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MUSICAL DINNER WITH FINE WINE PAIRING

. . . . our very successful Musical Dinners with Paired Wines and beautiful music from Claire Marie (www.clairemarie.es) . . .

CELEBRATING THE END OF ‘LA CRISIS’

 

After twenty years in the Spanish Wine World, which has included countless winery visits, I suppose it’s inevitable that some of the people who were, initially, contacts, and eventually, friends, in those bodegas, will have retired during this time.

 

One such friend is Alvaro Faubel from Bodegas Dominio de la Vega, a leading winery within the Denominación de Origen (DO) Utiel-Requena, and crucially, as you’ll see further on, one of the esteemed members of DO Cava’s South Eastern enclave, an unofficial group now often referred to as the makers of ‘Cava Valenciano’.

Alvaro in full flow!

I’m sure that all of those who have traveled with me to visit Bodegas Dominio de la Vega will remember fondly our guided tours with the eloquent (in several different languages, too!) Alvaro, who is at once, Tour Guide/Historian/Philosopher/Wine Maker/Traveller/Photographer/Linguist and Bon Viveur! Well, we wish him a happy retirement of course.

 

And it’s clear, following my recent dealings with Bodegas Dominio de la Vega, that the foundations that he and his five fellow founders laid down are good and strong, and indeed, are being built upon with further great success! The new order is maintaining the high standard of Cava and wine making, and indeed making further improvements.

 

So, Cava (all now Reserva style), fine still wine – white, rosado and red, plus a rather special dessert wine and you can perhaps see why it is that I turned first to Bodegas Dominio de la Vega to ask them to support the resurrection of our very successful Musical Dinners with Paired Wines and beautiful music from Claire Marie (www.clairemarie.es), which we decided to postpone during La Crisis.

To believe that La Crisis is just about at an end, one only needs to look on the high street to see the number of Estate Agents proliferating. So we took the plunge and approached the excellent and elegant Restaurante Dgust in Moraira about hosting our come-back Dinner.

 

A full-house greatly enjoyed a specially designed and prepared four-course dinner, with each course partnered by a Dominio de la Vega wine. Comments on the night and subsequently (seen here https://www.colinharknessonwine.com/client-comments/) have convinced us that the timing is right and that, hopefully, our next such event (early April, details available soon here https://www.colinharknessonwine.com/events/) will also be a sell-out!

 

I very often, though not exclusively, start a tasting dinner with a Cava. And so it was in this case. Dominio de la Vega’s Brut Reserva Cava has been aged for 18 months, longer than the minimum for a Reserva, and has the depth of flavour to prove it. It has body and it retains its pleasing elegance as well as its celebratory vivacity. So just the job to accompany Prawn Mille-Feuilles starter dish (this, incidentally, served after a pleasant surprise of an amuse bouche of Foie Gras, which essentially rendered the event a four-and-a-half-course dinner!).

 

This Brut Reserva is made with 100% Macabeo, that traditional variety of Cava, which often adds a certain green apple freshness. And so it was here, with more than one commentator suggesting a slight aroma of cider! A lovely start.

 

Añacal, one of the still white wines from this bodega, also uses Macabeo, but this is blended with many people’s favourite, Sauvignon Blanc. So, as you can imagine, a refreshing dry white wine with a fruit aroma, which mirror the varieties – some Granny Smith’s apple combining with gooseberry and a touch of asparagus.

 

This wine was partnered with the fish course of  Lubina (Sea Bass) fillet served on a potato, leek and herb mash, cooked perfectly and served piping hot. The wine cooled the palate, its fresh acidity cut pleasantly through the fish and the overall match worked well.

 

Bobal, as many readers will know, is the indigenous grape variety of DO Utiel-Requena and, where possible, I like to use it in its monovarietal form. From their ‘Special Selection’ their Paraje Tornel 100% Bobal is a lovely, and inexpensive red wine (approximately 9€).

