Pro Tip: Take this systematic approach to make sure mechanical issues and other pesky problems don’t keep rearing their ugly heads over and over again.
Improvements across a bakery do not just happen. You cannot simply hope for things to get better. You cannot just throw money at a problem to change its course. You must understand the situation, create a plan, execute the plan and then follow up.
When you do this once, you get a result; when you do it twice, you start building habits. When you practice this method three or more times you get into a groove and improvements not only start to flow, but they also start to stick.
Too many times we solve a problem in the moment only to have it resurface later. These temporary improvements do not usually stick because there was not enough thought put into the real issue. It is like putting a Band-Aid on a wound that really needs stitches.
This process helps solve the problem for the moment, but the underlying condition is not getting the right attention. To combat the urge to solve problems quickly, a systematic approach needs to be applied so that the fix sticks and the improvement delivers long-lasting benefits.
Understanding the situation might take a little more time than what you are given or want to spend, but this makes a dramatic difference in the following steps. I call it “staring at a problem.” This does not mean that you waste time. This means that you put in meaningful effort and document all that you see so that it feeds a plan with the right data points.
Planning is critical and required as it allows you to deploy work with surgical precision. The plan must take in all the data gathered in the observations, then thoughtfully lay out what needs to be done. This plan should identify resources, including labor, materials and time.
This plan should have a step one – step two organizational strategy to it. The plan should gather all the materials needed prior to heading out for execution. This plan should state the desired result. This plan MUST have an owner and accountability.
With a solid plan, the execution phase should go off without a hitch. The right people will be available, all the materials will be handy and the appropriate time will be provided.
When all of this happens, there will be zero pressure, minimal risk and the work will deliver the desired result. Many times, when a plan is formed with the right intentions, multiple people can be executing different steps in the work and will not need to discuss anything. If you have a work process that requires a lot of discussion, you did not have a good plan.
The plan and the execution phase should always have a testing phase. If you do the work and then walk away without testing, you have not completed the mission.
Once evaluated and handed back to the operator, you must follow up in an hour, in a day, in a week and regularly after that. This is where you confirm that the fix is sticking, and the problem has been eliminated.
When you follow up, you might find a change is needed, something that is not 100% the way you intended. When you see it, you can attack it before it gets too far away from expectations. Nothing is ever perfect, but when you follow up, you can maintain the resolution.
This method can be used for many problem areas. Mostly it applies to mechanical issues, but the same philosophy can apply to product, people, innovation and customer interactions.
Just remember to practice a regimen in all problem-solving to create long lasting improvements. Get in a groove and stay in the groove.
Jeff Dearduff is owner of JED Manufacturing Services who provides “Bakery Guy Tips” to those everyday people working in production, maintenance and engineering. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
While it’s mid-summer, and while most of Europe (and a good chunk of the American workforce) is taking some well-deserved time off, the AI news hasn’t slowed down one bit.
This week’s Food AI bulletin has updates on a new Google breakthrough on enabling better contextual understanding of our homes (including our kitchens), how Gemini is powering new features in Google’s smart home products, Wendy’s release of a Spanish-language edition of its AI drive-thru assistant, Amazon’s AI refresh of Just Walk Out, a new AI-powered digital tool called the NOURISH to help those living in food deserts make better food choices, a Danone and Microsoft multiyear deal to upskill employees on AI tools, and a survey that shows South Korean students prefer AI-generated healthy food options over more conventionally developed products.
Here we go:
Google’s New Robot Breakthrough Could Make It Easier to Train Your Robot Butler to Cook or Grab You a Cola
In the past, robots were challenged in doing useful tasks with autonomy, in part because they didn’t generally understand what they were seeing and how it related to a person’s specific living situation, etc.
That’s begun to change in recent years, in part because we’ve seen significant advances in robot navigation as researchers using new tools such as Object Goal Navigation (ObjNav) and Vision Language Navigation (VLN) have allowed robots to understand open commands such as “go to the kitchen.”
More recently, researchers have created systems called Multimodal Instruction Navigation (MIN), which enable robots to understand both verbal and visual instructions simultaneously. For example, a person can show a robot something like a toothbrush and ask it where to return it using both the spoken request and the visual context.
