Annual Wines for Christmas Day article – 2017

CHRISTMAS DAY WINE RECOMMENDATIONS!

My annual Christmas Day wine recommendations article is one that I perhaps enjoy writing most. It puts me in the mood for Christmas a few weeks before it happens, plus it always makes me think of readers enjoying their Christmas Day Lunch/Dinner, heightened, perhaps by their enjoying one of the wines I’ve recommended! So on with the show!

With my involvement with the 50 Great Cavas competition this year, I guess it’s inevitable that I’d be recommending that we start proceedings with some sparkle! For me, Sparkling Wine on Christmas Day is obligatory – I like to start the day with fizz, and then enjoy some with canapés, perhaps when family and friends arrive. Before the main meal, be it lunch or dinner, I like fizz, too – usually something a bit special, to toast the efforts of the chef and to accompany such a wonderful repast! It’s also particularly good to continue with this sparkler to accompany the starter – this gives me the excuse to order a couple of bottles at least of ‘the special one’!

And after the banquet? Well what better way to revive a slightly jaded palate, than a glass of fizz!

The Cava I’ve enjoyed most this year has been Rovellats Masia Siegle XV Gran Reserva (http://www.cavasrovellats.com/es/productos-cava-y-vino/cavas/cava/13-masia-siglo-xv) and it’s this that I’d recommend for ‘the special one’! It’s not cheap, but it is soooo worth it!

For the cava to be enjoyed at canapé time etc I’d still choose a Premium Cava (meaning either a Reserva or a Gran Reserva) but one more moderately proced. The Dominio de la Vega range of Reserva Cavas is excellent, and so well priced! https://tienda.dominiodelavega.com/ – and some are available in Mas y Mas!

For white wine – I think this particular feast deserves a white with some body to accompany the freshness, so a little ageing will be good. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean oak ageing. This year I’m recommending Albariño de Fefiñanes III Año – it’s a wonderful wine with the fresh, white stoned fruit aromas and flavour of Albariño as well as a certain intensity, depth, body and slight creaminess following its 30 months in tank, 7 months of which have been with lees contact! (http://www.fefinanes.com/en/)

Red wine next, of course – but what with? Turkey, trimmings et al; Chicken; Goose; Duck; Beef ? Who knows, so we have to think of a catch-all, top quality wine when recommending just one. Now this is a rather difficult task here in Spain, which has been known for its excellent red wines for centuries. There is such an abundance of top reds that we can choose to pair with the main course of the Christmas feast!

I have thought long and hard about this – believe me, and it has been a very difficult choice, but I’m extremely happy with the wine I’ve chosen for this year – Bodegas Enrique Mendoza’s Santa Rosa is an excellent wine that perfectly fits the Christmas Lunch/Dinner concept! The flagship of the winery, this elegant Cabernet (70%) Merlot and Shiraz mix is a Spanish wine that, although the grapes are French in origin, would make lots of French wineries quite envious!

The Cabernet has obviously been picked at the optimum time – the grapes were fully ripened but retained their crucial acidity. Lots of blackcurrant aroma and flavour. There’s a touch of plum/damson in there with some stony minerality, a little smoky oak and some rich dark cherry with a touch of spice – it has great length and an admirable complexity, a really cracking wine! (http://www.bodegasmendoza.com/en/)

 

Out on a limb, for my choice of dessert wine? Well, you might think so, as I’m straying away from my traditional PX Sherry recommendation! But, taste the wine and you won’t think so! My favourite dessert wine of this year has been Finca Antigua’s Moscatel Naturalmente Dulce and I think it will go so well with dessert! There’s a touch of lemon zest freshness, which develops into orange blossom fragrance, with orange peel aromas and flavours with some bitter orange, almost marmalade, flavour and aroma too, with a candied dried fruit finish to remind you that this is a pudding wine! (http://www.fincaantigua.com/en/our-wines/)

Happy Christmas to you all!

Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com  www.colinharknessonwine.com  Twitter @colinonwine  Facebook  Colin Harkness & you can find my Vlogs

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Top Ten Spanish Wines Tasted in 2017!

THE COSTA NEWS TOP TEN 2017!

THE TEN BEST SPANISH WINES TASTED THIS YEAR

Yes, I know – I’ve said it before and will more than likely say it again next year too, but the fact is that choosing just ten Spanish wines out of the hundreds I’ve tasted for Cork Talk this year is a very difficult job!

However, here goes, traditionally in reverse order:

TEN:

Finca Antigua Moscatel Naturalmente Dulce, DO La Mancha:

I believe this is the first DO La Mancha wine that has figured in the Costa News Top Ten. There’s a touch of lemon zest freshness, which develops into orange blossom fragrance, with orange peel aromas and flavours plus some bitter orange, almost marmalade, flavour and aroma too, with a candied dried fruit finish to remind you that this is a pudding wine!

