{"title":"Rioja","description":"\u003cp\u003eRioja, Spain's iconic wine region nestled in the north-central part of the country, is defined by its diverse landscape and Tempranillo-based wines. The region is divided into three distinct subregions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa, and Rioja Oriental (formerly Rioja Baja), each contributing unique characteristics based on altitude, soil composition, and climate. While Tempranillo dominates, other important grapes include Garnacha, Graciano, and Mazuelo for reds, and Viura (Macabeo) for whites. Rioja's modern winemaking style was significantly shaped by the phylloxera epidemic of the late 19th century, which devastated vineyards across Europe. As French winemakers sought refuge and new sources of wine, they brought their techniques to Rioja, introducing oak aging and influencing the development of the region's distinctive, internationally recognized style.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"lopez-de-heredia-vina-tondonia-rioja-reserva-2004-1-5l","title":"Lopez de Heredia \"Vina Tondonia\" Rioja Reserva 2004 1.5L","description":"Classic wine from Rioja, grapes include Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano Mazuelo all from their own vineyards. This wine is still considered young, but it is a classic representation of Tempranillo's power and finesse. Full-bodied with notes of cedar, tobacco, cherry paired with a long finish.","brand":"VinMarket","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44474909196511,"sku":"","price":186.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/PB030204.jpg?v=1699064078"},{"product_id":"macan-clasico-rioja-2020","title":"Macan Clasico Rioja 2020","description":"Bodegas Benjamin de Rothschild \u0026amp; Vega Sicilia S.A.","brand":"VinMarket","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47419544436959,"sku":null,"price":67.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P9171944-2.jpg?v=1758145186"},{"product_id":"flaco-tempranillo","title":"Flaco Tempranillo 2023","description":"","brand":"Empire","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48271016231135,"sku":null,"price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/PC200489.jpg?v=1766280455"},{"product_id":"vinos-del-panoramico-rioja-blanco-2021","title":"Vinos del Panorámico Rioja Blanco 2021","description":"","brand":"Wine Down Selections","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48464422863071,"sku":null,"price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P2200941.jpg?v=1771643431"},{"product_id":"vinos-del-panoramico-rioja-2020","title":"Vinos del Panorámico Rioja 2020","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eThe Land\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003eVinos del Panorámico Rioja is built as a literal “two-view” snapshot of the Iregua Valley foothills, where the Iregua River meets the broader Ebro watershed in Rioja, Spain. It blends fruit from two opposing enclaves: \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eLa Rad\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e on the left bank and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eLas Yasas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e on the right. La Rad leans Mediterranean: warmer, more exposed, and is planted to Tempranillo and Garnacha around \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e550 meters\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e on \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003ered clay\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e with vines averaging \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e~30 years\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e. Las Yasas is the counterpoint: colder and higher at \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003enearly 720 meters\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e, with \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003esloping\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e Tempranillo and Garnacha around \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e~50 years\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e old, rooted in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003estony, limestone-rich soils\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e. Put together, it’s a deliberate collision of heat and altitude, clay and limestone—designed to deliver both depth and lift rather than just ripeness.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e“Panorámico Tinto” is a Tempranillo–Garnacha blend made with a traditional, observation-led approach. Through minimal intervention in the cellar, the wine aims for balance and natural freshness rather than intense concentration. The wine is aged \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e14 months in 500-liter barrels\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e, a format that tends to polish texture while keeping oak influence minimal. In the glass it shows bright cherry, red plum, with a slightly reductive aroma that reminds me of red Burgundy. The palate leans savory as much as fruity: bright red and black berries, fine herbaceous tones, warm spice, and a subtle stony\/mineral edge. The palate is lively and clean, with a fresh, spicy line and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003esoft tannins\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e that keep it firmly in the “tasty and elegant” camp. A surprising, limited production Rioja.