Wine of the Week! 09/02/24

Grupo Bodegas Olarra
Bodegas Olarra Reciente Reserva

Normally $17.99 / Now on Sale for $12.96
90% Tempranillo, 10% Mazuelo (Carignan) and Graciano (Rioja DOC)

In 1973, Pedro Ucín put Bodegas Olarra on the map outside of Logroño, in the northeast corner of Rioja Alta, just under El País Vasco (Basque Country). In 1985, Bodegas Olarra took a step towards becoming Grupo Bodegas Olarra by taking on Bodegas Ondarre to focus on wines from Viana in Navarre — long cellared wines and sparkling Cavas. In 2000, they added Bodegas y Viñedos Casa del Valle to make single vineyard wines.

Though the Grupo is still run by members of the Ucín family, the modern identity of Olarra was carved out by former winemaker Ezequiel García, who was the Olarra winemaker for 21 years, dying in 2017. García worked to produce fruit-driven, blended Riojas with fruit pulled from local growers.

Going under Olarra’s Reciente brand — one of Olarra’s oldest — this red follows García’s legacy. It’s almost all Tempranillo with ten percent of it being Graciano and Mazuelo — Mazuelo, which is better known by its French name, Carignan, even though before making its way into southern France, it, like Graciano, first sprouted in northern Spain (although there are theories that Mazuelo/Carignan/Carignano came to Spain with those hard travelin’ Phoenicians, via Sardinia).

Regardless, “fruit-driven” almost doesn’t do this Rioja justice. After an engagingly rich aroma, one sip is like falling into a basket of dark berry fruit if the basket were woven of light, spicy, peppery tannins. For the amount of fruit it has, the wine remains surprisingly as well-structured as Bodegas Olarra’s iconic winery. (Look it up. They call it “the Cathedral of Rioja.” It’s a thing.)