Now, Google researchers have taken things a step further by creating what they call Mobility VLA, a hierarchical Vision-Language-Action (VLA). This is a “navigation policy that combines the environment understanding and common sense reasoning power of long-context VLMs and a robust low-level navigation policy based on topological graphs.”
In other words, showing a robot an exploration video of a given environment will allow it to understand how to navigate an area. According to the researchers, by using a walkthrough video and Mobility VLA, they were able to ask the robot and have it achieve previously infeasible tasks such as “I want to store something out of sight from the public eye. Where should I go?” They also write that they achieved significant advances in how easily users can interact with the robot, giving the example of a user recording a video walkthrough in a home environment with a smartphone and then ask, “Where did I leave my coaster?”
One of the biggest challenges around having robots be useful in a food context is that the act of cooking is complex and requires multiple steps and contextual understanding of a specific cooking space. One could imagine using this type of training framework to enable more complex and useful cooking robots or even personal butlers that will actually be able to do something like fetching you a cold beverage.
You can watch a robot using this new Gemini-enable navigation framework in the video below:
“You’re Food Delivery Is Here”: Google Bringing Gemini Intelligence to Google Home
Speaking of Google, this week, the company announced a new set of features coming to their suite of smart home products that their Gemini model will power. The new features were revealed as part of an announcement about a new version of the company’s smart thermostat and its TV streaming device. According to the company, they are adding Gemini-powered capabilities across a range of products, including their Nest security cameras and its smart voice assistant, Google Home.
By underpinning its Nest camera products with Gemini, the company says its Nest Cams will go from “understanding a narrow set of specific things (i.e., motion, people, packages, etc.) to being able to more broadly understand what it sees and hears, and then surface what’s most important.” Google says that this will mean that you can ask your Google Home app questions like “Did I leave my bikes in the driveway?” and “Is my food delivery at the front door?”
During a presentation to The Verge, Google Home head of product Anish Kattukaran showed an example of a video of a grocery delivery driver which was accompanied by an alert powered by Gemini:
“A young person in casual clothing, standing next to a parked black SUV. They are carrying grocery bags. The car is partially in the garage and the area appears peaceful.”
After what’s been a somewhat moribund period of feature-set innovation for smart homes over the past couple of years, both Google and Amazon are now tapping into generative AI to create new capabilities that I’m actually looking forward to. By empowering their existing smart home products like cameras and their smart home assistants with generative AI models, we are finally starting to seeing leaps in useful functionality that are bringing the smart home closer to the futuristic promise we’ve been imagining for the last decade.
Wendy’s Pilots Spanish-Language Drive-Thru AI Voice Assistant
This week, Wendy’s showed off its new Spanish-language capabilities for its Fresh AI drive-thru voice assistant according to announcement sent to The Spoon. The new assistant, which can be seen in the Wendy’ s-provided b-reel below, has a conversant AI bot that seamlessly switches to Spanish, clarifies the order, and upsells the meal.
According to Wendy’s, the company launched its Fresh AI in December of last year and has expanded it to 28 locations across two states.
This news comes just a week after Yum! Brands announced plans to expand Voice AI technology to hundreds of Taco Bell drive-thrus in the U.S. by the end of 2024, with future global implementation across KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. Currently, in over 100 Taco Bell locations, the company believes the technology will enhance operations, improve order accuracy, and reduce wait times.
Amazon Previews New Generative AI-Powered Just Walk Out
Last week, Amazon gave a sneak peek at the new AI model that powers its Just Walk Out platform.
In a post written by Jon Jenkins, the VP of Just Walk Out (and, as Spoon readers may remember, the former founder of Meld and head of engineering for the Hestan Cue), we get a peek at the new AI model from Amazon. Jenkins writes the new technology is a “multi-modal foundation model for physical stores is a significant advancement in the evolution of checkout-free shopping.” He says the new model will increase the accuracy of Just Walk Out technology “even in complex shopping scenarios with variables such as camera obstructions, lighting conditions, and the behavior of other shoppers while allowing us to simplify the system.”