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p2\"\u003eThe People\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003ePanorámico is the “Wine Atelier” project of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eDaniel Rodríguez and Alejandro Estebas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e, rooted in the idea that the vineyard is the framework and the cellar is the workshop—an artisanal space where site, variety, and élevage are treated as creative materials rather than inputs to standardize. Their focus is the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eIregua Valley\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e, a lesser-known pocket of Rioja close to Logroño, where old vineyards historically disappeared into cooperatives or home production. The goal is reclamation: working hand-in-hand with small farmers to keep tiny parcels of old vines in the ground, farmed \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eorganically and without systemic products\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e to rebuild microbiome health and preserve aromatic detail. In the winery, the approach stays craft-driven—hand harvesting and selection, gravity handling, indigenous yeasts, long spontaneous ferments at cooler temperatures, and quiet cellar aging under stable conditions. Their overall goal is producing wines that feel personal rather than formulaic.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wine Down Selections","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48833780580575,"sku":null,"price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P4081276.jpg?v=1775705216"},{"product_id":"lopez-de-heredia-vina-tondonia-rioja-reserva-2013","title":"Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Rioja Reserva 2013","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Land\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eViña Tondonia is one of the most storied single vineyards in Spain: 100 hectares in a natural bowl formed by the bend of the Ebro River in Haro, which López de Heredia has farmed since 1913. The soils are alluvial clay with high limestone content — well-drained, mineral-rich, and among the most reliable terroir in Rioja Alta. Average vine age is around 45 years. The 2013 growing season was one of the most challenging in recent memory: heavy spring rains and cold temperatures pushed the cycle back two to three weeks, producing Rioja's latest harvest on record, with grapes still being picked on November 8th. Yields were among the smallest in years. The Regulatory Council rated the vintage \"Good\" — a score that undersells the wine's aromatic precision and structural integrity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha, 5% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo, fermented in large wooden vats with native yeasts, no fining or filtration. Six years in 225-litre old American oak barrels made in the estate's own coopery, then additional years in bottle before release — the 2013 arrives roughly a decade post-harvest, fully resolved before it leaves the cellar. The American oak shapes the house character: dried cherry, tobacco leaf, cedar, dried orange peel, aged leather, dusty stone. Garnet with an orange rim, medium-bodied, precise, and dry — the 2013's cool-harvest aromatics and natural structure suit the López de Heredia style exceptionally well. Bottled in a Bordeaux-shaped bottle, telegraphing what the wine is: structured, austere, built for age, the counterpoint to the rounder, Burgundy-bottled Bosconia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe People\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eR. López de Heredia was founded in 1877 and has operated from the same address in Haro's Barrio de la Estación for nearly 150 years. Winemaking practices have remained essentially unchanged: fermentation in wooden vats, extended aging in old American oak, no filtration. The estate makes its own barrels in an on-site coopery, maintains over 13,000 barrels in sandstone-carved cellars, and releases wines only when the family considers them ready. The fourth generation, led by María José López de Heredia, now oversees operations. All vineyards are farmed organically, and no outside fruit is sourced. The winery is one of the few in the world that is entirely self-contained, from vine to barrel to bottling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lean, aromatic 2013 suits Tondonia well at the table. Roasted whole chicken with thyme and preserved lemon, leg of lamb slow-cooked with olives and garlic, or jamón ibérico with aged Manchego. The dry tannic structure also works alongside a mushroom ragù over pasta or grilled porcini. Ten years of patience are built into every bottle — worth extending that a little further at the dinner table.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VinMarket","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49635295953119,"sku":null,"price":72.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P5280211.jpg?v=1780011226"},{"product_id":"lopez-de-heredia-rioja-reserva-bosconia-2015","title":"Lopez de Heredia Rioja Reserva Bosconia 2015","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Land\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Barrio de la Estación in Haro is one of wine's stranger addresses: a cluster of historic bodegas packed within a few hundred meters of a railway station, built when Bordeaux négociants fleeing phylloxera arrived in Rioja in the 1870s and permanently changed the region's direction. López de Heredia has occupied this same site since 1877. Bosconia is the estate's 15-hectare vineyard of clay-calcareous terrain in the Rioja Alta, sitting at roughly 465 meters with a north-south orientation that limits direct sun exposure. Heavier clay and slower drainage distinguish it from the limestone-dominant Tondonia plot nearby — conditions that slow ripening and produce fruit with softer, more aromatic character. The 2015 vintage brought Rioja's earliest harvest on record: a compressed four-week window of warm, dry conditions that delivered concentrated, aromatic fruit with fine, supple tannins.