48% Maturana Blanca, 47% Garnacha Blanca and 5% Viura Bodegas Tihom. D.O La Rioja
White and Rioja are not two expressions that we encounter very often next to each other — Spanish white-wine lovers don’t necessarily associate their preference with the sun-lit slopes of La Rioja, nor does the colour white immediately spring to mind when we speak of Rioja.
However, Rioja makes very fine wines, many by leading houses of the region, usually dominated by Viura, Malvasía and Garnacha Blanca (among other white varieties). But here, and being Christmas, we celebrate something on a different scale, a piece of real artwork.
Enter the white version of the house Tihom, the 2020 vintage, crafted by the winemaker Jorge Muga [yes, of the historic Muga winemaking family and major Rioja brand] in his own small-scale project in the historic district of Barrio de la Estación in Haro, Rioja Alta.
Haro itself has long been the heart of Rioja’s wine-making tradition, a living museum of winemaking, the place where old cellars and gravity-fed vats still echo the history of Rioja’s great red wines. In that very context, turning to white, especially with a focus on forgotten native varieties, is bold and inspired.
The Tihom Blanco 2020 is a blend of 48% Maturana Blanca, 47% Garnacha Blanca and 5% Viura. From the very first glance, the wine shows a subtle golden-yellow hue with pale green-tinged edges, suggesting both freshness and maturity.
On the nose: one is immediately struck by a calm elegance — gentle stone-fruit aromas of white peach and apricot, tempered by finer flowery notes of chamomile, pollen and white pepper, alongside and a whisper of wet stone. With aeration, the aromatic spectrum deepens: subtle traces of forest, a touch of honey, blossoms and the underlying minerality of Rioja’s old white vines.
In the mouth it is a very structure wine filling the moth, yet balanced. The acidity is bright without being piercing, the texture velvety and fluid, the flavour profile complex and composed. There is depth and length: the minerality lingers, the white pepper and nectarines gently return, , and a soft oak imprint (12 months in French and Hungarian barrels) supports rather than dominates. The finish is dry, lingering, refined — elegant rather than flashy.
This wine is more than a white Rioja: it is a reinterpretation of Rioja’s white-heritage, a wine that celebrates seldom-seenindigenous varieties, planted on the steep slopes of the Sierra de Cantabria and the Montes Obarenes, on sandy-rocky soils that yield depth and minerality. It stands as a statement: white Rioja can be as serious, as age-worthy and as rewarding as its red counterpart.
For the festive season, this is the kind of wine to share with something special: a buttery halibut with herb-crust, a classic seafood paella just before the hour of midnight, or a medley of roasted winter vegetables with Welsh cheddar.
If you want to stay all Spanish try it with merluza a la plancha with a light herb dressing; bacalao al pil-pil whose silky texture mirrors the wine’s subtle creaminess; or a lubina al horno with fennel and citrus. It also shines alongside a board of Spanish cheeses — the gentle nuttiness of Idiazábal joven, the fresh acidity of Arzúa-Ulloa, or the delicate creaminess of Queso de Murcia al vino blanco.
Serve around 10-12 °C [i.e not too chilled] to best appreciate its dual character of freshness and complexity. And if one wishes to cellar it, I would suggest letting it rest a couple of years to allow the Maturana Blanca backbone to develop further complexity.
94 Bruja points, 27-29EUR from https://www.bodeboca.com/; https://www.vinetibo.es/; or https://tihom.es/
(Feature/Wine: Tihom Blanco 2020)
Keywords: Tihom Blanco 2020, Rioja, Blanco, Viura, Malvasía, Garnacha Blanca, La Bruja
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