I have allowed myself more than a little poetic license this week, however, I feel justified as the purpose of this blogging nonsense is to provide me with the motivation to keep exploring and learning about wine. It doesn't matter to me if you know more or less than I do, or whether you think I am mildly entertaining or completely irrelevant (if it's the latter, you should seek help because you are still reading. Yes, you are.)
Ull de Llebre is one of the many Spanish synonyms for a grape internationally known as Tempranillo. Specifically, it is the name used in the Penedes region in North East Spain, more famous for Cava, the Spanish sparkling wine that mustn't be compared to Champagne.
Tempranillo is famous as the major grape of Rioja, where it can be blended with Garnacha and Mazuelo in various proportions, and indeed this week's wine is from Rioja.
Week U (2015) Campo Viejo, Tempranillo. 2012. Tesco £8.99.
This is a well made and good value wine. It has a redcurrant and gentle vanilla spice flavour profile and cheery ruby complexion and is smoothly drinkable. I know people who consider this to be their everyday red, and I can see why.
This may not be a particularly unusual wine, but it does serve to illustrate any interesting move in the producer's marketing strategy. Historically, Rioja is a region that has a unique and, once you have understood it, clear structure for the classifications and labeling of wines produced there. The purpose of the classification hierarchy as a few advantages.
Firstly, like most naming schemes it is about quality control and ensuring all the usual types of regulations are observed: permitted grape varieties, limits of the area in which they were grown, methods of production, ageing etc, and secondly it is about protecting the name Rioja both so that producers from outside the region cannot diminish the regional brand by making inferior wines and selling them as the real thing. It also provides a means of telling consumers what to expect when they open the bottle in terms of style.
The traditional naming hierarchy which indicates style is based on the way in which the wines have been matured and start with 'vin joven', for young wines intended to be drunk early, through 'Crianza', 'Reserva' and 'Gran Reserva', which indicate the minimum length of oak-ageing in barrel and bottle ageing afterwards each style of wine has enjoyed. It follows, broadly, that the longer the ageing the better the original fruit and the higher quality and price. Wines at the upper end will have greater complexity, higher oak influence and tend to be more full-bodied and rich.
However, as with almost all 'old world' regions, one piece of information not clearly given on the label is one of the two that consumers, certainly those in UK, use to select a bottle from the dreaded wine wall. The name of the grape variety. The other piece of information is the price and that is always available unless you buy your daily tipple at auction in which case I really don't understand why you have read this far. But thanks anyway.
In 2012 Campo Viejo, a major producer in Rioja which was established in the 1950's, decided to adopt a 'new world' approach to labeling its lower-end wine and shift from the traditional to the modern. They dropped 'Crianza' and instead put 'Tempranillo' up front. This was in the belief that the Tempranillo 'brand' could do in Spain what Sauvignon Blanc brand has done in New Zealand.
Has it worked? Well, in 2014 Campo Viejo Tempranillo became the UK's most successful red wine, by value. That is to say that more money was spent on than any other red wine by UK consumers. There has been a side benefit for them , too, in that sales of their higher-end Reservas and Gran Reservas have also increased (by nearly 80% in the case of the Gran Reserva) as the Tempranillo move made the name Campo Viejo better recognised to shoppers.
It is clear that as a marketing strategy it has been hugely successful, but are we at risk of losing something here? Wine bores, like me, often enjoy the esoteric nature of wine language and the opportunity to bang on about stuff that real people don't care about, however, that is not justification enough to resist change. In fact I do see that it is a reason to embrace it. But what if in the pursuit of the market the simplification of description leads us further towards the homogenisation of the product? If a wine is no longer labeled 'Crianza' the requirement for it to rest in oak for a year is no longer enforced and the subtle variations in style the are derived from these practices may disappear, which I think would be a loss.
Ull de Llebre is one of the many Spanish synonyms for a grape internationally known as Tempranillo. Specifically, it is the name used in the Penedes region in North East Spain, more famous for Cava, the Spanish sparkling wine that mustn't be compared to Champagne.
Tempranillo is famous as the major grape of Rioja, where it can be blended with Garnacha and Mazuelo in various proportions, and indeed this week's wine is from Rioja.
This is a well made and good value wine. It has a redcurrant and gentle vanilla spice flavour profile and cheery ruby complexion and is smoothly drinkable. I know people who consider this to be their everyday red, and I can see why.
This may not be a particularly unusual wine, but it does serve to illustrate any interesting move in the producer's marketing strategy. Historically, Rioja is a region that has a unique and, once you have understood it, clear structure for the classifications and labeling of wines produced there. The purpose of the classification hierarchy as a few advantages.
Firstly, like most naming schemes it is about quality control and ensuring all the usual types of regulations are observed: permitted grape varieties, limits of the area in which they were grown, methods of production, ageing etc, and secondly it is about protecting the name Rioja both so that producers from outside the region cannot diminish the regional brand by making inferior wines and selling them as the real thing. It also provides a means of telling consumers what to expect when they open the bottle in terms of style.
The traditional naming hierarchy which indicates style is based on the way in which the wines have been matured and start with 'vin joven', for young wines intended to be drunk early, through 'Crianza', 'Reserva' and 'Gran Reserva', which indicate the minimum length of oak-ageing in barrel and bottle ageing afterwards each style of wine has enjoyed. It follows, broadly, that the longer the ageing the better the original fruit and the higher quality and price. Wines at the upper end will have greater complexity, higher oak influence and tend to be more full-bodied and rich.
However, as with almost all 'old world' regions, one piece of information not clearly given on the label is one of the two that consumers, certainly those in UK, use to select a bottle from the dreaded wine wall. The name of the grape variety. The other piece of information is the price and that is always available unless you buy your daily tipple at auction in which case I really don't understand why you have read this far. But thanks anyway.
In 2012 Campo Viejo, a major producer in Rioja which was established in the 1950's, decided to adopt a 'new world' approach to labeling its lower-end wine and shift from the traditional to the modern. They dropped 'Crianza' and instead put 'Tempranillo' up front. This was in the belief that the Tempranillo 'brand' could do in Spain what Sauvignon Blanc brand has done in New Zealand.
Has it worked? Well, in 2014 Campo Viejo Tempranillo became the UK's most successful red wine, by value. That is to say that more money was spent on than any other red wine by UK consumers. There has been a side benefit for them , too, in that sales of their higher-end Reservas and Gran Reservas have also increased (by nearly 80% in the case of the Gran Reserva) as the Tempranillo move made the name Campo Viejo better recognised to shoppers.
It is clear that as a marketing strategy it has been hugely successful, but are we at risk of losing something here? Wine bores, like me, often enjoy the esoteric nature of wine language and the opportunity to bang on about stuff that real people don't care about, however, that is not justification enough to resist change. In fact I do see that it is a reason to embrace it. But what if in the pursuit of the market the simplification of description leads us further towards the homogenisation of the product? If a wine is no longer labeled 'Crianza' the requirement for it to rest in oak for a year is no longer enforced and the subtle variations in style the are derived from these practices may disappear, which I think would be a loss.
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