Viva L'Espanya

       

It never fails to amaze me, the power of a brand. It’s ability to stay in peoples’ heads. Or maybe I’m giving to much credit to the brand, maybe people just don’t make enough of an effort to discover other brands. The brand I’m referring to is Rioja wine. Not technically a brand perhaps but the purposes of my debate I’ll refer to it as that.

            Surely one of the world’s best known wine regions, no wine producing country has such a solely dominant name as Rioja. France has Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Loire etc. Italy has Chianti, Barolo and so on (not regions of course but my point is recognizable ‘brands’.  People don’t necessarily see wine in specific terms, i.e., a region, a sub-region, a denomination, they see it in terms of names.

            Now, Spain makes a lot of wine but how much could the average wine drinker on the street name? Cava? Sherry(at a push)? And possibly for the aficionado, Ribero Del Duero?

            I’m lucky enough to spend a fair amount of time in Spain and when I go I always buy more Ribero than Rioja. Not to say that it’s better, but I have a soft spot for it. Ribero is to a certain degree, the new kid in Town (though the Vega Sicilia DO has been making fine wines that rival Rioja’s greatest for a long, long time).  The Duero river is in fact the same Douro river that runs through Portugal where they make Port and it is similarly rugged and harsh in climate. On a high plateau in northern central Spain near the city of Valladolid (trying saying that a few too many glasses of Tinto), extreme temperatures and altitude give a shorter growing season than Rioja but these extremes, of course, help to shape the character of the wine. The good news for you Rioja fans is that the grapes are the same; well almost, Tempranillo as it’s widely known, the main grape of Rioja, Tinta del Pais in Ribero. It’s a variant that has adapted to the local conditions. Essentially, Ribero wines are perhaps a bit more robust, a bit more muscular, a bit more intense than their cousins from Rioja.

            In other words, there’s a place for both. I love Rioja too, nothing beats the soft, velvety finish of a Gran Reserva. Ultimately like everything it comes down to personal taste. The Spain (Andalucía) I know is closer to Ribero in character. Hot, extreme, intense and yet somehow also romantic. Maybe that’s all it is. Anyway, if Ribero is unknown to you, go out and get some and decide for yourself.

A few words on the Rainbow Warrior, Joost Van Der Westhuizen.

June 1995. Ellis Park, Johannesburg, South Africa. The year Rugby went from black and white to colour. South Africa win the World Cup against the odds, beating the mighty All Blacks in front of Nelson Mandela and in front of the world.  They hadn’t even been allowed to participate in the first two world cups because of Apartheid. The images of Mandela in the South African shirt after victory have gone down in history. Joost Van Der Westhuizen was one of the reasons they did so. The greatest scrum of his generation and possibly of all time. Certainly one of the greatest rugby players of all time. An athletic, skilful warrior with movie star looks, some people are just born luckier than others it seems. He continued to inspire millions (and terrorize opposition fans) as a Rugby player till his retirement in 2003. In 2011, at the age of 38, however, his luck ran out. He was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease, cruel for anyone but for a professional rugby player it must have been almost overwhelming for him to take, as he gradually faded away physically and lost the power of speech. But his notorious bravery as a rugby player served him well. Rather than saying “why me”, he said “why not me” and made it his new purpose to serve the world as an ambassador in the combat against MND. He once said in an interview that time and health are two things we take for granted that we shouldn’t. When he lost those things, he said he lost his ego and arrogance and he was determined to stay around for as long as he could to make a difference. He managed five years; significantly more than doctors expected. Joost Van Der Westhuizen was an inspirational sportsman and arguably even more inspirational in his fight and contribution to increasing awareness of a cruel and humiliating disease. I wish I’d met him.

RIP Bro’ in my best South African accent.