A Tale of Two Riojas: or, Old World vs. New World

I'm not sure I know how to blog anymore--or write anymore, for that matter--but here we go.

Instead of writing a draft, editing the draft, thinking about things for a few days or weeks, editing again, and then finally publishing...I'm just spitting this out, like wine into a spit bucket. So sexy.

And today I'm writing about one of the few things I know how to do these days, which is: drink wine. I visited my local wine shop today to grab a good deal on a wine from a fancy shmancy winery. But I'm not here to talk about that wine (yet).

I'm going to talk about rioja. Apparently. I didn't realize most riojas are made primarily with tempranillo grapes and a few others mixed in. So I felt like a dummy when I asked the shop owner's recommendation for a good tempranillo. I mean, it wasn't a dumb question, but it was way more broad of a question than I realized. Anyway,  I had had a delicious tempranillo from a local winery and was interested in trying more of that style. Style? Is that even the right word? [I don't think so.] There's a reason my blog's name has the word "amateur" in it.

Enough of that though. Let's taste some wine. I grabbed a rioja from Spain that the owner recommended as a good value wine representing more of the Old World style + then picked up a New World tempranillo from Paso Robles. 

Old World girl on the left; New World girl on the right

Not surprisingly, they tasted pretty much as Wine Shop Owner told me they would. The Spanish wine was more earthy, less fruity. Lots of minerality. With a little kick of oak at the end. I love me some oak, and this wine is pretty dang good for the price. The color was virtually the same in these wines, so I'm glad I put them in different glasses so they didn't get swapped. However, the glasses probably weren't even necessary, because upon tasting the Paso wine...

...they are SO different. I think I might be a New World girl at heart, because I definitely preferred the Paso wine. Owner Dude had told me this was more fruit-forward than the Spanish wine. I don't think of myself as liking "fruit forward" wine, but now I'm seeing how fruit-forward isn't necessarily a dirty word. It tasted more fruit-y, but NOT sweet. The oak was more up front with some nice fragrant rose mixed in. A little raisin at the end. Now, this wine was twice the price of the Spanish wine. That doesn't mean it's inherently better, but I wonder if a difference in quality could also be at play. More tasting is obviously warranted.

Anyhoo. Tell me what you know about riojas, because "YOU KNOW NOTHING, MEGAN BURDICK" is totally applicable here.

Cheers!