Bodegas Beronia
Bodegas Beronia is a modern winery in the DOCa Rioja based in the region of  Rioja Alta. The winery name has historic links, in the 3rd Century BC the area known today  as Rioja was inhabited by a celtic tribe called the ‘Berones’. Beronia was founded in 1973 by a group of businessmen, friends from the Basque country, today it is part of the González Byass group. Beronia was voted Spanish Wine Producer of the Year in 2018 by the IWSC. In Spain, Beronia is very much sought after, particularly as a food wine. The tapas culture makes these wines ideal to serve with food.
I recently attended an on-line consumer tasting of three of their wines presented by Fernando Carcab of Beronia and Kate Barry of Wines of the World. Fernando discussed the new DOCa Rioja classification system introduced in 2017  which began to take effect in 2019. Until now Rioja classified their wines in the same way as other Spanish regions,  based strictly on a period of aging. However the new classification system, now places the  emphasis on the specific terroir and geographical origins of a given wine, much in the same way as they do in Burgundy.
Rioja producers can now add the name of the village or municipality to the front of their labels, designating which of the 145 towns they come from. This helps producers and consumers identify how the varying characteristics of the wines might relate to the specific characteristics of each area. This is an important selling point for the Beronia winery and its  vineyards situated near the town of Ollauri, in the heart of Rioja Alta, close to the Cantabrian mountain range. Rioja Alta has the highest elevation of the three sub-regions of Spain’s most famous wine denominacion.
Beronia own 30ha of vineyards and purchases a further 870ha from growers. Up to 50ha of their wines come from 60 year old vines. The tasting featured three wines two of which are currently on offer,  the 2017 Beronia Crianza €17.00 and the 2019 Beronia Tempranillo Elaboración Especial €20.00 and the 2012 Beronia Grand Reserva €27.00
I particularly liked the 2019 Beronia Tempranillo Elaboración Especial, made from 100% Tempranillo this is a single varietal wine that shows the Tempranillo grape at its best. A fresh modern Rioja style, quite full bodied, the wine was fermented in American oak barrels. It had a tighter structure in terms of tannin and mouth feel than you would usually expect from wine produced in this region, with hints of clove and spice on the nose. The black fruit worked well with the firm yielding tannin and there was a secondary hint of mocha that added to its appeal. At this offer price, this wine is definitely worth a try. The Beronia range is available to buy on line from Wines of the World https://www.winesoftheworld.ie/ and also from independent off licences.
Wines of the World offer regular on-line tastings to their customers, check out their website for more details.