NINE:

 

Haragán, Pago Los Balcines, DO Ribera del Guadiana:

(another first!) 50% Garnacha Tintorera/50% Tinta Roriz (aka Tempranillo). Wild dark berry fruits from old vines harvested at night by hand. Juicy, mature, elegant, but with the grip of power too. After 15 months in French oak there’s some black pepper mixed in with the brambly fruit and some undergrowth, some mushroom compost, but always the fruit to the fore.

EIGHT;

Tío Pepe Fino en Rama, DO Jerez:

This is Fino without all the clarification and filtration to which regular sherries are subjected. En Rama is bottled almost without filtration at all. Hence En Rama Sherry is in its most natural state, and with a wholly different, soft golden colour! Yeasty, almost patisserie notes, along with a slight whiff of sea breeze, and then some blanched almond aromas and flavour.

SEVEN:

Otoman, Bodegas Sierra Cantabria, DOCa. Rioja:

White Rioja, made with 49% Sauvignon Blanc and 51% the traditional white Rioja varieties Viura and Malvasia. Glossy on the palate, rich and full, for a white wine, but retaining that crucial acidity which makes whites so fresh. There are herbs on the nose with a hedgerow quality and on the palate there are nutty elements combining rather well with some refreshing citrus flavours.

SIX

 

Santa Rosa, Bodegas Enrique Mendoza, DO Alicante:

Cabernet (70%) Merlot and Shiraz. The Cabernet has obviously been picked at the optimum time – the grapes were fully ripened but retained their crucial acidity. Lots of blackcurrant aroma and flavour. There’s a touch of plum/damson in there with some stony minerality, a little smoky oak and some rich dark cherry with a touch of spice – great length and an admirable complexity.

FIVE:

 

Verum Malvasía, Bodegas y Viñedos Verum, VdlT de Castilla:

Floral fragrance – white rose petals and a touch of magnolia with tantalising wisps of honeysuckle. On the palate, the zest from citrus peel – that’s lemon, lime and grapefruit, plus, curiously, though positively, a slight touch of white pepper. A slight minerality comes through and there’s a good mouth-feel with an understated creamy element from its time spent on its lees.

 

FOUR:

 

Sabaté i Coca Reserva Familiar, Bodegas Castellroig, Cava de Paraje Calificada, DO Cava:

Xarel.lo vines with part of the base wine fermented in oak. Fennel and mountain herbs (thyme and laurel) and slight toasty notes with blanched almonds, a little hazelnut nuance and some distant pear and apple fruit. It’s rich and full, yet personifies elegance with a long and joyous finish.

THREE:

Juan Piernas, Bodegas Jorge Piernas, ‘Red Wine from Spain’:

A wine labelled solely as ‘Red Wine from Spain’, can’t be this excellent – can it? 100% Monastrell from 800 metres above sea level in the Bullas area were fermented in steel then placed in French oak barrels. It celebrates the perfect harmony of elegance and power. Lots of dark plums, some juicy blackberry and picota cherry in there too. An element of spice and a little earthiness.

TWO:

Verum Tempranillo V Reserva Familiar,  Bodegas y Viñedos Verum, VdlT de Castilla:

There’s a little liquorice on the nose, with big, mostly dark, forest fruit, joining the party on the palate too. You’ll detect a little French oak, bringing with it complexity and a pleasing roundness to the wine. Pair it with your turkey – the dark meat particularly. Lovely wine, following their white above!

ONE, THE BEST SPANISH WINE TASTED FOR CORK TALK 2017:

 

GRAN RESERVA MASIA S.XV BRUT NATURE 2008, Cavas Rovellats, DO Cava.

So, a Cava that heads the list this year – and what a Cava! It’s elegant, first and foremost, with brioche and patisserie notes as well as a hint of toasty smokiness, and, after a huge seven years ‘en rima’ it is still as vibrant as a puppy – large breed, because this is also a powerful wine. Drink this with canapés, with fish, seafood and white meats – and you’ll be enthralled!

 

Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com Twitter: @colinonwine www.colinharknessonwine.com Facebook: Colin Harkness Youtube: Colin Harkness On Wine.

In response to my 50 Great Cavas post!

Hello Colin,

We have met at some of your wine tastings and we are just winter visitors to Javea. I do enjoy your regular emails and videos. Your latest on top 50 cavas was very interesting. Here in the UK we get inundated with (cheap, ordinary) prosecco at the expense of cava, which is much better in value and taste, in my view. I am particularly taken by Mas Codina cavas and I would be grateful if you could tell me if and where it it may be available locally in or around Javea.

Seasonal greetings to you and Claire.

David & Jane Mack