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e80% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacha, 5% Mazuelo and Graciano, fermented in large open wooden vats with native yeasts, then aged five years in 225-litre American oak barrels that López de Heredia makes in its own on-site coopery — one of the last functional barrel-making operations attached to a Spanish wine estate. After barrel, the wine rests further in bottle before release, arriving at retail roughly a decade post-harvest. The American oak character is distinctive: dried cherry, cedar, vanilla, tobacco, with tertiary leather, dried rose petal, and forest floor from the extended aging. Garnet with an orange rim, supple and silky on the palate, fine-grained tannin, long dry finish. Bottled in a Burgundy-shaped bottle — López de Heredia's deliberate signal that this is their rounder, more textured expression, in contrast to the Bordeaux-bottled Tondonia, which skews more structured and austere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe People\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eR. López de Heredia was founded in 1877 by Don Rafael López de Heredia, who arrived in the Rioja Alta as French négociants were reshaping the region during phylloxera. He built in Haro's train station quarter and established practices that have barely changed in 150 years: fermentation in large wooden vats, aging in old American oak, no filtration, wines released only when fully mature. The fourth generation, led by María José López de Heredia, now runs the estate. Over 13,000 old American oak barrels cycle through the cellar at any given time, each maintained or produced in the in-house coopery. The winery buys no barrels from outside suppliers. Farming, winemaking, cooperage, and the release decision all happen on López de Heredia's own timeline.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBosconia's silky texture and savory dry finish reward a proper meal. Roasted lamb shoulder with garlic and rosemary, duck confit with cherry sauce, or mushroom-stuffed chicken thighs with a pan jus. A plate of aged Roncal or long-cured Manchego is equally well-matched. The fine tannin and acidity cut through fat cleanly. The kind of wine you open with dinner and are still talking about two hours later.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VinMarket","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49635298017503,"sku":null,"price":54.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P5280209.jpg?v=1780011265"},{"product_id":"martinez-lacuesta-rioja-crianza-2003","title":"Martinez Lacuesta Rioja Crianza 2003","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBodegas Martínez Lacuesta sits in Haro, the historic wine capital of Rioja Alta, in the cool northwestern corner of the region where the river Ebro bends and the climate turns continental. This is the highest, coolest, most Atlantic-influenced part of Rioja, and it is what gives the wines of Haro their freshness and their ability to age. The house draws Tempranillo and its traditional partners from vineyards on the right bank of the Ebro within about 20 kilometers of town, sitting between roughly 450 and 600 meters of altitude. Limestone and clay soils, high elevation, and wide day-to-night temperature swings keep acidity firm even in warm years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA traditional Rioja Alta Crianza, Tempranillo-based and aged in American oak in the old Haro style, now released with more than two decades of bottle age. What is striking about the 2003 is how fresh it still tastes. Rather than tiring, it has turned herbal and savory, closer to a bowl of tzatziki than to anything fruit-driven: cool cucumber, fresh dill, and a tangy, yogurt-like lift, over the tobacco, dried red fruit, and sweet baking spice you expect from mature Rioja. 2003 was one of the hottest summers on record in Spain, a vintage that produced ripe, early-drinking wines, which makes this bottle's persistent freshness all the more unusual. The tannins are fully resolved and the finish is long and soft. A mature wine, drinking now.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBodegas Martínez Lacuesta was founded in 1895 by Félix Martínez Lacuesta, a lawyer from Haro who started with a small operation on Vega Street and was soon joined by his brothers. The house became one of Haro's benchmark producers; Félix served as the first president of the regional winemakers' association, and the bodega counted the Spanish Royal Household among its customers. It remains family-owned today, run across its fourth and fifth generations, and still works in the traditional Rioja mold: predominantly American oak, extended barrel aging, and manual racking. Mature library releases like this one are part of what a house with well over a century of cellar history can offer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLean into the wine's savory, herbal side. Roast lamb with rosemary and garlic, grilled lamb chops with a cucumber and yogurt sauce, chicken souvlaki with tzatziki, or a plate of jamón and aged Manchego all meet it well. The mature, resolved structure and lingering freshness make it a natural with roasted and grilled meats, and its herbal edge is a straight bridge to Mediterranean and Greek cooking. Decant briefly and serve at cool room temperature.