Ep 544: The Rioja Series - the Rioja Alta Zone with Guillermo de Aranzabal Bittner of La Rioja Alta S.A.

Wine for Normal People

Alcohol, Lifestyle, Arts, Education, Food, Wine, Dining, Grapes

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2024

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This show kicks off a multi-part, in-depth series on the Rioja DOCa. We will look at the three major zones of Rioja in the podcasts that follow. In each, I host top producers to tell us their perspectives on their zones and on Rioja at large.

To get you up to speed before my conversation with Guillermo de Aranzabal Bittner, the Deputy General Director and Director of Public Relations for La Rioja Alta S.A., I start out the show with a quick primer on Rioja. I cover everything from climate and terroir, the grapes, the aging criteria, and the terroir driven designations that were introduced in 2017-2018.

Then I get to my lively conversation with Guillermo de Aranzabal Bittner. Guillermo is a descendent of one of the founding families of La Rioja Alta and is part of the 6th generation in the business. He educates us on the Rioja Alta zone - its terroir, history, and the grapes in which it specializes.

Guillermo then tells us about La Rioja Alta, which was formed in 1890 as a partnership of 5 quality-conscious growers focused on getting the wines of their remote region to the masses. They achieved this by supporting the construction of a rail link from Haro to Bilbao and thus, opened the world to these marvelous wines. They have a laser focus on quality and on maintaining tradition -- the dedication is admirable!

The brands of La Rioja Alta S.A. that Guillermo discusses are:

La Rioja Alta: Gran reserva 890, Gran Reserva 904 Seleccion Especial, Viña Arana, Viña Ardanza, Viña Alberdi
Torre de Oña (Rioja Alavesa): Finca Martelo, Finca San Martin Crianza

Guillermo and I then discuss some of the challenges currently facing Rioja, and we get deep into the analysis of what is working and what isn't. It's a great discussion!

As promised, here is the list of producers in the Asociación de Bodegas por la Calidad (ABC) that we mention.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Wine for Normal People, the podcast for people who like wine, but not the snobbery that goes with it.
0:15.9	I'm your host, Elizabeth Schneider, author of the Wine for Normal People book, and Certified Wine Dork.
0:21.8	Join me as I hit record on this conversation with a friend in the wine industry.
0:26.2	This and all shows with guests are informal that educational discussions between passionate
0:30.9	wine friends. All guests are personal friends or friends of friends in wine, not strangers.
0:36.2	And like any conversation between
0:37.9	friends, we're going to talk back and forth, interrupt each other, laugh, have fun, debate,
0:43.1	tough questions, voice opinions. Most of all, enjoy sharing our time together and with you. If you're
0:48.5	in, pour yourself a glass, pull up a chair, and join us for this great chat.
0:57.7	This podcast is sponsored by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access.
1:01.0	Are you gearing up to give the gift of wine this holiday season?
1:03.5	If so, think about a wine access gift card.
1:06.6	You can gift a shipment of the Wine Access Wine for Normal People,
1:11.2	wine club to the wine lover in your life, or you can stock up during the Black Friday sale that is coming up.
1:12.4	Make sure you sign up for the email to get notified so you can have awesome bottles on hand
1:16.9	throughout the holiday season.
1:18.3	Go to wine access.com slash normal.
1:21.8	Check out the many ways you can make a wine lover in your life happy or make your own holiday
1:26.7	list to make you happy.
1:28.2	Wineaccess.com slash normal do it today.
1:31.5	This show is going to be really awesome, as are those that follow on Rioja.
1:37.0	But before we do these shows, I want to give you some basics on Rioja.
	...

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