Eric Asimov of the New York Times has rapidly become my favorite newspaper wine writer, mostly for the interesting subjects he writes on. Today's topic is some 2001s from Rioja. I don't agree with all of his judgments (his fondness for the '01 Torre Muga is worrisome if their '94 is anything to go by), but it's an interesting topic and he's tried some good wines. Of course, many of the traditional bodegas have yet to release their Reservas or GRs, so the tasting is slanted to Crianzas and "modern" wines. It still makes for good reading:
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Mark Lipton