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VinMarket","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50560484868319,"sku":null,"price":42.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P7140668.jpg?v=1784093305"},{"product_id":"lopez-de-heredia-rioja-crianza-vina-cubillo-2018","title":"R. López de Heredia Viña Cubillo Crianza 2018","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCrianza is the bottom rung of the Rioja aging ladder, the category built for wines meant to be drunk young. López de Heredia releases its Crianza after roughly nine years, which is longer than most Rioja houses hold their Gran Reserva. The fruit comes from Viña Cubillas, a 24-hectare vineyard about four kilometers from the bodega in Haro, at the western, coolest, most Atlantic-influenced end of Rioja Alta. The plantings are 16 hectares of Tempranillo, 4 of Garnacha, 2 of Mazuelo, and 2 of Graciano, farmed as a single unit and picked together. Chalky clay-limestone soils and the Cantabrian rain shadow keep alcohol moderate and acidity high, and the vineyard is worked essentially the way it was a century ago.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRoughly 65% Tempranillo with Garnacha, Graciano, and Mazuelo filling out the rest, in proportion to how the vineyard is planted. Fermentation happens in the estate's old wooden vats, then the wine spends three years or more in used American oak barrels, hand-racked twice a year by gravity, fined with fresh egg whites, and bottled without filtration. The estate coopers its own barrels on site. That combination of long, oxidative, well-seasoned oak aging and no new wood is what produces the flavor profile: dried cherry, orange peel, dill, leather, cured meat, tobacco leaf, and a distinct sweet coconut-vanilla note that comes from old American oak rather than new. Tannins are resolved and the texture is silky. 2018 was cool and wet in Rioja with higher yields and lower alcohol than average, a vintage that rewarded producers making fresh, classically proportioned wine rather than concentrated wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRafael López de Heredia y Landeta founded the bodega in 1877 in Haro's Barrio de la Estación, making it the oldest continuously family-run estate in Rioja. Four generations later the family still runs it, and the method has essentially not changed: estate fruit only, fermentation in wood, extremely long barrel and bottle aging, hand racking, egg-white fining, no filtration, no stainless steel, no new oak, and an on-site cooperage that has been building and repairing barrels since the beginning. The cellars are famously carpeted in decades of black mold. This is not nostalgia as a marketing position; it is the same production sequence the house has run for nearly 150 years, and nobody else in Spain is still doing it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe savory, dried-fruit register wants slow-cooked food. Lamb shoulder roasted with garlic and thyme is the obvious match. Beyond that: roast suckling pig with crackling, mushroom and jamon croquetas, or a plate of aged Manchego with membrillo and marcona almonds. The resolved tannin means it will not fight anything, and the acidity keeps up with fat and salt. It needs no decanting, but pour carefully; the wine is unfiltered and there is sediment.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VinMarket","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51201252098271,"sku":null,"price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8150107_51d9135c-5e53-4b6b-901c-b2007d93520b.jpg?v=1786842623"},{"product_id":"jade-gross-chiguita-tempranillo-blanco-2025","title":"Jade Gross Chiguita Tempranillo Blanco 2025","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTempranillo Blanco is one of the newest grapes in one of Spain's oldest regions. It appeared in 1988 near Murillo de Río Leza, when a grower noticed a single cluster on a Tempranillo vine turning golden-green instead of black at veraison. Spain's agricultural research service propagated it, and the Rioja Consejo Regulador authorized it in 2007. Gross sources hers from the Alto Najerilla, the cold western valley that climbs out of Rioja Alta toward the Sierra de la Demanda, where the vines sit on clay-ferrous soil. That iron-rich clay and the valley's altitude are why a grape that could easily turn broad and tropical instead comes in tight and citric.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne hundred percent Tempranillo Blanco, only the second time Gross has bottled it on its own. Hand-harvested on September 10, 2025 and pressed as whole bunches with no crushing, the juice went directly into a single 500-liter French oak barrel to ferment and stayed there another six months on its fine lees. One barrel, start to finish, which is why the bottles are individually numbered. Yellow apple, quince and grapefruit pith up front, then anise and a waxy, lanolin texture from the lees, and a finish that turns stony and long. At 14 percent alcohol it has real weight, but the acid holds the line. Drink it now or leave it three years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Chiguita program is how Jade Gross is teaching herself Rioja's white grapes. Alongside the blended bottling she makes three separate microvinifications, roughly 150 bottles each of Tempranillo Blanco, Viura and Garnacha Blanca, handled identically so she can watch each variety age on its own terms before deciding what belongs in a blend. The fruit comes from a deliberately scattered network of growers, from limestone around Labastida to the cold Alto Najerilla valley, because she thinks most drinkers see one facet of a region that holds many. Her palate is the part of the chef that carried over intact; she has said she finds aromas in wine that never appear on the WSET tasting wheel, and she holds the Diploma. What did not carry over is the tempo. In a kitchen she could taste a dish, fix it, and cook it again the next day. Here the answer arrives a year later.