Made from vines that have seen 50 summers, the grapes are harvested in October, gently pressed and the resulting dark juice (following a four day cold maceration) is fermented and then aged in French oak for 12 months, with a further year in bottle before release.   A pleasant vanilla aroma is first to arise from the glass, quickly followed by the overriding dark, picota, cherry fruit. Toasty coffee can also be found, if looking  carefully, on the nose, rather than the palate, where the cherries reign supreme. There’s also a pleasing earthy link with the soil and terroir of the vineyards.

 

Finally, a most unusual  wine, for this area. Ice-wine is famous in Canada, Germany  and other countries where the end of the Autumn usually brings seriously cold temperatures, which literally freezes the grapes that are deliberately left on the vines well after their ‘colleagues’ have been harvested. With protected hands these solid grapes are picked in November, and crushed when hardly thawed.

 

The juice is high in sugar and perfect for making dessert wines. But not in Utiel-Requena, not in Autumn. So, the Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Macabeo grapes for Dominio de la Vega’s Ice-wine, called simply, Dulce, are still kept on the vine until November, but are then artificially frozen to minus 22ºC in nthe bodega. Then they are crushed and the free run juice is fermented at a relatively cool temperature of about 16º.

The result is a very aromatic dessert wine, perfect I would say, with any pineapple dish you might like to create. The very attractive half-bottle is also quite charming – for your next dinner party!

 

Next Fine Wine & Gourmet Dine Programme Sunday 12th  March, 18:00 – 20:00 hrs (Spanish Time) with Spanish Wines for Spring!

Celebrating Chinese New Year with Spanish Wines

Well, firstly let’s remember that there are, of course, many different styles of Chinese food. Styles, which would be, in a perfect world, paired with dish-specific wines . . . .

SPANISH WINES FOR THE CHINESE NEW YEAR

 

Fortuitously (like the cookies?) this year’s Chinese New Year fell on the weekend of one of the Fine Wine & Gourmet Dine Programmes on Total FM. It was an obvious sign – clearly, the Rooster in the sky was telling me to taste, live on-air, Chinese Cuisine paired with appropriate Spanish Wine!

 

Now, there’s a thought – Spanish wines which complement Chinese food (and vice versa, of course, as this is the true nature of wine/food pairings). Well, yes, it is a thought, but sadly it doesn’t seem to be one that has occurred to so many Chinese restaurants situated on the Costas of Spain! And I mean that. It really is sad that, in my experience (in yours too? Please let me know.), the wine lists, at least in the Chinese restaurants in which I’ve dined during the 20 years, are not in any way designed to partner the cuisine. Lamentable, is a more appropriate word.

 

There is a general theme, and a couple of styles of wine, or grape varieties that are regularly recommended. And, it’s a higher end restaurant that believes in the quality of Chinese cuisine, there will be appropriate wines. However, if the restaurant is a downtown, down at heel joint with no passion for the food, serving poor quality dishes for what is believed to be the ‘western palate’, then you can forget the wine, don’t bother!

 

But this latter ‘style’ of Chinese restaurant is actually not what all the Costas’ Chinese restaurants are about. There are those which are genuinely trying to reflect all that’s good about Chinese cuisine – and my hat goes off to all such establishments. Bravo! But, you are missing a trick! Your restaurant will be so much better and far more popular, if you could please make an effort to list wines that actually go with your food!

 

Here endeth the lesson, and please, readers, if you are friendly with your nearest Chinese restaurant, show them this article and tell them that if they’d like me to, I can help!

 

So, which wines did we taste on The Fine Wine & Gourmet Dine Programme at Chinese New Year? Well, firstly let’s remember that there are, of course, many different styles of Chinese food. Styles, which would be, in a perfect world, paired with dish-specific wines. Clearly, it’s not often practical to do this as it presumes a long, appropriate wine list, as well as lots of these wines being available by the glass, given that there will several different choices on the one table.

 

However, there are ‘catch-all’ wines – wines that are in general good to excellent partners for Chinese cuisine.

 

One such style of wine is Cava, and indeed other Spanish Sparkling Wines – at a recent private tasting we really enjoyed a DO Rías Baixas sparkler, which I thought would be wonderful with Chinese (and Thai and Indonesian cuisine). For the purposes of the programme and to accompany Dim Sum and Spring Rolls I went for Canals i Munné Pinot Noir Reserva Rosé.

