Luis Canas Rioja Reserva 2017

If you’re like Katie and her mom, you’ve decided to watch The Golden Bachelorette for the first time in franchise history thanks to our Wichitan contestant. But it would be downright silly to watch it without a glass of wine. And since Bart is acquainted with said contestant, he got sucked in, too.

We watched the Wichita home visit episode with a bottle of:

Luis Cañas Rioja Reserva 2017

This is a real nice Rioja that we first tasted at an event with the AIWF (check them out, they have fantastic wine events). We needed to get some bottles for ourselves!

Rioja wines are typically aged in American oak barrels, which often gives a more intense aroma and flavor profile like dill and coconut. This one, however, is aged mostly in French oak, which is softer and has more vanilla and baking spices. We found that this Rioja still has that earthy, almost musty quality that is classic for Rioja, but not quite as pronounced as some Riojas, with more fruit on the nose as well. It almost smells like the cherries baked in a cherry pie, but it tastes like cooked strawberries. It also has a kind of dusty, woodsy aspect to it that we really enjoyed. This was a real nice find to add to our list of Riojas we love! All these flavors and smells get you feeling like you’re out there at the ranch picnic with all the people in the show.

We got this wine for $32 at Jacob Liquor