The new system differs from the previous system in that it analyzes data from multiple sources—cameras, weight sensors, and other data—simultaneously rather than sequentially. It also uses “continuous self-learning and transformer technology, a type of neural network architecture that transforms inputs (sensor data, in the case of Just Walk Out) into outputs (receipts for checkout-free shopping).”
Academic Researchers Creating AI Tool to Help Americans Living in Food Deserts Access Better Food Options
A team of researchers led by the University of Kansas and the University of California-San Francisco is tackling the issue of food deserts in the U.S. with an AI-powered digital tool called the NOURISH platform. According to an announcement released this week about the initiative, the group is supported by a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The project aims to provide fresh and nutritious food options to the estimated 24 million Americans living in areas with limited access to healthy food. The platform will utilize geospatial analyses and AI to identify optimal locations for new fresh food businesses, linking entrepreneurs with local providers and creating dynamic, interactive maps accessible via mobile devices in multiple languages.
Danone Announces Multiyear Partnership with Microsoft for AI
An interesting deal focused on bringing AI training to a large CPG brand’s workforce:
Danone has announced a multi-year collaboration with Microsoft to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) across its operations, including creating a ‘Danone Microsoft AI Academy.’ This initiative aims to upskill and reskill around 100,000 Danone employees, building on Danone’s existing ‘DanSkills’ program. Through the AI Academy, Danone plans to enhance AI literacy and expertise throughout the organization, offering tailored learning opportunities to ensure comprehensive training coverage. The partnership will initially focus on developing an AI-enabled supply chain to improve operational efficiency through predictive forecasting and real-time adjustments. Juergen Esser, Danone’s Deputy CEO, emphasized that collaboration is not just about technology but also about fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation. Microsoft’s Hayete Gallot highlighted the significance of AI in transforming Danone’s operations and the broader industry, aiming to empower Danone’s workforce to thrive in an AI-driven economy.
My main critique of a deal like this is that it essentially brings training and curriculum to train employees from an AI platform provider with skin in the game in Microsoft. As someone who’s long weaned myself off of most of Microsoft’s software products, I’d hate to go into a curriculum that will mostly be largely Microsoft AI tools training, not really broader AI training.
It is a good deal for Microsoft, with a smart focus on upskilling by Danone. Let’s hope Microsoft’s training brings a broad-based AI tool belt to the Danone workforce that is not entirely walled-gardened within Microsoft’s products.
Survey: Korean Students Prefer AI-Driven Health Foods
While some Americans are becoming more concerned about AI’s impact on our lives, it appears that at least some South Korean students are embracing AI in the development of healthier food options.
According to a recent survey conducted by Korea University Business School, young South Koreans are more likely to trust and purchase healthy functional foods (HFF) developed using artificial intelligence (AI) than those created through traditional methods. The study involved 300 participants and revealed that AI-developed HFFs scored higher in trustworthiness, perceived expertise, positive attitude, and purchase intention. The AI model, NaturaPredicta™, uses natural language processing to analyze botanical ingredients, significantly reducing the time and cost required for new product development. However, researchers noted the potential bias due to the relatively young demographic of the participants and suggested broader studies for more representative results.
Greece’s Delta Tankers’ refusal to avoid the Red Sea has seen a third ship in its fleet come under attack today, the first confirmed Houthi strikes in eight days.
According to security firm Vanguard, the tanker Sounion, owned and managed by Delta Tankers, was attacked 77 nautical miles west of Hodeidah, Yemen, in the early hours of the morning. The vessel is now disabled, reporting it is not under command.
Earlier this month, the Houthis attacked the Delta Tankers-owned Delta Blue four times in the space of 24 hours with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Fortunately, the attacks caused no injuries or physical damage.
Vanguard stated that the possible reason for the targeting of Delta Tankers is their affiliation to vessels which have recently called in Israel. According to the security firm, the Delta Star called in Israel in July.
There have been no Houthi attacks since last Tuesday when they pursued an unidentified individual ship for 12 hours and attacked it three times.
Vanguard said the 163,759 dwt tanker was approached by two small craft with three to five and 10 people on board respectively. The two small craft hailed the merchant vessel, leading to a brief exchange of small arms fire. The distance between the small craft and the merchant vessel subsequently increased to two nautical miles.
