Ramón Bilbao Rioja Reserva 2015

TAST­ING NOTES FROM THE CURATOR

This bright, gar­net-red wine is medi­um-high in inten­si­ty. It smells of wild red and black fruits, rem­i­nis­cent of licorice, vanil­la, sweet brioche, and vio­let sweets. On sec­ond whiff, it has addi­tion­al hints of men­thol and wild herbs. The tan­nins are ripe at the fore­front, while sweet spices and red fruit linger on the tongue. It is a well-bal­anced wine, easy to drink but equal­ly easy to store in a cel­lar for a few years, in the way only a per­fect­ly craft­ed Rio­ja Reser­va can be.

PAIR­INGS

Best with heavy, hearty meals, the Rio­ja Reser­va is per­fect along­side spicy dish­es, espe­cial­ly thick red cur­ries. Con­verse­ly, it coax­es out the deep­er fla­vors in fresh-made ceviche by the sea­side and goes very well with jack­et pota­toes — cheese and baked beans, or even chili on top — for those cool­er evenings. One hearty, tra­di­tion­al Rio­ja-region pair­ing for this wine is albondi­gas, Span­ish meat­balls smoth­ered in fla­vor-packed toma­to sauce. This dish goes per­fect­ly with the wild fruit fla­vors in the Reser­va Rioja.

WHAT IS A WINE, IF NOT A RIOJA?

At least that is what is often said in that par­tic­u­lar region of north­ern Spain. La Rio­ja is home to the Ebro Riv­er Val­ley. It is here, in this land of dry climes, in the 7 mini-val­leys cre­at­ed by the Ebro trib­u­taries, that dif­fer­ent vari­eties of Tem­pranil­lo and oth­er grapes grow. But the riv­er val­leys are shrink­ing, and the lush, var­ied bio­di­ver­si­ty of the region is threat­ened by cli­mate change. This is part of the dri­ving force behind Ramón Bilbao’s sus­tain­abil­i­ty ini­tia­tive. They have been part of Winer­ies for Cli­mate Pro­tec­tion pro­gram since 2017. The Rio­ja is pre­cious to Spain, and deserves her people’s protection.

Storage Instructions

Store unopened red wines in a cool, dry, and dark place safe from con­stant vibra­tion. Keep your bot­tle hor­i­zon­tal in a wine rack or cel­lar to retain the moist­ness of the cork. The ide­al tem­per­a­ture for stor­age is between 16 to 18°C. Once opened, a bot­tle will be good for 3 to 5 days stand­ing upright in the refrigerator.