The second school of thought is that the hole in the ozone layer will heat up the world, the seas will rise and the gulf stream, that keeps us warm in winter, will go elsewhere and we will all freeze in the winter.
Well, it is December and currently minus 8 at the moment, so I'm opting for the latter at the moment, so to cheer me up (warming me up just isn't an option!) we opened up a couple of old Riojas from Vina Tondonia. I grant you, white wine in the winter isn't exactly the first thing you would lean to if you wanted a tipple whilst watching the snow fall, but this is no ordinary white wine.
Vina Tondonia is a master with wood, and all their wines get unheard of levels of barrel ageing. Take their 1987 Gran Reserva Blanco for example. This wine is their current release, and it spent nine and a half years in barrel, being fined twice annually with egg whites. Nine and a half years! That is longer than most first growths are alive, and this is a white Rioja! Not only that, but they then keep the bottles in their cellar for another decade before they release it! The cost of this must be astronomical, but, the result is that the customer gets the wine at its best, and the producer can minimalise the bottle variation as much as is possible so when people like me rate their wines, they know how the wine has been stored up until very recently. And boy, what a wine. Lots of honey on the nose, covered with so much butter, wood, cashews and hazelnuts, with hints of dried fruit and dried orange. You are getting a lot of oak aromas, but they aren't overpowering, and what you notice more is the oxidation of the wine with the barrels only being the method in which this wine is exposed to the air. The result is an old old nose, with all the richness you would expect. But then the palate is so youthful! Sure it has the old white wine flavours of melon pith, old honey and nuts that, even on this freezing winter day, actually warm you up, but it has beautiful acidity that brings life back to the old man. Essentially, the acid is this wine's Viagra! It is beautifully structured, and so tasty and a perfect winter white as it tastes superb at room temperature. 9/10
The red of this pair didn't disappoint either. The 1991 Gran Reserva Tinto had a gorgeous, perfumy aroma, violets and a hint of orange coming through. It was slightly stalky, and then with some dried tomato. This leads to a palate of red apple skin, some twiggy elements and lots of dried fruit. Stunning balance with a lively fresh finish. Again the acidity is so impressive, keeping this wine lively and youthful despite its old age. 9/10... maybe even 10! However, what is most impressive about this red is the alcohol, and this brings me back to global warming. It is only 12% and that is a rare beast now, in an age where global warming has warmed up the alcohol content of wine. We need to go back to only 20 years ago, when politicians were trying to prevent the hole in the ozone layer heating up the world by encouraging us to recycle our Coke cans, and we find a well balanced, well integrated wine with a low alcohol content that reigns supreme over every other Rioja on the shelves around it.
I suspect that in two decades time, even Vina Tondonia won't be able to contain the booze levels under 14%, but am certain that even if the environment works against them, their wines will be as superb as the two I tasted today.
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