Ageing in oak
Today, there are more than 1.000.000 oak casks in the Rioja bodegas. A
truly enormous investment, which is essential to the production of the
unmistakeable style, character and award-winning quality of these wines.
Much of the individual character each bodega achieves
with its wines is formed by the use of French and American oak casks, as
well as the variations in ageing times in cask and bottle.
The four categories
Red Rioja wines are classified into four categories:
-
Young wines: Less than one year in cask, or none at all.
-
Crianza: Wine in its third year, matured for at
least one year in oak cask and for a further period in bottle
-
Reserva: Carefully selected wines, aged for at
least three years, of which at least one is in oak cask and the rest
in bottle.
-
Gran Reserva: Wines from great vintages which have been aged at
least two years in oak casks and three years in bottle.
Many bodegas exceed these minimums.
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