Palacio del Camino Real Crianza

Dec 18, 2025
2 min read

Palacio del Camino Real Crianza 2021 13.5% ck

Tempranillo, Garnache, Graciano

Tempranillo is native to the Rioja region and is found in many Rioja wines. It is a medium bodied grape which generally gives wines with smooth tannins, good structure and medium acidity, this grape gives the wines their ageability. To balance out the wines they are often blended with other grapes. In this case with Garnacha (Grenache) which gives a light body and good alcohol and Graciano which is used sparingly and gives great colour, high tannins and high acidy.

Rioja

Rioja is made up of 3 areas, Rioja Alta, Rioja Baja and Rioja Alavesa. Rioja wines can come from any or a mix of these areas. Rioja has, as you would expect, a Mediterranean climate which is perfect for grape growing along with cool nights and warm days and a long ripening season. A mixture of grapes are usually blended together to create balanced wines capable of aging for a long time. The wines labelled as Crianza, Reserva and Grand Reserva are all aged in barrel and tend to have smooth tannins and be ready to drink more or less straight away.

Age matters

Rioja is all about the aging! There are a selection of permitted grapes that growers can choose which have to be grown within the Rioja area but thing which most reflects how the wine tastes is the way it was aged. This is a heavily regimented process with laws defining how long each category of wine has to spend in barrel and then in bottle before being released for sale. Crianza must be aged for 2 years before released with one year being in Oak. This wine was aged for 16 months in a mix of French, eastern European and American barrels, 10% of which are new barrels with the rest of them already having been used for between 2 and 6 previous vintages. The vanilla aroma in a wine usually comes from American oak and is a telltale sign of a wine being from Rioja.

Bean and Chorizo Stew

"A traditional Rioja Crianza with a fruit‑forward profile and integrated oak influence" is how they descibe it. Try it with Romesco sauce (roasted red peppers, almonds, garlic, olive oil) to echo the wine’s subtle spice and adds a smoky, nutty depth that complements the gentle oak. The tanins here are gentle enough to take on a tomato based sauce and it's easy drinking enough to take the bottle off the table and onto the sofa!