At 5 am local time, the master reported that two unidentified projectiles had struck the vessel before being hit by a third projectile. Smoke was reported in the engine room as well as one minor injury to a crewmember. The ship has since come under a fourth attack and is not in a good condition.
Ambrey, another security firm, has advised merchant ships to remain at least five nautical miles from the vicinity and to report anything suspicious.
UniSQ researcher Dr Uwe Grewer, SQ Landscapes sustainable agriculture facilitator Vince Parisi, UniSQ’s Prof Keith Pembleton, QDAF’s Dr Andrew Zull and Mackenzie Leeson from SQ Landscapes at yesterday’s workshop at Dalby.
THE first of five workshops designed to help growers and consultants make better-informed cropping decisions kicked off at Dalby yesterday.
Entitled Increasing Drought Resilience of Broadacre Farming through Digital Support Tools the workshops were made possible by the Federal Government’s Future Drought Fund.
The workshops are designed and delivered by Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and University of Southern Queensland researchers.
“Our workshops enable farmers to come up with personalised cropping decisions that best suit them, through group activities and computer simulations,” QDAF senior economist Andrew Zull said.
“While winter-dominant cereal-cropping systems may have traditionally been used in many locations across southern Queensland, we have seen a strong increase in diversity over the recent decade,” Dr Zull said.
“Choosing the right system for your own circumstances is not driven in isolation by the prevailing rainfall pattern, but also influenced by labour availability, pest and disease issues, and the need to diversify risk across crops and commodities.”
Through the Agricultural Risk Management Online, or ARMonline, platform, workshop participants can access Crop Analysis for Risk Management, or CropARM, and the recently added RotationARM, which allows growers to compare different cropping strategies.
Study sites in Qld and NSW which form part of the Increasing Drought Resilience of Broadacre Farming through Digital Support Tools project.
Dr Zull said CropARM and RotationARM enable growers to test out their theories about what crops and sequences will be the most resilient in dry times before they plant a seed.
Wheat, chickpeas, canola, sorghum, mungbeans, soybeans, and canola are the choices growers can select to model in a standalone season, or as part of a rotation.
The tools also allow growers who anticipate a wet season and plan to implement a cropping strategy that relies on sufficient water supply to estimate losses they would incur in case an unexpected drought materialises.
The workshops encourage growers and agronomists to apply the ARM tools to their own operations so they can draw their own conclusions and rules of thumb for decision-making to achieve drought resilience.
While the current season in Qld and northern NSW has drought far from the collective mind, it remains a major and long-term challenge for growers, who make summer and winter cropping decisions around some of the most variable rainfall patterns found in any of Australia’s grain-growing areas.
“We continuously develop the online decision-support tools of the ARMonline platform,” UniSQ’s Uwe Grewer said.
“The platform makes the complex research tool APSIM available to farmers and agronomists for on-farm decision making,” Dr Grewer said.
The point-and-click user interface is easy to use for rapid analyses, and RotationARM allows users to specify their location, production costs, prices, crops grown, cropping intensity over years, production inputs, and sowing rules.
RotationARM then presents results for key system performance metrics such as overall gross margin, achieved cropping intensity, water-use efficiency, soil-carbon levels, and surface organic matter cover.
Further analysis can be undertaken to compare different systems and intensities under different drought-exposure scenarios and identify what would work best.
“It permits farmers to analyse the yields and gross margins of alternative crop and management choices and see how they perform under average rainfall conditions as well as under drought.”
The digital tools are built on APSIM data, which factors in 60 years of climate records, and UniSQ’s Keith Pembleton said they are an aid, not a replacement, for grower insight and agronomic advice, when it comes to choosing which crops to grow, and in what rotation.
“Choosing suitable cropping strategies reduces a farm’s vulnerability to drought,” Professor Pembleton said.
“Avoiding drought sensitivity while taking full advantage of high-rainfall seasons requires farmers to design well-balanced cropping strategies.
“This complex task can be assisted by a support system of agronomists and our extension-focussed decision-support tools.”
