Articles
The wines of DOC Rioja 2023
by Miquel Hudin | 05-09-2023
Approaching a tasting of Rioja is a good deal like venturing into an ancient city for me. There is a vastness to the place and a great wealth of wonderful things, but you need to... more »
López de Heredia – Viña Tondonia Reserva 2011
by Miquel Hudin | 17-07-2023
Despite the crippling writers and now actors strike in the US, we live in an age where we don’t generally suffer for choice in terms of the media that we consume whether that be in... more »
Remelluri – Lindes de Remelluri – San Vicente 2012
by Miquel Hudin | 20-03-2023
It’s just over seven years ago that “The Manifesto” was signed by 150 individuals in the Spanish wine scene at Club Matador in Madrid. The base for this manifesto was quite simple in that it... more »
The Rioja Alavesa issue
by Miquel Hudin | 06-03-2023
Making news lately has been that the Rioja Alavesa region is striving to create their own Denomination of Origin completely separate from DOC Rioja to be called, “Arabako Mahastiak/Viñedos de Álava” (using both names in... more »
Maturana Buena, Maturana Mala
by Miquel Hudin | 13-02-2023
Tracking down the relationships of vitis vinifera varieties which comprise the grapes from which our wines are made is no easy task. Back in 2012, the book Wine Grapes took an impressive stab at researching... more »
A deeper look at Bodegas Montecillo
by Miquel Hudin | 14-12-2022
In what now seems like a century ago, I made a lengthy research visit to Rioja in November of last year. My goals were various, but the main one was to taste Garnacha wines in... more »
The tale of two Reservas: Rioja vs. Ribera del Duero
by Miquel Hudin | 23-11-2022
Such an article could have easily been titled, “I drank these two supermarket Tempranillos so you didn’t have to” but in all fairness maybe one or the other of these two wines is actually very... more »
Two very, very different Valdemars
by Miquel Hudin | 17-10-2022
Indeed, they’re not truly on opposite ends of the world. Oion in the Rioja region of Spain, and Walla Walla in the state of Washington in the United States are but a “mere” 8,500km from... more »
A new Rioja Viñedo Singular… that’s sparkling?
by Miquel Hudin | 14-09-2022
Bodegas Valdemar in the village of Oyón in Rioja, Spain have released, “Finca Alto Cantabria Gran Añada” which is the first sparkling wine in the region to be produced with the new single-vineyard, or Viñedo... more »
The wines from Tempranillo Blanco in Rioja 2022
by Miquel Hudin | 06-04-2022
While color mutations of grapes do happen from time to time, they’re not an everyday occurrence. Their existence is one thing but the real question is whether a mutation can actually produce a quality wine... more »