 

Firstly, this is a lovely Cava – in its presentation as well as its aromas and flavours. Pinot Noir is a relative latecomer into the vineyards of Cava-land. One of the principle varieties of Champagne, it is notoriously difficult to grow successfully. It must have the correct conditions and it’s rather fussy. However, when it’s good, it’s very good!

A delightful pale coloured rosado this Canals I Munné Brut offering has aromas of dark red rose petals, and a harmonious blend of soft red fruit – strawberry to the fore, with raspberry getting into the act a few seconds later. On the grams of sugar per litre scale for a Brut it’s about in the middle, perhaps 8 or nine grams. This means that whilst dry, as we expect a Brut to be, there will be a little fruit-driven sweetness – often a plus with Chinese food.

 

One of the staple recommendations made by the wine/food pairing cognoscenti, including myself, is a grape variety whose natural home would probably be considered to be Alsace in cold climate Northern France. And, fortunately, we are able to find excellent examples of Gewurztraminer here in Spain. It seems that this, admittedly difficult to pronounce variety, is perfectly at home in the heights of the DO Somontano, where it is able to ripen without difficulty (which is not always the case in Alsace) and yet, providing it is planted in appropriate vineyard sites, retain its essential acidity.

 

Bodega Sommos Gewurztraminer 2015 is part of their Collección Series, about which you’ll be reading soon, in Cork Talk – where else? It’s a really exotic variety, where the classic Chinese restaurant fruit, Lychee, is always noticeable, remarkably, on the nose and the palate. This in itself makes it a fine partner for Chinese cuisine, and when you add to the equation a certain spiciness (Gewurz means spice, in German) you’re going to be able to cover dishes that have a little sweetness as well as those with a bit of spicy bite to them.

Not that this wine is at all sweet, it’s just that it delivers an abundance of this exotic fruit, as well a hint of minerality. It partnered our Chicken Chop Suey very nicely, thank you very much!

 

Now, talking of minerality, the duck dish that my guests and I enjoyed in the studio, was paired with another Alsace variety, Riesling, this time grown, amazingly (given the difference in climates) in Moixent, Valencia! Clos Cor  Ví makes three or four white wines, using largely French varieties – they are all really good! I’ve written about their Riesling before, so I won’t repeat myself. However, this is another of those varieties that is often suggested when thinking of pairing wines with Chinese Cuisine. Put simply, it works!

Now, please let me know if the Chinese restaurant that you use has any of these wines, or of course any other wines using these varieties! If they do, they’ll receive a letter on congrats from me, for sure!

 

Next Fine Wine & Gourmet Dine Programme on www.totalfm.es Sunday 26th Feb – my guests will be Katherine and Harald from the new, beautiful boutique hotel, Casa Boquera!

BODEGAS SOMMOS, DO SOMONTANO

If I was to think of one word that suits all their production (including that of their sister bodega in DO Calatayud) it would be ‘elegance’.

HISTORIC SOMONTANO & A BODEGA

WITH MODERNITY AT ITS CORE

 

Forgive me if you’ve heard this before, but I do believe it’s worth saying again – I’ve never tasted a poor wine from DO Somontano! However, I’m unapologetic about making the above statement – again? If readers are looking for consistent quality, then DO Somontano is an ideal port of call.  Not that the rolling, at times, mountainous, vineyards of this relatively young area of production are anywhere near the sea (DO status was only approved in 1985 [DO Rioja, for example was in the 20s]). Set in the foothills of the Pyrenees as well as climbing into the higher ground, DO Somontano averaging 350 – 700 metres above sea level, is far enough away from the Med for it to be minimally, if at all, influential.

 

In the 1970s some local growers decided that they’d like to capitalise on their long history of winemaking, started really in Roman times, believing that their wines were of sufficient quality for them to apply for DO status – although it took 11 years, it was granted, and DO Somontano never looked back. Lengthy studies of microclimates and soils, initially undertaken by the bodega we now know as Viñas de Vero, convinced, not only themselves, but others too, that high quality wines can be made in this area.

