These are dark days indeed and, with nobody seemingly in control, we’re pretty much back where we started, with lockdown beckoning once more with its bony finger. Well sod that. With a long, lonely winter ahead, I’m stocking up like fury. No, not with bog rolls and baked beans, you fool, with vino!
I don’t think any vino suits this time of year better than fine Rioja, and the family–owned Compañia Vinicola del Norte de España (better known as CVNE) and its sister bodegas of Viña Real and Contino make some of the finest. As with the Champenois (but most definitely not the Bordelais), the Riojanos take the trouble to age their wines for us before release and the bottles below are in peak condition and ready to go, especially the fabulous pair of Gran Reservas in the exclusive-to-the-Speccie wooden box.
The 2019 Monopole Blanco Seco Rioja (1) is made from 100 per cent Viura and is unabashedly crisp, clean and refreshing.
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