WINE OF THE WEEK: Torres Malpastor Rioja Crianza 2021, Rioja, Spain

£14.19–£17.99, Evertons Wine Merchants, Bakers & Larners of Holt, Selection Sommelier UK, Nickolls & Perks

There are still three weeks to go but, if you’re beginning to think about Easter lunch, this could be your red wine. It’s Rioja, so it’s a comfortably traditional choice, but it’s not wholly traditional Rioja, so it falls into the something-a-bit-different category too.

It was aged in American and French oak barrels for 12 months, after a few month on lees in both concrete and barrels, then spent a further six months’ maturing in bottle. So far, so traditional, but the fruit is very much Rioja new-wave: bright, aromatic and pure, recalling strawberries and raspberries, with attractive intensity and deftly bound in with the oak and delicate spice.

This is a Rioja Crianza that speaks of location, location, location. The vines, 25 years old on average and bush-trained, are on Torres’ La Carbonera estate in the Sonsierra region of Rioja Alavesa, beneath the Sierra de Cantabria mountains. Once sheep pasture, it’s a land of gentle slopes and poor, marl-limestone soils. The Tempranillo grapes thrive on it.

Apart from roast or grilled lamb, including with anchovy or marinated in kefir and fresh herbs, it pairs well with pork and all sorts of other things, such as parmentier de canard (duck cottage pie), lentil cottage pie, cod, chorizo and butter-bean stew and other bean and chickpea stews, acorn-fed Iberico ham and hard cheeses (sheep and cow’s). 14.5%. Empty bottle weight: 394g.

Familia Torres Malpastor Rioja Crianza 2021, Rioja, Spain

£14.19, Evertons Wine Merchants; £16.99, Bakers & Larners of Holt; £17.96, Selection Sommelier UK; £21, Nickolls & Perks

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