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe barrel and the lees mean this can handle fat. Bacalao al pil-pil, where the emulsified olive oil and garlic meet that waxy texture directly. Grilled turbot or halibut with nothing but lemon and good oil, letting the stony finish do the work. Roast chicken thighs with garlic and thyme. Or a wedge of aged Idiazábal with quince paste, which picks up the fruit and the salt at once. A serious white for people who have gotten bored of the obvious ones.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wine Down Selections","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51247712338143,"sku":null,"price":68.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8220187.jpg?v=1787526007"},{"product_id":"jade-gross-jabalina-rose-2025","title":"Jade Gross Jabalina Rosé 2025","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRioja rosado spent decades as an afterthought, a byproduct of bleeding tanks to concentrate red wine. Jabalina is built the other way around, from two deliberately chosen sites with opposite soils. The Tempranillo comes from La Cantera in Labastida, Rioja Alavesa: 39-year-old bush vines on clay and limestone at 600 to 650 meters, high enough that harvest runs late and acidity survives. The Garnacha grows on sand in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, across the Ebro in Rioja Alta, planted 34 years ago. Limestone gives the wine its grip and length; sand gives it perfume and lift. The two soils are the whole design.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFifty percent Tempranillo, 50 percent Garnacha, the first vintage of Jabalina made at that split after three years of a Tempranillo-dominant blend. Hand-harvested on September 14, 2025 and pressed as whole bunches, so the juice comes off pale and low in phenolics. It fermented in a 500-liter French oak barrel and stayed there six months on its lees. That is a white-wine protocol applied to pink, and it shows: this is a rosé with texture, not a poolside pour. Wild strawberry, blood orange peel, white pepper and crushed stone, a creamy mid-palate from the lees, and a dry saline finish. 14 percent alcohol. 1,070 individually numbered bottles.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJade Gross grew up in Hong Kong and lived in New York and London before moving, in 2019, to San Vicente de la Sonsierra, population roughly one thousand. She has been candid about the cost of that trade: a Chinese American woman with no family in wine and no local surname, she spent her first years being watched rather than welcomed. Her account of how it turned is unglamorous. She started showing up at the village bar at six in the morning for a café con leche alongside the older men who farm there, then coming back at the end of the day covered in mud, and about two years in they began nodding to her across the room. The vineyards followed the same slow arithmetic: a bush-vine parcel near Labastida bought in 2020, a sandy Garnacha plot in the San Andrés area of San Vicente added in 2024, and in 2023, after years of borrowing space in friends' cellars, a plain working winery of her own on the village industrial estate.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBarrel fermentation and six months of lees give this enough body to sit down at the table. Grilled head-on prawns with garlic, pimentón and a hard squeeze of lemon, where the salinity meets the char. A seafood paella with plenty of socarrat, since the acidity keeps cutting through the saffron rice. Jamón ibérico and boquerones, straight from the plate. Or roast chicken thighs with olives and preserved lemon. Buy two: one for now, one to see what it does in a year.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wine Down Selections","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51247712370911,"sku":null,"price":52.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8220186.jpg?v=1787526007"},{"product_id":"jade-gross-time-is-on-my-side-2023","title":"Jade Gross Time is on my Side 2023","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRioja's classification system measures barrel time, not place, which is exactly what a generation of younger growers has started ignoring. Time is on my Side comes from La Cantera, called Harrobia in Basque, a parcel in Labastida below the Sierra de Toloño in Rioja Alavesa. The vines are 39 years old, bush-trained, planted on clay-limestone and sandstone at 650 meters. The Graciano comes from Laguardia, a few kilometers east, also on clay-limestone. Both sites sit high enough on the Alavesa shelf that the growing season stretches long and the nights stay cold, which is why this wine carries 13.5 percent alcohol and a spine of acid rather than the plush weight most people expect from Rioja Tempranillo.