Wine for Christmas: Two vintages of Faustino I Gran Reserva
Posted on December 20th, 2009
Saved in Red wine, Sour Grapes recommends, Wine, €15-€20
You’ve probably seen the familar Faustino frosted wired bottles on the shelves of your local supermarket or convenience store like Centra or Spar. They’re pretty much everywhere. Decent wines with no pretensions.
Within the Faustino brand, there are a number of styles and prices. From the Crianzas and Reserva (Faustino VII and Faustino V) to the Gran Reserva (Faustino I) each has something different to offer.
What’s a Gran Reserva, then?
It’s worth quickly taking a step back to talk about the main classifications within Rioja. Essentially, these classifications denote how long the wine has spent hanging around before it gets onto shop shelves.
- Crianza must be aged for a minimum of one year in oak barrel and at least one year in bottle before release;
- Reserva must be aged a minimum of three years in barrel and bottle with at least one which must be in oak;
- Gran Reserva has to be aged for a minimum of two years in oak followed by at least three years in bottle.
So with the Faustino Gran Reservas you usually get a step up in quality (and price) and a perfect choice for the Christmas dinner.
1. Faustino I Rioja Gran Reserva 1996
With that out of the way it’s worth nothing that the 1996 Gran Reserva is doing the rounds in supermarkets at the moment, ranging in price from €16.49 (Tesco) to €19.99 (Dunnes). At €16.49, it’s probably the best value example of a classic Rioja style. Think a medium bodied vanilla, sour cherry, leather and you’ve pretty much nailed a good example of classic Rioja style. A classic Rioja to match a classic Christmas dinner. My one piece of advice: Don’t let it hang around. I tried this again a day after opening (having spent the night in the fridge) and it had all but faded. Indeed, according to Faustino’s notes from their site, it’s at its peak and it may be all downhill from here.
2. Faustina I Rioja Gran Reserva 2001 (Black Label, 75th birthday)
This is also retailing for €19.99 and is dedicated to Don Julio Faustino on the occasion of this 75th birthday. It’s a fuller weightier version of the above 1996 but still all the classic Rioja flavours. Oh, and the label is black, not yellow for this edition. My favourite of the two but still a great match for the turkey and trimmings.
Disclosure: I received the 2001 as a sample from Gilbey’s
Gilbeys sent me a bottle of the 2001 too and it was the clearest case of brettanomcyces I’ve seen in ages – real ‘waiter there’s a horse in my wine’ stuff. Absolutely undrinkable. All of which proves, I guess, that one man’s meat is another’s poison.
Hi Martin,
in your experience, is Brett a winery problem (i.e. affecting a vintage or batch, just one barrell, for example) or a per bottle problem (like a corked wine).
Lar
A bit of both. Often a lot of a winery’s wines will show it as it’s there and in the air and will attack anything it gets a chance to. But individual batches can have properties, eg high enough SO2 levels, that block it. I’ve heard more than one winemaker say that the answer is to burn the place down and start again!
BTW, for my money Faustino does seem to have an issue here, if you think Brett is an issue, as for my money the 1998 Faustino I is bretty too.
I saw the 98 on shelves but decided to steer clear. The 2001 seemd okay. Maybe as part of the 75th celebrations they burnt the place down and started again!
I opened a bottle of 1996 Gran Reserva a couple of hours ago and just had the first glass.
I’m no expert but it is so oaky it almost tastes as if it is corked. Like cheap sherry. Extremely unpleasant. Going down the sink. It would be going back to the shop but it was a present.
Could this be brettanomyces?
P.S. How do you pronounce this? I want to be able to bore the arse off/impress my friends.
Pronounced bret-o-my-sees. Just call it “Brett” and they’ll be doubly impressed. Whatever it was, ask your friend where they got it and bring it back. It’s available in Dunnes and Tesco so they should take it back without quibble
europhile – oaky is normal in Gran Reserva Rioja as they are in oak for 3 years before bottling, but sherry like aroma could be oxidation, as in the cork has not kept air out properly. ‘Random oxidation’ is nearly as much an issue as corked or TCA, which is why so many have changed to screwcap. Either way it does not sould like Brett. But, as Lar said, you could try and take it back and swap for something else.