Feel Good Wine!
Bodegas Luis Cañas Rioja Reserva Selección de la Familia, Rioja Alavesa, Villabuena de Alava, Spain, 2019
Recently, I had a great time drinking this wine over some delicious tapas at the bar of @bayfaresocial restaurant, in Rosewood Hotel HK, with one of my coworkers. This juicy Rioja hit the spot as a perfect feel-good wine, making me feel in heaven for a moment! Great food, great wine! Just what I needed that day! 😋😋😋😋😋😁👍🍷
Bodegas Luis Cañas Rioja Reserva Selección de la Familia, Rioja Alavesa, Villabuena de Alava, Spain, 2019
Bodega Luis Cañas is a family-owned winery with over 200 years of history in viticulture and winemaking. It wasn't until 1970 that Luis Cañas launched its first bottled young wines, having previously sold exclusively in bulk. From then on, sales increased, and it gradually became one of the prominent wineries in Rioja Alavesa.
In 1989, a new chapter in the winery’s history began as Juan Luis Cañas, the sole son of Mr. Luis Cañas, took leadership. At 33 years old, he introduced innovative ideas and started creating new wines while also offering more aged Cuvées, setting the groundwork for what would eventually evolve into the modern winery.
This wine is one of the few Rioja wines that blends Cabernet Sauvignon with Tempranillo. In the early 1980s, Bodegas Luis Cañas received approval from the D.O.Ca. to plant this variety as an experiment, and it has remained part of the blend ever since.
A blend of 85% Tempranillo and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2019 Rioja Reserva Selección de la Familia is an easy-going red wine aged for 20 months in 50% French oak and 50% American oak. In the glass, it displays a deep and dense purple hue. The nose offers ripe aromas of black fruits, mingling with earthy yet smooth notes of graphite, smoked tobacco, and chocolate, and oaky nuances. The palate is full-bodied, rich and suave, balanced and layered, with ripe and present yet well-integrated tannins, gently coating and expanding towards the long finish. Nicely done! Loved it!
*****
I posted this post on Facebook, and a Spanish producer I'm friends with (on FB) put a comment roughly saying:
"There are many better wines (in Rioja) than this one, which is very industrial."
To which I answered:
"Of course, there are many better wines (in Rioja), but there, in this tapas bar, in Hong Kong, that's what they had by the glass, so I wasn't picky, and sure enough, with the tapas, it was super good and it went down very well. 😋😁👍"
To which I added:
"That's what wine is all about, and you know it as well as I do: the place, the atmosphere, the company, the moment, the context, the food, etc., can transform a wine and make it better, right there, in the moment. 😁👍🍷"
To conclude: "Wine is all about the moment!" - Dom.
And that is exactly what this wine was!
- Was it the best Rioja I have ever tasted? No, but it was definitely one of the nicest I've tasted recently, especially considering the price (a bottle costs about 20 euros retail).
- Is it industrial, as that producer said, mass-produced? It isn't, but even if it were, so what? There are many wineries in Rioja producing a lot of bottles, and the wines are delicious. Quantity does not always mean lower quality. The same goes for Bordeaux, for example.
- Was it great? Yes, as it was pretty juicy, rich, layered, balanced, with appealing aromas and flavors, good structure and texture, with integrated tannins, and a smooth, long finish.
Wine is all about the present moment, and fortunately, tasting is subjective, so there is something for everyone. There is no real point in downgrading a wine someone is enjoying simply because you don't like it yourself or don't find it good enough. Everyone's palate is different.
And, of course, there will always be a "better, faster, stronger" wine out there that might be superior, but it doesn't matter. If you consider the wine you're drinking at that moment the best in the world (even if it isn't) and it makes you feel good, then, no matter what, it is the best wine in the world at that moment! And don't let anyone tell you otherwise!
As my grandfather used to say: "Si tu n'aimes pas ça, n'en dégoûte pas les autres!" (which could awkwardly be translated as "If you don't like something, don't disgust others with it").
Cheers! Santé!
Dom
@ledomduvin #ledomduvin #wine #vin #vino #wein @luiscanas_bodegas #luiscañas #rioja #reserva #spain #sommelier #sommelierlife #sommlife #ilovemyjob #lovewine #wineyearly
Unless stated otherwise, all rights reserved ©LeDomduVin 2025, on all the contents above including, but not limited to, photos, pictures, drawings, illustrations, collages, visuals, maps, memes, posts, texts, writings, quotes, notes, tasting notes, descriptions, wine descriptions, definitions, recipes, graphs, tables, and even music and video (when and where applicable).
