The local cheeses of Rioja with the local wines that suit them, and why they work.
The cheeses of Rioja with the wines made beside them. Pairings marked as a local tradition are the ones a regional source names; the rest are our own picks, and say so.
Curado Camerano, ripened at least 75 days, is hard, with a brown-green mould rind and a salty, slightly bitter finish. A Tempranillo-led Reserva, aged a year or more in oak, brings fruit that softens the bitterness, while the cheese's salt tames the tannin.
Bottles to try:
Semicurado Camerano is firmer, with a cave-like, mouldy note under the rind. A Tempranillo Crianza gives red cherry and plum with supple tannin after 12 to 14 months in oak: enough fruit to face that cellar edge, too soft in tannin to bully the goat milk.
Bottles to try:
Two years or more in oak and long bottle ageing make Gran Reserva Rioja mature and complex, medium in tannin and high in acidity; curado Camerano, hard, salty and faintly bitter with wild-herb notes, meets that depth, and the acidity cuts its fat.
Bottles to try:
Fresh Camerano is white, glossy and very moist, sweet at first and only slightly acid. Barrel-fermented white Rioja brings citrus and high acidity to lift that sweetness, and its creamy lees texture matches the paste without adding tannin.
Bottles to try:
Cubillo spends about three years in American oak, giving a savoury, leathery red with cranberry acidity and a saline finish. Beside a semicurado's salty, mouldy rind that high acidity keeps the mouth fresh instead of heavy.
Bottles to try:
Fresh Camerano is white, glossy and sweet at first, only slightly acid. A pale, oak-fermented dry rosado brings redcurrant, pink grapefruit and high acidity with a saline finish, keeping the goat's milk fresh.
Bottles to try:
Aged in French oak, often new, these modern Tempranillo-led Riojas are full bodied, firm in tannin and high in acidity; a hard curado Camerano's salt and fat tame the tannin, and its slightly bitter, wild-herb finish holds its own.
Bottles to try:
Aged in oak but medium in tannin and high in acidity, these Tempranillo-led Riojas have fruit enough for a semicurado Camerano's cave-like rind without overpowering the firm goat's paste.
Bottles to try:
Bottled as Vino de España since leaving the Rioja appellation, these old-vine Tempranillos aged in French oak bring cherry, violet and a mineral edge with high acidity; a hard curado Camerano's salt and wild-herb notes meet that fruit.
Bottles to try:
Graciano bottled on its own is full bodied, firm in tannin and high in acidity; aged in French oak, it wants a hard curado Camerano, whose salt and fat soften the tannin and whose wild-herb notes meet the wine's freshness.
Bottles to try:
Long oak ageing, or a dash of manzanilla, gives these Viura whites an almond or hazelnut note and a saline edge with high acidity; that echoes a semicurado Camerano's salt and herb notes and, with no tannin, leaves the goat's milk in front.
Bottles to try:
Discover Rioja on a full-day wine tour visiting 3 wineries in Rioja Alta and Alavesa. Taste local wines, explore wine country and enjoy a traditional pintxos lunch.
Taste selected wines at 3 different wineries in Rioja. Visit our own 1881 winery, La Bodega del Tesoro. Enjoy a traditional lunch in a wooden wine press.
The best way to know the basics of the Spanish Rioja wines, along with a traditional Spanish lunch.
A flattened cylinder with flat faces and convex sides, weighing 200 g to 1.2 kg, with the weave of the cilla mould printed on its surface. Fresh and tierno have little or no rind; semicurado and curado have a defined rind with brown to greenish-brown moulds, according to the DOP.
No. Queso Los Cameros is a brand of Lácteos Martínez in Haro, whose range includes cow, sheep, goat and mixed-milk cheeses. Only its goat semicurado and curado are listed on its own site as DOP Queso Camerano.
Only in La Rioja, in the municipalities listed in the DOP specification, which cover the Rioja Alta, the three sierra comarcas (Cameros among them) and parts of Rioja Media and Rioja Baja. Haro, Arnedo, Arnedillo and Ortigosa de Cameros all have a DOP dairy.
Four: fresco (not ripened), tierno (at least 15 days), semicurado (at least 30 days) and curado (at least 75 days; the only one allowed raw milk). Fresco weighs 200 to 800 g, has almost no rind and a white, glossy paste, according to the DOP consortium.
