About a year ago, I had a highly rated Rioja and I remember thinking “what is Rioja about this wine?” The wine could have been from anywhere – lots of fruit and new oak, low acidity and high pH. Sound familiar? Any kind of “Riojaness” was striped in favor of the style of wine the winery wanted to produce. Fair enough, a winery has a right to make any style of wine it chooses but it wasn’t for me (actually I didn’t even think it was all that good – too much ethyl acetate).

I don’t drink a lot of Rioja but when I do, I tend to like the traditional style and you can’t get more traditional than Lopez de Heredia. 2001 is considered an excellent vintage for Rioja. The 2001 Vina Bosconia Reserva is 80% Tempranillo, 15% Grenache, 3% Graciano and 2% Mazuelo from estate vineyards.

On the nose, it had a weird soy sauce note and I thought it was a bit oxidized. Though the wine is only 9 years old, it doesn’t have a lot of fruit. Aged for 5 years in barrel, it’s easy to pick out notes of cedar. After a while, a hint of white pepper (from the Grenache I presume) is detectable. On the palate, the wine has vibrant acidity and the finish is wonderfully long. Whatever quibbles you might have with the aromas and taste or with the minor faults in the wine disappear as the long finish entices you to keep coming back for more.

This wine is not a crowd pleaser but if you want a taste of Rioja, I recommend it. $35.