“Amidst Rioja’s exciting ongoing reinvention Bodegas Roda is a serious player, demonstrating clearly that not playing by the rules can bring truly great results,” writes Keay at the Cirsion tasting.
“Back in 1996 and then again 1997 we noticed grapes on some vines ripened earlier and better than others,” says Charcan
To my mind, the best tastings are those where you get good takeaways. I don’t mean a free bottle as you leave – though that’s always nice – but where you learn things that augment your understanding of the often complex world of wine.
When I arrived at the swanky Basque restaurant Lurra, in London’s Marylebone district, I was looking forward to tasting through six vintages of Cirsion, Bodegas Roda’s priciest wine, typically retailing for between £260-300 (depending on vintage and retailer), to celebrate the release of Cirsion 2020. Global sales manager Victor Charcan started by reminding me and the others present what it is that makes Bodegas Roda different from its peers; to remind you Roda is an upscale but relatively new producer by Rioja standards, having only really started production in the mid to late 1990s.
“We are located in a truly special place in the region, by the railway station in Haro, but have built up by acquiring small plots of land, mainly bush vines located on sandstone soil suitable for dry farming,” Charcan says.
This unconventional piecemeal approach to growth is echoed by what is, by Rioja standards, an unconventional approach to winemaking.
“From the start, we moved away from the tradition of long ageing. Everyone seems to say this now but from the start we didn’t want long maceration and over-ripe fruit. We didn’t want to make a Gran Reserva or wines that really just taste of wood. That’s why we don’t age our wines for long and use French oak rather than American as it interferes less with the fruit,” he said.
“We make all our wines in the vineyard and want them to show the vintage in the glass.”
Roda wines also don’t fit into one of the fastest growing categories in Rioja today, the vinedos singulares or single vineyard category. Grapes for Roda, Roda 1 and Cirsion (and indeed the new excellent Roda white Roda 1 Blanco) are taken from a selection of old vines from across the 30 or so vineyards owned by Bodegas Roda. And those selected for Cirsion are in essence, the very best of the best.
“Back in 1996 and then again 1997 we noticed grapes on some vines ripened earlier and better than others. The wine they made had lovely soft tannins and showed great elegance. We loved what we tasted so much it prompted us to make the first vintage of Cirsion back in 1998, a wine that really spoke of the climate but also the sandstone soils and the vineyard slopes,” said Charcan, arguing again that such purity militates against extended ageing.
And why Cirsion? The wine is named after a local flower, with light petals, which translates from the original Greek as “discreet elegance”.
And that pretty much sums up these wines. The first time I tried Cirsion a few years ago, I was taken aback by how supple, sleek and un-forceful the wine is, even compared to Roda I which is after all, likewise a modern-style Rioja and a far cry from the hefty, tannic monsters for which the region became famous in the 1980s. Tasting through six vintages of Cirsion today – the 2010, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 – you see clear evolution.
The 2010 Cirsion is an excellent vintage with near ideal conditions although volume was small even by Cirsion standards, and the wine shows intense concentration with dark cherry and berry fruit, and a long finish; 2016 and 2017 are very different, fuller and more rounded, with silky cocoa, some smokiness but lots of dark berry, with the 2017 showing spice – the harvest this year was the earliest ever (early September) after a troubled season with a killer frost in April wiping out much of the yield.
Cirsion 2018 – 2020 are different again; the 2018 – a very rainy one – has delivered a moody, reflective wine, some tough tannins and suggestions of wet stone on the palate. 2019, a great vintage according to Charcan, with cool summer nights and low rainfall, has brought about bright wines with some perfume and a nice finish, making this the most complete and rounded of these last three vintages. And 2020? The year of Covid, with all the problems associated with harvesting etc? Well, frankly it’s too early to say – in my glass it felt a little closed with more time clearly needed for evolution.
According to Charcan the different nature of the 2010 vs the 2017 and 2018, and versus the final three is not accidental.
“Spain is one of only three countries with an Atlantic and a Mediterranean coastline – alongside France and Morocco – and this geography has a direct impact on our wines,” he said, refuting my belief that Portugal is a fourth (the Med only starts at the Pillars of Hercules near Gibraltar) and giving me my first great Takeaway of the tasting.
For Charcan, the more rounded 2016 and 2017 wines reflect a predominantly Mediterranean influence whilst for the other years the influence of the Atlantic was more marked, giving rise to slightly more austere, tannic wines.
The effect of Graciano on Cirsion
But something else was happening with these wines. Whilst the 2010 is 100% Tempranillo, from 2016 onwards Graciano is also a player, accounting for 10% of the 2016 but then rising, slowly but surely over the subsequent years, to 2020 when it reaches 12% of the wine. This led me to my second Takeaway: the addition of Graciano can make a massive difference to a Rioja and one that Bodegas Roda clearly endorses, given that its use has been increasing, also in Roda 1 where it is joined by small amounts of Garnacha.
“We started adding Graciano to Cirsion in small amounts but then more and more to add freshness and complexity to the wine. We feel it adds elegance too,” he says.
A show of hands at the end of the end of the tasting confirmed he’s onto something. Almost all favoured the Graciano inclusive vintages especially those deemed to have a more Mediterranean character, the 2016 (my favourite) and 2017, whilst the more classic 100% Tempranillo 2010 got just the one vote.
But frankly, all these wines are impressive, showing great character and huge potential for further evolution. And this led me to my last Takeaway of the day – amidst Rioja’s exciting ongoing reinvention Bodegas Roda is a serious player, demonstrating clearly that not playing by the rules can bring truly great results.
Cirsion and the other wines of Bodegas Roda are imported and sold in the UK through Mentzendorff which is a commercial partner of The Buyer. To discover more about Mentzendorff click here.
