This is the Rioja – Spain’s answer to Beaujolais – we are fast coming to know and love, but the basis for comparison is in some ways as young as the wine itself.

While the new varieties of Rioja may be intended to be drunk when young, Rioja is “traditionally” a wine deliberately aged in oak casks. Paradoxically (given the argument that Rioja is Spain’s answer to the Beaujolais), the history of Rioja is interlaced with the history of French wine-making since the 18^th Century. This was a time when trade routes were being improved on the Iberian peninsula, particularly with the port of Bilbao.

In about 1780, wine producer Manuel Quintano adopted the Bordelais method of aging wines in oak casks – the only departure from the French method being the larger size of cask employed. By 1850, Luciano de Murrieta – later the Marquis de Murrieta – established the first commercial vineyard in the cellars of the Duca de Vitoria and began exporting the wine to the Spanish colonies. Production of the Spanish wine was given an ironic boost in response to a series of infestations which destroyed many of the French vineyards during the 1850s and Bordelais producers moved to Spain and in particular the region of Rioja, in search of new vineyards.

During a 40-year heyday of Rioja production countless wineries were established by the influx of French growers, producing in their native style and building Bordelais barriques in which to age the wine. The practice continued well into the 20^th Century and continues today, with the use of local grape varieties, and in particular the renowned Tempranillo.

In 1925, Rioja was the first to be granted Denominación de Origen status; in 1991, the appellation was promoted to a Denominación de Origen Calificada due to its consistent quality.

A distinctive mark of this “traditional” method of Rioja production is the very long aging of the wine. Although the practice was borrowed form the producers around Bordeaux, in France, Spanish wine-makers took the process several steps further, with Rioja being cask-aged for between four and ten years (rather than the French average of two to four years), and some Riojas are aged for twice as long.

Accompanying the decline in wine production from Bordeaux in the 19^th Century, there was also a severe shortage of the oak casks in which to age Spanish Rioja production. As a result, many wineries were forced to import American oak into the country instead of expensive French barriques. This saw the growth of a vigorous cooperage industry in Spain, which continues today.

And so the story of Rioja could be told of a wine with many a parallel with Bordeaux – the Spanish wine also aged in oak casks, and then some!

In fact it’s only half the story – and for the other half we need to take another look at that reference to the “traditional” method of Rioja wine-making. It is a tradition that in fact pre-dates the import of the Bordelais method.

There is plenty of evidence to show that wine has been made in the Rioja region of Spain since Roman times, where vines were grown in the valley north of the River Ebro. Although wine-making went into decline during the Moorish occupation, it began to flourish again at the end of the 15^th Century when monks in Rioja made wine for pilgrims taking the camino Frances from different parts of Europe to the shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia.

This is the wine that can more accurately be described as “traditional” to the region of Rioja. It is not stored in casks. It is a vino de cosechero, that is vignerons wine. It is a young, fruity wine to be drunk fresh during next year. But it is the wine that became increasingly overlooked – or consciously shunned – by a wine industry convinced that the sophisticated and only “correct” way to treat the local grape was according to the method imported from Bordeaux in the 18^th Century. For many years, the wine made by the cosecheros was considered altogether too rustic and basic.

The final, ironic twist to the tale of the Rioja, however, is that it has taken yet another spur from Spain’s northern neighbour to revive an interest in the most truly traditional method of producing wine from the region’s grapes. It was the very success of French Beaujolais, that prompted a renewed interest in the potential of Rioja, and the dawning of the belief that cosechero wines could compete in quality with the French wine.

And the “young Spanish reds” soon proved themselves worthy of the comparison. By the 1980s, they were showing themselves in a colour yet more attractive than the Beaujolais – with the potential to express a youthful and vibrant appearance.

The young Spanish reds display a nose of surprising density of strong, black fruit aromas that lend a more serious, deeper aroma, probably, than the perfumed, exotic red fruit of the Beaujolais.

On the palette, the Beaujolais tends more to perfume than to drink, while the young Spanish reds reveal rather more substance and body. This could be a dubious trait for any wine striving to become the successor to the youthful lightness of the Beaujolais. Old habits die hard, perhaps, and the winemakers of Rioja – even the youngest of reds – have still half an eye on a wine that will age at least a year or two.

The Rioja revival, however, is seeing all the young Spanish reds refining their search for an intense aroma and lightness – after the Beaujolais style.