Intense and frequent drought events often result in a loss of soil organic matter, reduced soil fertility, and less soil water-holding capacity, and CropARM and RotationARM can be used to help growers make better environmental decisions, as well as more profitable ones.
Upcoming workshops run from 9am to 3pm and are free of charge, with dates and locations as follows:
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Philippe Mallétroit – Director for France and Africa
Hog market price
After a market very quiet in Europe in June, the pork price in Germany fell sharply by 10 cents per kg during the first week of July. This has led to price declines in other European countries.
In France, the pork price increased by 6.3 cts per kg during the month of July to reach 2.132 € per kg carcass, before to start to fall since the end of July. Between 25th of July and 19th of August, the price dropped by 19 cts to be less than 2 € per kg carcass.
Nevertheless, the pork price remain has a good level of profitability, even if it is lower than in 2023.
Pork prices in France: 2023 vs 2024
The average price was 1.572 € in 2022 for the same period (7 first months).
All of us know there are some pork prices cycles. Since the last two years the profitability is good for pig producers in France. We also know that at some point the prices will be lower, but we don’t know yet when.
Evolution of pig production in Europe
Recently, IFP (French Pig Institute) published interesting figures in their booklet “Le Porc par les Chiffres” *about pig production in France and in Europe. First, a look of the evolution of the pig inventory in Europe in the main pig producing countries:
Clearly pig production is decreasing in Europe (by 5.8 % between 2012 and 2022), but there are differences between countries. While most of them lost 5 to 10 % of their pig production, some have suffered a very strong decline, especially Germany (-24.6%) who was the biggest European pig producer and who is now number two. At the same time, the pig production increase has been very strong in Spain (+34.9 %), and Spain is now the biggest pig producer in Europe.
Main production regions in Europe
Source: IFIP
The top 10 biggest regions for pig production in Europe in 2022:
Pig production in France
In 2021, 23 million finisher pigs have been produced in France from 14 100 pig farms. 9 253 farms (65% of all pig farms) who have sold more than 300 head (finisher pigs + piglets) produce 99.2 % of the French production.
In 2021, about 51.5 % of the pig farms have produced between 300 and 5 000 pigs, and 4.5 % of the farms (641 farms) have produced 10 000 or more pigs.
73.3 % of the pig production is in West of France.
The French pig industry is dominated by the cooperative model. In 2022, there were 32 cooperatives who marketed 20.2 million pigs (88.9 % of the whole French production) produced by 6 872 producers (cooperative members).
HALIFAX — Good Earth Coffeehouse has opened its ninth Chapters/Indigo location at Bayers Lake Power Centre in Halifax.
“We’re excited to join the Good Earth family,” says Maggie Chidiac and Aimee Stewart, owners and operators. “It’s important to us that a company delivers an exceptional experience to its customers, while also taking the time to build positive relationships in the communities.”
The company offers a selection of Rainforest Alliance Certified coffees, roasted exclusively to their specifications.
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Dive Brief:
Amazon has launched a program allowing sellers using its fulfillment services to issue product refunds without customers returning the item, according to an Aug. 13 announcement.
Fulfillment by Amazon Returnless Resolutions will help sellers avoid returns-related fees by cutting out the physical reverse logistics process and letting customers keep the items instead, the company said. Some products are ineligible for the program, including dangerous goods, heavy and bulky items, and those with an average sales price above $75.
Sellers and customers tapping into Returnless Resolutions have to be in good standing with Amazon, as defined by the company. Only customers without “a history of abuse” can be offered a returnless resolution, the company said. If the shopper making a return is deemed ineligible, the item may still be sent to an Amazon fulfillment center as normal.
Dive Insight:
Amazon aims for Returnless Resolutions to increase customer convenience while providing sellers with a more cost-efficient way of dealing with returns. The program could be particularly convenient for international sellers and businesses with low-cost items, Gopal Pillai, Amazon VP of worldwide returns and recommerce, said in a separate post about Returnless Resolutions.
There are no program fees associated with Returnless Resolutions, and tapping into the program allows businesses to avoid returns-related charges levied by Amazon. The company is raising its fee structure as return logistics costs grow.
