Yesterday I wrote up the tasting of a Riojan Red Wine Reserva. At the Tasting Class the inevitable question of cane up if ‘what does Reserva mean?’
In Spain red wines will be labelled either Joven, Crianza, Reserva or Grand Reserva depending on how long they have been matured in barrels and the bottle.
The amount of time you need to mature a wine to get each label is different in Rioja than it is for the rest of Spain. There’s always one that has to be different! God forbid they should make things easy to remember.
So for those of you who don’t know here is the chart 2016 from Vivanco.com on the differences. Then a slightly updated chart from winefolly.com on the Riojan classifications which changed at the end of last year.
The Honest Wine Drinker 