For this blog post, I will have to be a bit unfaithful to my wine ideals. I will try to not be critical, and instead be objective. It's always easy to criticize large conglomerates because, undoubtedly, you'll find one or more aspects of their operation that don't suit your ideology. I will point those out, I can't help myself, but I'll try to spotlight a few things that really did impress me about…drumroll… Marqués de Riscal: the jewel of Rioja.
A jewel for two reasons: 1) It is internationally revered by big-name wine reviews and has Parker points up the wazoo (or perhaps I should write is as wazú). 2) It is home to the Frank O. Gehry City of Wine building which itself shines like silver, violet and gold jewels. It is quite stunning and a beautiful homage to the colors we so adore in wine.
This building is extremely emblematic of the winery, of Rioja, and of the über-commercial European wine industry in general. I say that not only because the Wine Spectator named it Europe's best winery, but because it's featured in several documentaries about wine. That's where I first learned of it. Just click on the first few videos that come up when you type in 'wine' in Youtube and you'll undoubtedly see images of the City of Wine.
I disagree with the idea that a place called the City of Wine- a simplistic, trite, English name- should be that which represents Rioja or Spain or Europe! I disagree in equal measure with the initiative to commercialize the identity of a winery in order to incorporate money-making ventures such as an on-sight cosmetics line or hôtel de luxe. Marqués de Riscal has both (yes, the cosmetics are made with grapes…that's kind of cool, but I stand by my former assertion). The whole experience felt too akin to a zoo or an amusement park. A zoo because that which is natural was made to appear mechanized and artificial. An amusement park because the whole tour chugged along like the "It's a small world after all" Disneyland ride and we watched movies about the winery and the vinification processes on screens placed throughout the winery. Our guide had to hurry along our large group and make sure not to encroach upon the Russian tour ahead or the German one behind. Just as you see visitors pretending to to support the weight of the leaning tour of Piza or trying their best coy, smoldering French pout in front of the Eiffel tour, the guests here seemed most interested in getting a picture of themselves in front of The City of Wine.
However, if one could resist the urge to snap 'selfies' among the vines, the tour guide was happy to answer specific questions about the winery and it's practices. My friend, Manuel, who knows of my affinity for vino ecológico asked about the growing practices and was told that the vines at Marqués de Riscal are not treated with synthetic pesticides or herbicides, only sulfur. This would make them organic (points!), however, they don't market themselves as such. There is clearly something wonderful about such a large producer adapting more sustainable practices. However, I need to confirm this for myself.
The history of the bodega is extremely interesting and in a certain plaza on the premises, one can be surrounded by buildings from four different centuries. Here, there is clearly a certain reverence for antiquity and tradition, but the informative videos make it clear that innovation and adaptation to modernity is paramount. It is certainly a different tune from the one whistled by the folks at RLH.
When it comes to ambiance, Marqués de Riscal is breath-taking. The hotel, a modern, but almost organic looking building, is juxtaposed with the cathedral behind it, just as the vibrancy of the vines stand out against the bright canvas of the snow-tipped Pyrenees. And the wines? Yes, they are good. One doesn't get named Europe's best winery if you have lousy wine, but nice cosmetics. To be honest, I didn't get to try more than the one wine that we had with lunch, which was not aged and came from a different domain that is under the reign of Marqués de Riscal (fancy language for a fancy place). But, it was quite good.
I sound critical. It's coming from the ideological/intellectual part of me. Marqués de Riscal doesn't fit the profile of the wines that I pursue, but I have to say that they're doing some good things and they are certainly a success from a market perspective. I also must admit a small soft-spot that I have generates some predisposed fondness for Marqués de Riscal: I once celebrated something special with the man that I love over a bottle of Marqués de Riscal. We decorated a pineapple with the gold mesh wire that adorns special bottles and it stayed on our kitchen counter for over a week. Who wouldn't sigh a nostalgic sigh- even if it escaped you while you were being solicited for grape-scented wrinkle cream.
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