For example, the company expanded its returns processing fee on June 1 for products with high return rates, excluding apparel and shoes. Amazon said the charge covers the operational costs of returns while reducing waste.
Amazon is one of many companies rolling out “keep it” returns options that cut out the often-expensive reverse logistics process entirely. This tactic is particularly common for lower-value items, according to a 2023 report from goTRG, a returns management solutions provider.
In this edition of The Brief, we take an in-depth look at FoodDrinkEurope (FDE)’s ‘Sustainable Packaging Pathway’, which gives advice on how the industry can meet the PPWR targets.
General Mills Foodservice announces that Rebecca Thomas, a chef at Dixie Grill in Live Oak, Florida is the $20,000 Grand-Prize Winner in The Biskies™ Recipe Contest. Thomas’ recipe for Strawberry Cream Biscuit Bites, one of four finalists nationwide, earned the Grand Prize following a public vote on the General Mills Foodservice website. The Biskies Recipe Contest offered chefs, owners and employees of commercial restaurants the chance to win up to $20,000 for their unique biscuit creation using any baked or unbaked Pillsbury biscuit product and two or more additional ingredients. In addition to the Grand-Prize Winner, the contest awarded three Runner-Up Winners with $5,000. Thomas’ winning entry included strawberry cream cheese-filled, deep-fried Pillsbury biscuits topped with more cream cheese and fresh strawberries and dusted with powdered sugar.
Bevles, a leading innovator in commercial kitchen equipment, proudly announces the launch of its latest breakthrough products: the Bevles MiniTouch 10 Half Sheet Pan, and 6 Half Sheet Pan Combi Ovens. These cutting-edge commercial cooking appliances set a new standard for simplicity, compact design and superior performance by empowering chefs, and foodservice professionals to elevate their culinary creations with unmatched precision and efficiency at the touch of a button. Designed with the modern kitchen in mind, the Bevles MiniTouch Combi Ovens combine advanced technology with intuitive functionality to streamline cooking processes and maximize productivity. Despite their compact footprint, these versatile combi ovens deliver exceptional cooking results across a wide range of applications, from baking and roasting to steaming and sous vide.
Jones Dairy Farm, a leader in all natural raw and fully-cooked breakfast sausage for the foodservice industry, has officially branched out of the breakfast category with the introduction of All Natural Chicken Meatballs. Fully cooked and Certified Gluten-Free, the meatballs are free of the USDA Big 9 Allergens including soy, wheat and dairy. They’re also free of fillers, binders and breadcrumbs, making them a wholesome part of a delicious meal or hearty appetizer for customers with dietary restrictions. Like Jones All Natural Sausage, the meatballs are produced in small batches with high quality ingredients including fresh, never frozen chicken and hand-blended spices. Jones Chicken Meatballs, available in a 10-pound foodservice case and meet Child Nutrition (CN) labeling requirements, contain 14 grams of protein and only 160 calories per six-meatball serving. Whether prepared with or without a sauce, these meatballs adapt effortlessly to customer taste preferences offering operators convenience and remarkable versatility.
In some ways, Rioja is the Bordeaux of Spain. It’s the country’s most celebrated wine region, known primarily for the red Tempranillo grape, which, like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in Bordeaux, produces elegant, medium-bodied wines that lend themselves to lengthy barrel aging.
In fact, there’s a strong connection between Bordeaux and Rioja. The idea of barrel aging, as practiced in Bordeaux, was introduced to Rioja in the late 1700s but really took off in the mid- to late 1800s and is standard today.
Beyond that, when phylloxera swept through Bordeaux in the mid-1800s, the Bordelais turned to Rioja as a source of wine and brought their winemaking practices with them. Others had learned from Bordeaux winemakers, among them Don Camilo Hurtado de Amézaga, who founded the Marqués de Riscal winery in 1860; and Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta, a Chilean by birth who would become the founder of R. López de Heredia in 1877.
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López de Heredia, in Haro in the Rioja Alta subregion, is arguably the most famous domaine in Rioja. It’s known for its traditional winemaking and long aging of its wines — well beyond the time required for the various levels of Rioja, not only for the reds, but the whites and the rosés as well.