Enter, as recently as 2014(!), Bodegas Sommos, whose super-modern, architecturally beautiful building alone is a pointer to the winery’s philosophy. At the cutting edge (see the ‘sharp’ angles of the  bodega!) of modern wine-making this bodega has been designed around current thinking, using tried and tested modern methods, the results of which are testimony to their success.

 

If I was to think of one word that suits all their production (including that of their sister bodega in DO Calatayud) it would be ‘elegance’.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I love the blockbustingly rich wines that we so often find in Spain. Those reds that fill your senses, almost as the cork is being extracted. The richness, often sheer opulence, of the meaty, big and bouncy reds designed to partner the equally powerful wild game and juicy casseroles so loved by the Spanish, and so appropriate in their specific locations.

 

However, I’m also a great lover of subtlety. Whilst, I’m not usually keen on overly delicate wines (their thinness can often be a result of over production and/or immature vines), I’m enamored with wines that have full taste and aroma profiles, but with an almost overriding, certainly integrated, elegance. The wines of Bodegas Sommos fit, perfectly!

 

The philosophy is spot on. The bodega building is very tall, an impressive part of its design, which allows for movement of the grapes and resulting juice by gravity rather than  by intrusive pumps, which can damage the final product. All harvesting is performed at night when the temperatures are at their lowest, bunches are placed in stainless steel trailers with an air-tight stopper, and then transported post haste to the temperature controlled reception area.

 

Fermentation occurs either in huge French oak vats or concrete tanks before appropriate ageing (according to the style of wine required) in new French oak barrels.

 

It’s a large concern, the more so considering its sister bodega, so there are a number of lines. I was sent a good selection of wines from the large portfolio and tasted first the Glárima range, of which two whites were first up: the intriguing (you’ll see why in a moment!) Varietals Blanco 2015, and the Chardonnay/Gewurztraminer Roble 2015.

 

The former wine, the Varietals Blanco, is a blend of 40% each of Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer with the addition of 20% Pinot Noir – told you it was intriguing, a red rose between two whites! Each variety comes from vines that are allowed to yield only one and a half kilos of grapes, and is fermented separately in stainless steel. After blending the wine is aged with its lees for 4 months in new French oak barricas, with regular stirring.

It has a glorious fruity nose with a faint pink rose petal fragrance completing the aroma profile. On the palate, a little lychee, some peach and apricot confirm its fruit presence whilst the finish is quite rich, yet elegant and dry. A super start for me!

 

Glárima Roble Chardonnay/Gewurztraminer is a wine big in flavour, and initially mouth-filling, though the aforementioned elegance gently asserts itself making this very flavoursome wine ideal to simply enjoy on its own, as well as partnering fish and shellfish, through to chicken and turkey. Gewurztraminer is one of the darlingg varieties of this DO, and here’s an example of why this is so!

 

Glárima Varietals Tinto 2014 is a blend of Tempranillo, Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon (Somontano generally is big on international varieties, for which it does receive some criticism, at least here Sommos leads with homegrown Tempranillo!). This vineyard, with the different varietals growing  together, though in separate blocks, is permitted just 1 kilo of grapes per vine. Popular in China, the wine has enjoyed 8 mnths in French oak, again with its lees, and has violet traces in its colour as well as its aroma, with good damson and dark cherry fruit.

The Merlot/Tempranillo in this range also has a little Cabernet for extra colour and ageing potential. It’s had less time in oak, with a  view to highlighting the intensity of the fruit as well as allowing the terroir to make its contribution. Extra to the dark, forest berries fruit, I enjoyed a whiff of menthol too.

 

Please see www.colinharknessonwine.com and click Events, to learn of a fantastic, exclusive Short Wine Break in May! Very limited places available – at the moment!

Cava de Paraje Calificado to Equal Top Champagne!

. . . there continues to be considerable interest in DO Cava’s attempt to bring Cava up to the level of the world’s finest sparkling wines, both in reality and also in the perception of the consumer.

