marques de caceres is one of spain's best rioja's
all vintages whether crianza, reserva or gran reserva are excellent !
I lived in spain for several years and drank this like water....

you can't go wrong...

"H.J. van der Veen" wrote in message
...
Well, I don't know of "partly hitting the bell" is a saying in English,
but
it is in Dutch, referring to more or less knowing what it is about, but
not
completely.

The main thing is: IF a Spanish wine is a Crianza, it MUST be labeled on
the
bottle. The same with Reserva and Gran Reserva. There should be a "back
label" on the bottle, with the law-approved number, AND this statement
(crianza, reserva, gran reserva). If it isn't there, you can almost be
sure,
that the wine is a young one (Joven).

Mind, this applies to ALL Spanish wines, so not only to the Rioja's!

As to the aging:

Crianza: must have aged at least (!) 2 years of which at least (!) 6
months
on oak barrels
Reserva: must have aged at least (!) 3 years, of which at least (!) 1 year
on oak barrels
Gran Reserva: Must have aged at least (!) 5 years, of which at least (!) 2
years on oak barrels

Rioja wines MUST have been bottled in the Rioja

regards,

Hillebrand

"Steve Naïve" wrote in message
...
(Belize) wrote in
om:

Thanks for the reply Dale.

But who and what was Steve's answer? Since he obviously answers what
a crianza is.

That'll be me!

As I wrote;

I'm sure someone will be along shortly to give a better answer, but
Rioja
(a wine-producing area of Spain, and what Marques de Caceres (mostly?)
produce) is divided into 4 main 'types' for the red, at least. The
'types'
depend on how long they are aged for, either in barrel or bottle, before
release.

They are (from 'youngest' to 'oldest')

Joven - the young wine of Rioja, usually with no cask aging.
Crianza aged 2 years, of which one must be in oak casks
Reserva aged 3 years, of which one must be in oak casks
Gran Reserva 2 years in cask plus 3 in bottle.

Be careful, though - just because it's Spanish doesn't mean it's Rioja,
and
other areas have different rules about what the names mean. For
example,
in Valdepenas the Gran Reserva is, I think, 3.5 years - apparently due
to
the reduced acidity of the wines.


--
SteveN
Please remove the N from my email address to reply