Wine of the week: El Coto Rioja Crianza 2016

The El Coto Rioja Crianza is one of the world’s great cheap wine buys

There’s a reason why the subhed on this post is so similar to the one on this post. Both are Spanish red wines from the Rioja region, and the El Coto, in its own way, may offer even more value than the CVNE Cune.

Sometimes, despite all going on around us, cheap wine truly is grand.

The main difference between the El Coto Rioja Crianza ($10, purchased, 14.5%) and the CVNE Cune is price. For some reason, and even before the Trump wine tariff, El Coto had raised its prices into the premiumization tier, $15-$18 (destroying the value of its otherwise excellent rose in the process). So when I found this for $10 at Total Wine, I bought it. Should have bought a case.

The wine offers spice, earth, cherry and raspberry fruit, a touch of oak, and muted acidity. The high alcohol is not noticeable, and may be well a tariff accounting trick. And, that it tastes like this at this age, is beyond me. A value at $15, and a steal at this price.

Some wine geek stuff for anyone who missed the CVNE Cune post: Crianza is the most basic of the three kinds of Rioja, which means it gets less aging, sees less oak (if any), and costs the least compared to reserva and gran reserva. There are also requirements for which grapes can be used, so most of the wines are mostly (if not all) tempranillo.

Drink this with almost any simple red meat, roast chicken, or the blog’s couscous jambalaya. Certain to return to the Hall of Fame in 2022 and will likely be on the short list for the 2022 Cheap Wine of the Year.

Imported by Opici Wines