Palador Crianza 2017

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 Living in Germany has opened me to dimensions of the wine market that I have never thought of in Portugal.

First of all the sort of social connotation of wine: even though its consumption has been becoming a bit more generalized in the last years, it is still seen as something which is either local (people form the Mosel or Rheinessen mainly) or as it happens here in the north where I am living, as something rather elitist. I was often told that there is a difference between the ones who drink beer and the ones who drink wine. I find this division rather ridiculous, but I'll never forget a friend of mine who once told me: In Portugal I was astonished to see university students getting drunk on wine!!!

I think the following graph shows quite clearly the relation of Portuguese with wine:

Portuguese wines can be really cheap in Portugal, specially when compared to other countries. This is due to the different taxes applied for Portuguese wines (13%) and foreign wines (23%). 

Being so, I have to confess that I have barely tried wines from anywhere else than Portugal when I was still living there. 

That was another major difference to what I have found in Germany: from supermarkets to specialized wine shops you encounter a wide range of wines form all over the world, being that Portuguese wines are often found along with the Spanish and that the "New World" usually sets Chilean wines alongside with Australian ones. 

Another thing that I have came across is the way certain wine producers have special editions for the German market. From the Portuguese Niepoort which has his Diálogo converted into Fabelhaft (which even has a special edition for Hamburg) to quite a wide range of Spanish wines which end up being bottled here. Another model which has initially surprised me was how companies such as Wein & Vinos (the information about their projects is unfortunately only in German...) decided to buy complete productions in Spain and name these wines as theirs, rolled them in some attractive design but with not too much information about them. This can be due to many reasons, but I do not want to get deeper into the subject in this post.  

 One of the wines that I have recently tried in an "exclusive" German edition is this Palador Crianza. Originally from Rioja this is a wine that faithfully translates the terroir where it was produced but that it has somehow failed to amaze me. Knowing its Reserva may have helped  for this feeling.

But, please, do not get me wrong: it is an incredibly soft wine with a good balance between ripe berries and a light smoky taste coming from the contact with French oak. 

It is a wine that can perfectly enrich a normal winter meal due to its stronger scents of tobacco or leather, matching perfectly some Spanish lentils or other stew dishes.

 Also recommendable is the website of the family Valdelana which offers a deep insight in their wine tradition.

 

 

16/20
Country: Spain    
Region: Rioja

Grapes: Tempranillo

14%
Winemaker: Juan Jesús Valdelana
 Website: https://www.bodegasvaldelana.com/
Location: Hamburg, Germany

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