Hi, I'm Mark Middlebrook, and I'm here in the Paul Marcus Wines Warehouse. And in this segment I'm going to talk about other Rioja-like wines. And what Rioja-like means to me is other wines that are based on the Tempranillo grape. The grape that forms the majority of most Rioja red wines. You'll find a lot of what we call cheap and cheerful Tempranillo from other regions of Spain. Such as Castilla. This Bodegas Fontana Mesta is a good example. These are a great value. Fruity fresh, kind of like a joven style Rioja. That are some of the great bargains I think in the wine world. And then there are two other regions, a little bit less well known in Rioja. But they can make you a equally fine wines. One of them is Ribera del Duero, which is West and a little bit South of Rioja. In these two regions by the way they often call the grape, instead of Tempranillo, Tinto Fino or Tinto de Pais. So you'll hear different names to the same grape. But the kind of umbrella name is Tempranillo. Ribera Del Duero is a very fashionable region for wine right now. And there's some really great wines coming out of that area, whether from Balbas or many other producers. They also use a very similar aging classification to Rioja. That is joven, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva. Representing increasing requirements for aging the wine at the Bodega, at the winery before it's shipped to you. So, a lot of similarities between Ribera del Duera and Rioja. To me the wine's often a little more gamey, animal, a little more kind of wild flavors to them. Great wines to drink with grilled meats in particular. And then the other area that's quite interesting right now is called Toro. Very hot area and not that far from Ribera del Duero, where the wines really have a dark, inky, rich character. If you're a fan of big California, Australian wines, you might enjoy taking home some Toro. Again based on the Tempranillo grape but just because of the climate you get a much richer, more generally denser and often more extracted wine. So try some of these other Tempranillo variations and then go back to Rioja and enjoy that too.
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