, but his son carried on his father’s vision. The wines are superb.
Looking for a very special Christmas bottle? The terrific 2009 vintage of the red Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial will hit the spot perfectly: profound, rich and spicy, with a healthy splash – 19 per cent – of Mazuelo (aka Carignan), adding fine tannins and acidity.
The other 81 per cent is, of course, Tempranillo, the grape variety on which Rioja has built its reputation, ever since the vineyards of Bordeaux were ravaged by phylloxera and demand for the local wines soared. Most of La Rioja’s great bodegas were founded between 1850 and 1900, when phylloxera was at its peak.
Tempranillo is now the third-mostplanted variety in the world, behind Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Unlike those two, almost all of it is grown in Spain, notably in Ribera del Duero, where it is known as Tinto Fino and produces such stellar wines as Vega Sicilia and Pingus.
More affordable Tempranillo is not hard to find. In the crianza style – young and fruity – try CVNE’S silk-smooth Viña Real 2017, the bramble-scented Viñedos Barrihuelo 2017 or the Wine Society’s Navajas 2015, with its trademark Rioja oakiness and gently spicy, black fruits.
Reservas and Gran Reservas spend years in wood, and even longer in bottle before release. For Gran Reservas, this can be decades: Murrieta’s 1942 Gran Reserva, famously, was released only in 1983. Reservas worth trying include the mellow, food-friendly Beronia 2015 and Viña Tondonia’s elegant, strawberryscented Lopez Heredia Reserva 2006, aged for six years in cellar.
Outside Spain, the most notable plantings of Tempranillo are in Portugal, especially the Douro, where (as Tinta Roriz) it is used for both port and table wines. It is starting to be planted in California and Australia, too, and it has long been grown in Argentina, where it is often used for blending.
Zuccardi, in Valle de Uco, blend it with Malbec to make a wine in their Series A range – the 2019 vintage is available from Majestic, £12.99 – and it is a very happy union, marrying the cherry-ripe freshness of Tempranillo with the brooding, forest-floor richness of Malbec.
It produces a wine with the deep purple hue of an aubergine; or, for that matter, a Monsignor’s socks.