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Howard Jacobson's favourite Rioja
He’s one of Britain’s leading novelists, with a wit and verve that have won him a loyal following. His latest book, Kalooki Nights, is published by Vintage at £17.99.
Perhaps because I used to spend a lot of time in Australia, I am a red man. Wine that isn't red isn't really wine to me. And by red I mean blood red. Shiraz from Coonawarra. Failing which, if I can't get out of Europe, a Tuscan red - the wild strawberry and mocha of a Brunello di Montalcino, say. But recently - perhaps because I've been spending time in Spain, or at least in what might be called Spanish Territories - I have fallen for Rioja. Two Riojas in particular have come my way of late. A Roda 1 2002, which gave me all I wanted in the way of colour, but was a bit too metallic initially, and a bit too busy, a bit too complex if you can accept that idea. It settled down well, but always I tasted an excess of fruit. I know wine *is* fruit but there's a limit to how much I like to be reminded of it. A Valenciso Reserva 2001, however, knocked me on my back. Ruby in colour. more cherry than raspberry or strawberry (yes I know cherry is fruit, but it's preferable fruit), and a suggestion of something that is either chocolate or tobacco. Is musky the word? I'd add masculine but that would just get me into an unnecessary brawl about gender. Warm in a gentleman's club sense anyway, a lingering, leisurely sophistication, full, round, earthy, long on the tongue. Red. Maybe it's colour we want to taste at last. The essence of colour. And this is the essence of red. Red become black with its own redness.
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