June 10, 2011

Philippines Wine Shop Clark Wine Center is pleased to share with you articles, news and information about wine, wine events, wine tasting and other topics related to wine and the appreciation of wine.

La Rioja

1.- The Wine

It has been said that the wine of La Rioja in Spain is “the best wine in the world in terms of value for money.” This region in the north of Spain produces red, white and rosé wines, as well as the idiosyncratic clarete. The red wines are those of most interest.

“La Rioja” in Spain means two things – the region and the province. Within the region of La Rioja, there are three areas with a slightly different climate and soil. These are the Rioja Alta (Upper Rioja, capital Haro), to the west, the Rioja Baja (Lower Rioja, capital Logroño) to the east and the Rioja Alavesa to the north, outside the province of La Rioja altogether. Wine from the Rioja Alavesa is characteristically made from the tempranillo grape and is fruity and good drunk young. The Rioja Baja produces wines from the garnacha grape which tend to be heavy and have a high alcohol content. The Rioja Alta produces the most sophisticated wines, usually based on the tempranillo grape variety. They tend to be delicate in flavour and mature well, and are the wines of most interest to collectors.

La Rioja wine is classified into four types, according to its quality and aging. Except for the wine labelled “Garantia de Origen,” known as vino joven, this takes place first in oak barrels and then in the bottle. There is no point in aging a wine which will not benefit from it, so the grape selection process is crucial. For red wine, the types are:

Source: http://spainforvisitors.com/archive/features/aa052101a.htm

Clark Wine Center was built in 2003 by Hong Kong-based Yats International Leisure Philippines to become the largest wine shop in Philippines supplying Asia’s wine lovers with fine vintage wines at attractive prices. Today, this wine shop in Clark Philippines offers over 2000 selections of fine wines from all major wine regions in the world. As a leading wine supplier in Philippines, Pampanga’s Clark Wine Center offers an incomparable breadth of vintages, wines from back vintages spanning over 50 years. Clark Wine Center is located in Pampanga Clark Freeport Zone adjacent to Angeles City, just 25 minutes from Subic and 45 minutes from Manila.

Wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Rhone, Loire, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Alsace, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, South Africa, Chile and Argentina etc. are well represented in this Clark Wine Shop.

For more information, email Wine@Yats-International.com or visit http://www.ClarkWineCenter.com