You’ll find the classification of the wines on their labels: All will list the “cosecha,” or vintage date. Beyond that, the wines are categorized simply as “Rioja,” with no aging requirements, or as “Crianza,” “Reserva,” or “Gran Reserva,” which denote the minimum aging required in barrel and bottle, with Gran Reservas aged the most.
Rioja, which lies in north-central Spain, is divided into three regions: the higher-elevation, cooler-climate Rioja Alta in the west, where many of the most storied wineries are found; the more moderate Rioja Alavesa in the center, and Rioja Oriental (formerly Rioja Baja) in the southeast, the warmest area of the three.
The Ebro River and its tributaries course through Rioja and form the valleys of the region, whose soils include limestone, calcareous, and iron-rich clays as well as alluvial soils, resulting in bright acidity and good structure in many of the wines.
In terms of grape varieties, Tempranillo accounts for more than three-quarters of the vines planted in Rioja, with Garnacha (Grenache), Graciano, and Manzuelo as supporting players that often appear in Rioja blends. While long barrel aging is the classic method (in American and increasingly French oak), some winemakers have turned to a more “modern” style, with longer grape maceration and less oak, resulting in darker, fruitier wines. Examples of both styles are in the list below.
Here are eight of the best Rioja red wines:
Muriel Rioja Crianza 2019
Plum and sweet dark berries are the dominant aromas and flavors of this delicious Crianza from Rioja Alavesa. The wine was aged for 12 months in new and used American and French oak barrels, lending hints of cinnamon and powdered cocoa with medium, chalky tannins.
This “limited edition,” 100 percent Tempranillo is fruit- and mineral-driven, with black plum and blackberry flavors, a hint of balsamic, and vibrant acidity. The wine is purplish and the oak influence is muted, so even though it’s from 2019, the wine still tastes fresh and young. A good example of how Rioja, with its acidity, can hold its own with tomato-sauce pastas and other Italian-inspired dishes.
From the Torres family, this wine from Rioja Alavesa is marked by red fruit and dark cherry flavors with touches of vanilla and leather on the long finish. With air, darker fruits begin to emerge. It was aged for 12 months in mostly used French and American oak barrels. An excellent, under-$20 value.
R. López de Heredia Rioja Viña Cubillo Crianza 2016
This stellar wine — a blend of 65 percent Tempranillo and 35 percent Garnacha, Graciano, and Mazuelo — is from the winery’s Viña Cubillas vineyard, one of the original parcels purchased by its founder, Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta. The winery describes it as “a vineyard that produces exceptional wines sold as Crianza,” adding that “these wines could easily be marketed as Gran Reservas due to the exceptional combination of soil, aspect and vines.” The 2016 bears that out, with enticing aromas of cedar, meat, leather, earth, blueberry compote, and overripe strawberry. On the palate it’s softly tannic with a streak of acidity cutting through. This is a chance to experience the greatness of López de Heredia at a reasonable price.
From another Rioja Alta producer that goes back well over a century, this wine is soft, subtle, and delicious. Aromas and flavors include blueberry, vanilla, caramel, green olive, and black licorice. There’s an herbal note on the finish. The wine grew on me as it opened up.
This is a different take on Rioja — a young wine from old vines made without oak and fermented with the carbonic maceration technique common in Rioja Alavesa (and, of course, in France’s Beaujolais). The result is a delicious, “grapey” wine that almost demands a chill. Dark berry fruit flavors like just-picked blackberry, earth, and chewy tannins are its signature. It’s also an under-$15 bargain.
From Rioja Alta, this is a more fruit-driven expression that maintains its freshness despite its age. It shows mainly red fruit notes, including spicy red plum and cherry with hints of cinnamon and chocolate. Aged in French oak barrels for 14 months, the oak is nicely integrated and doesn’t call attention to itself.
From another century-plus-old Rioja winery, this is a stunning wine, quite Bordeaux-like in character and marked by balance and a fine tannin structure. Blueberry and redcurrant aromas are accented by cedar and a hint of tomato leaf. It’s sheer elegance on the palate with bright acidity. (Don’t confuse this with Montecillo’s stunning, black-labeled “22 Barricas” Gran Reserva, which will set you back $150.)
