Languedoc and Roussillon: Terroirs & Millésimes 2023

Coming soon: a series of wine tasting and touring reports from a recent trip to the Languedoc and Roussillon will be published here over the next few weeks. In the meantime, I've already posted photos of favourite bottles, smiling winemakers, tasty food, pretty locations and historical sightseeing spots on Facebook.com/WineWriting.

Rioja: 10 to 20 year-old reds.

This selection of eight gracefully maturing reds in some ways epitomises what many people would consider 'old' cask-aged Rioja to be all about. Although, as seen in three previous posts (Rioja 5 to 10 year-old red wines, Rioja reds less than 5 years old, Rioja 15 white wines), with a new generation of winemakers challenging the narrow perception that barrel age equals quality, there are plenty of great wines to be enjoyed from younger red (and white) Rioja too. This snapshot spans vintages 2012 and 2011 to 2004, 2003 and one delicious wine exceeding twenty years of age, 2001 (a Rioja odyssey?).

New Zealand: 16 Chardonnays & Pinot Gris/Grigios.

New Zealand white wines kick off a new mini-series of postings on WineWriting.com, with further ramblings to follow on red wines - mostly about Pinot Noir and Syrah with some Cabernet Merlots thrown in - and a touch of bubbly. The source of all these tasty wines sampled and regurgitated here was a recent New Zealand Wine tasting in Dublin. Photo: New Zealand Winegrowers Inc, Elephant Hill (Chardonnay).

Rioja: 5 to 10 year-old red wines.

As promised, the Rioja quest on WineWriting.com has turned increasingly geeky with this selection of 16 smoothing reds aged for 'five to ten years' (in cask and bottle).

The focus is the 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 vintages: some of these wines are traditionally categorised as Reserva or Gran Reserva, while other winemakers featured here ignore these rules simply because equating a mandatory amount of barrel-ageing with quality is indeed a daft idea.

Rioja: reds less than 5 years old.

Part two of this WineWriting.com Rioja feature moves on to red wines - the first instalment highlighted 15 delicious white wines (all tasted in Dublin last month: click/tap to read more). As an appetising entrée, 15 varied red Riojas have been chosen here which are 'less than five years old', to coin a cunning theme that will be developed in two further posts ('5 to 10 years' and '10 to 20 years' old).