Happy 4th Dan and Steve,
Meterologically speaking, the Spanish Ribera del Duero, Valladolid, Castilla León Appellation and home to Pingus and Vega Sicilia, had an Excellent Qualification Year of 2011.
According to a client of mine, who is a well known expert Oenologist, he believes the 2012 shall be same or similar. The hot summers, speed up maturity of the 100% Tempranillo Red Grape.
We have a saying in Spain: 9 months of winter and 3 months of summer ... no spring and very minimal autumn ...
Winters in Castilla León are veered towards Continental cold and with some wet ...
The La Rioja Designation of Origin:
www.winesandfoodsfromspain.com
The NY Times had recently done an article on the wines of La Rioja, nestled between Navarra and the red wine producing region of Álava in the Basque Country. At the moment, it looks quite positive ...
Good post and thank you Steve for the well presented information.
Happy 4th,
Ciao,
Margaux Cintrano.