Boosting your wine IQ

Wine Columnist, Michael Bray shares an important way to boost your knowledge of wine. Bray suggests, tasting a flight of all ages featuring Wines from Rioja: Regions of the world all specify different aging requirements for a style and labeling term on a wine (such as “Reserva”). An easy way to do this is with Spain’s most famous wine region, Rioja. If you stick with one producer for this flight, you really notice the effect of both barrel and bottle aging on the wines. The CVNE Rioja Crianza (2 years total aging, 1+ year in wood), Reserva (3 years total aging, 1+ years in wood, 6+ months in bottle), and Gran Reserva (5 years total aging, 2+ years in wood, 2+ years in bottle) is an excellent “vertical tasting” for learning and enjoyment.