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEighty-eight percent Tempranillo with 12 percent Graciano, the first time Gross has used the variety. The Graciano was fully destemmed; 30 percent of the Tempranillo went in as whole clusters, fermented in open vats. The wine then spent 17 months in a single new 1,000-liter French oak cask, followed by 15 months in bottle before release, far longer than anything else in her range and the reason for the name. The large format keeps the oak in the background. Black cherry and dried plum, iron and dried herbs, violets from the Graciano, and a long tannic finish that is firm without being drying. Structured enough to reward another five years in a cool closet. 1,380 bottles.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJade Gross came to wine sideways. Born in Hong Kong to an American father and a Chinese mother, she studied political science in New York and took a master's in human rights in London, expecting to become a human rights lawyer. A James Beard Foundation scholarship sent her to cooking school in Paris instead. She worked at Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée, El Celler de Can Roca and D.O.M. in São Paulo, then spent seven years at Mugaritz, rising from chef de partie to head chef and into Andoni Luis Aduriz's research kitchen. She left in 2019 for San Vicente de la Sonsierra, where her friends Abel Mendoza and Maite Fernández helped her find grapes and a cellar to borrow. She calls this her most serious wine to date. The long élevage is deliberate, and she intends to push the rest of the range the same way, convinced the wines gain complexity with time. Pairing Graciano with Tempranillo is a nod to Rioja's old field-blend vineyards, where the two grew in the same rows.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis wants a real meal. Lamb shoulder slow-roasted with garlic and thyme until it falls apart, where the tannin and the fat cancel each other out. Duck breast with a cherry and sherry vinegar pan sauce, echoing the wine's own dark fruit and acidity. Arroz con setas, a soupy rice with wild mushrooms, for the iron and dried-herb side. Or a plate of aged Manchego and Marcona almonds and nothing else. Open it for the dinner you actually planned.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wine Down Selections","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51247712403679,"sku":null,"price":84.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8220185.jpg?v=1787526008"},{"product_id":"jade-gross-corza-beoda-2025","title":"Jade Gross Corza Beoda 2025","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSan Vicente de la Sonsierra, where Jade Gross works, is officially Rioja Alta, though it sits north of the Ebro as a tongue of land wedged between two halves of Rioja Alavesa. The fruit for Corza Beoda comes from the Alavesa side: La Cantera, a parcel in Labastida at 600 meters, under the limestone wall of the Sierra de Toloño. The vines are 37-year-old bush vines on clay and limestone. Altitude is the operative fact here. September nights run cold enough that the grapes hold acid while the skins finish ripening, so a wine that lands at 14 percent alcohol still tastes taut rather than warm. This is Rioja that behaves like a mountain red.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo harvests in one bottle, both Tempranillo, both from La Cantera. The 2024 portion was picked by hand on September 29, destemmed to 70 percent, fermented in small open vats with the remaining stems left whole, then aged twelve months in French oak. The 2025 portion came off the same parcel on September 27, went in as whole clusters with nothing destemmed, and saw stainless steel only. Corza Beoda is her laboratory label, where she varies whole-cluster ratios and ferments with press wine instead of free-run juice to study what extra tannin and pigment do to a wine over time. Crunchy red cherry and cranberry, violets, cracked pepper and stem spice, and a dry chalky grip on the finish. 1,890 individually numbered bottles.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCorza Beoda means drunken roe deer. The name came out of a conversation with Javier Aramburu, the artist who draws all of Jade Gross's labels: she had remarked that roe deer strip the vines exactly when the fruit hits perfect ripeness, and joked that they must get drunk doing it. Aramburu drew a roe deer lounging in a jacuzzi that is actually a fermenter full of grapes. The label suits the wine, because this is the cuvée where Gross gives herself room to be wrong. She came out of a restaurant research kitchen with the habit of asking whether a standard procedure is actually necessary, and Corza Beoda is where she tests the answer: whole-cluster ratios moved year to year, press wine used in place of free-run, two harvests bottled together. She calls herself a perfectionist, and says the hardest part of leaving the kitchen was accepting how many variables in wine are outside her control.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGive it twenty minutes in the fridge first. Grilled lamb chops rubbed with garlic and rosemary work because the tannin is fine-grained and the acidity cuts the fat. Lentejas with chorizo and pimentón meet the stem spice head on. Jamón ibérico with a wedge of aged Idiazábal makes the case for the saline finish. Or roast a chicken with smoked paprika and lemon. This is the bottle for a Tuesday when you want something with a pulse.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wine Down Selections","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51247712501983,"sku":null,"price":52.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8220184.jpg?v=1787526008"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/collections\/image_8d198070-09f0-40b1-96ee-57ec08995edb.png?v=1739468927","url":"https:\/\/danverwinemerchant.com\/collections\/rioja.oembed","provider":"Denver Wine Merchant","version":"1.0","type":"link"}