Honorio Rubio, 55, has fond childhood memories of the time spent in the vineyards with his grandfather and the wine they used to sell in bulk in demijohns during the 1960s. In 1978, when he was just 15, he had to face his first solo harvest when his father had surgery for appendicitis.
Rubio lives in Cordovín, a village in the upper part of the Najerilla river valley, a tributary of the Ebro on its left bank. It lies on the route of the monasteries, a few kilometres from San Millán de la Cogolla, Cañas and Nájera. In contrast with the white-coloured soils found on the foothills of Sierra de Cantabria mountains to the north or the stony vineyards on the banks of the river Ebro, Cordovín lies close to the Iberian System, the mountain range on the southern boundaries of the appellation.
Located at an elevation of 600m, the village is surrounded by vineyards on gentle slopes and terraces with distinctive red soils that resemble the colour of its traditional clarete wines. Clarete is vinified like a red, albeit with a brief presence of the skins during fermentation. Claretes are always made by blending red and white grapes, traditionally Garnacha and Viura, while modern Rioja rosé is usually vinified from red varieties.
“Our claretes stand out for their acidity as our vineyards are planted at high elevations. This explains why they were always in top condition a year after the harvest,” Rubio explains proudly.
In contrast with other villages in the vicinity, Cordovín never had a cooperative, so wine was traditionally produced by local families.
Apparently, there was a fairly large volume of grapes in relation to the number of inhabitants so two different fermentations could be done in the same wine presses. Open traditional lakes were first filled for clarete —half white grapes and half red grapes— and then for the reds: grapes were macerated with their skins with the presence of a small amount of white grapes.
Cordovín is the only village in Rioja with a similar number of white and red grapes setting it apart from surrounding villages like Badarán, Cárdenas, Nájera or Alesanco. According to Rioja’s Regulatory Board, in 2017 red varieties accounted for 105 hectares under vine against 100 hectares for whites. Garnacha and Viura were naturally mixed in the vineyards I visited with Honorio Rubio —Tempranillo was absent from the area until the 1970s. As claretes were the village’s flagship wines, it is not surprising that “cordovín” became a synonym for this style of rosé.
"Viura was an insurance against millerandage in Garnacha”," says Rubio. A very common problem with Garnacha, millerandage occurs when there is an excessively high proportion of seedless berries resulting in poor fruit set. Rubio also recalls that the first tempranillos planted in the area hardly reached 11% abv. but now, due to climate change, 13% abv. is the standard alcohol content.
The wide range of elevations and exposures has traditionally helped to balance crops. Major risks in the area include hail, storms and particularly frost, which is not limited to spring and can also be present in the autumn as it is the case in colder, extreme regions like Ribera del Duero.
Grapes were traditionally picked in the second half of October. According to Honorio Rubio, vintage variation is particularly high in the area. In 2017 yields were very low after that year’s severe frost. Meanwhile in 2018 grapes were harvested in October —just like in the old days.
The winery bottled its first wines in 1988. Current production of its extensive portfolio stands at 160,000 bottles. The family vineyards are owned by Rubio’s sisters, so he now sources grapes from 80Ha grown by traditional suppliers. Tempranillo is used for young wines and the oak-aged Crianza and Reserva reds. The premium range includes a top clarete, the local speciality, and some exciting whites that benefit from the abundance of Viura in the area.
According to Honorio Rubio, clarete is still the flagship style in Cordovín. He describes it as a blend of Garnacha and Viura macerated together until the beginning of fermentation, then crushed with the feet, bled and fermented in a natural way without adding sulfites. “I don't care if there's a light taste of concrete or if there are small flaws; I don't like polished, technological wines because you get tired of them easily; what I look for is the mark of every new vintage,” he says. Rubio also favours some bitterness (“a touch of press wine adds consistency”) as opposed to “tiresome” floral notes.
Clarete accounts for 40% of the wines produced by Honorio Rubio. Tremendus (€6.80 in WineiSocial) is his flagship wine (there is also a white Tremendus). The informative label reads "Viura + Garnacha Clarete". For Rubio, “Viura adds liveliness and freshness” and is widely available while Garnacha marks the point of ripeness.
The top clarete is Honorio Rubio Lías Finas Edición Limitada (2,000 bottles, around €17) which was first released in the 2015 vintage. Aged in 500-litre French oak barrels, it displays crunchy red fruit, vibrant acidity and a very discreet presence of oak.
The Edición Limitada (limited edition) range was launched in 2012 with the first saca of Añadas (€25.45 in Decántalo), a 100% Viura made in the Sherry-style solera system. Started in 2007, the solera now has 26 barrels. Between 1,500 and 1,800 bottles are released per year as CVC (conjunto de varias cosechas), a category used for multi-vintage blends. The blend includes some old wines in a style that is reminiscent of Tondonia, but its lightly oxidative character also brings Sherry to mind (unsurprisingly, the Edición Limitada is set to be one of the wines in the pairing menu of Aponiente, the three Michelin-starred restaurant in El Puerto de Santa María in Cádiz). I loved the combination of creamy notes and the distinctive acidity of Cordovín.
According to María Álvarez, from Spanish Wine Exclusives, who looks after several export markets for Honorio Rubio, “a strong point for the Edición Limitada range is its great versatility for parings.” The wines are particularly successful in Japan, the US and Canada. Experts are pleasantly surprised by the potential and quality of the whites made in a country traditionally associated to red wines.
The Japanese market, Álvarez explains, is particularly fond of Añadas and Macerado (4,000 bottles, €13.90 in Vinissimus). Macerado is an orange wine which is fermented and aged with skins —the result is somehow less extreme than the standard in the category. In the US sommeliers favour the Lías Finas (4,000 bottles, €13.5 in Vinissimus), a complex white that combines different batches aged in cement and wood. This wine is sold by the glass in one of José Andrés's restaurants.
All the premium wines in the Edición Limitada range fermented in small open cement tanks with capacity for just 1,000 kg (see photo above). According to Rubio, the process is pretty natural: sulfites are added after the wine is aged under lees and before clarification and sometimes only prior to bottling.
Spontaneous fermentations are the norm. No selected yeasts or previous pre-fermentation vats are used. Rubio wants each tank to work with its own yeasts. Neither whites nor claretes undergo malolactic fermentation.
The winery is about to launch a new range of wines under the name Tremendus Clásico. The idea behind them is to combine different wine making techniques. The white wine will be a blend of batches aged under lees in cement, under lees in spin barrels (barrels equipped with wheels that can rotate easily to increase lees contact) and with skins. The new clarete will be a blend of wines aged under lees in cement and in wood. With less than 3,000 bottles available, retail prices are expected to exceed €20. The first wines from the 2018 vintage are set to be released in a month. Judging by the samples I had the chance to taste at the winery, the results are promising and follow the style of the winery in terms of purity of flavours, vibrant acidity and a bitter touch.
Despite his wide range of whites, Honorio Rubio stands up for clarete. “If I had to choose a single style of wine to drink for the rest of my life, it would be clarete. It has liveliness and freshness and pairs well with many dishes, including those high in fat like chorizo and lamb chops,” he concludes.
This is evidenced during meals with his friends: “If we choose to drink clarete instead of red wine, we open twice as many bottles and we eat all the food.” Perhaps wine lovers may be interested in experiencing this themselves.