CAVA DE PARAJE CALIFICADO – AN UPDATE

It’s something of an on-going saga, I know, but judging by the postbag I receive from avid readers (come on, I’m a journalist, exaggeration is what we do) the subject of the new eponymous Cava designation, above, has not yet become tedious. Indeed, there continues to be considerable interest in DO Cava’s attempt to bring Cava up to the level of the world’s finest sparkling wines, both in reality and also in the perception of the consumer.

 

For too long, cava has been perceived as a far cheaper alternative to Champagne, albeit lacking anything like the excellence of the great French Fizz, but at these prices – who’s complaining?! Well, regular readers will know that gargantuan steps have been made regarding this promotion, and importantly, re upping the quality too. Those of us who have taken off the blinkers (if we ever had them on) and tasted what are now called Premium Cavas (this is a part of DO Cava’s successful promotional drive) will know that in fact, there has always been excellent Cava, vying with Sparkling Wine from our illustrious neighbour.

 

I won’t bore you with the details of how the concept of Cava de Paraje Calificado came about, all over again (if you are not aware of the relevant Cork Talk articles written since the summer of 2014, please contact me and I’ll send them to you), but I would like to give you an update as to the current state of play. This with grateful acknowledgment of my colleague Amaya Cervera of ‘Spanish Wine Lover’ @spanish_wl and her excellent in-depth article on the same subject.

 

Contrary to announcements in this column and, also via myself, on Twitter and Facebook, there were no Cavas with the new designation to be bought before Christmas. I’d received this exciting information in good faith, from DO Cava itself, but on reflection I might have realised that they were being a tad ambitious. Given the huge task which requires an in-depth application from the bodegas requesting such elevation (there have been 12 applicants so far), followed by: soil analysis; climate considerations; an exhaustive; International tasting and judging process (in fact only begun on the 2nd December); and finally a seemingly interminable wait for Government approval, which, of course, wasn’t helped by the first, inconclusive, election and the need for another, it’s not surprsing that there is a delay!

But let’s start by briefly explaining what Cava de Paraje Calificado is all about. This new appellation will be considered the top-tier of the cava pyramid, acknowledging the singularity of those Cavas which are eventually approved. Although the word ‘Paraje’ suggests a ‘small area’, it may be considered something of a misnomer, as in fact, whilst approved vineyards may indeed be small, perhaps just one or two hectares, they can also be very large tracts of land.

 

The secret is that no matter how large is the area, it must have the same, consistent soil and micro-climate profile. It is also possible for individual, distinct parcels of land within a bodegas total vineyard area, which share the same profiles, that are different from the rest of the vineyard area, to be accepted for the new status. And this goes further – individual areas which differ from themselves, as well as from the larger area can be accepted for individual Cava de Paraje Calificada in their own rights. A bodega may therefore have more than one approved and label acknowledged such higher tier Cava. The clue is in the word ‘singularity’.

 

There are other important rules too. The minimum age of the vines withing the areas applying is ten years. Actually, this surprised me – I would have thought that they would be looking for older vines, fewer, but better grapes, as you know. I wonder if there has been some bowing to pressure from some of the larger concerns here, or less cynically, this may just have been part of the whole negotiating process, started well before my original visit in 2014.

 

Next we come to the controversial question of permitted grape varieties, all of which must be picked by hand, and yields will be tightly controlled. Originally, there were those who passionately appealed for the exclusive use of just native varieties, of which Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel.lo are the most widely used. However, after much discussion it was considered that all varieties already permitted for Cava productions should be allowed – so Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are also in!

Finally, for now at least, the minimum time permitted ‘en rima’ (cellared bottles upside down with their lees) is 36 months, 6 months longer than the current minimum for Gran Reserva, before disgorgement. In fact, many of the very best Cavas have even longer, so this was no hardship for those applying, and in fact, it could be argued that it has helped speed up the process, in that there will be many bottles ‘en rima’ now, originally destined to become ‘just’ Gran Reservas, which, should applications be approved, will come out of the bodegas labeled Cava de Paraje Calificado!

 

Personally, I believe there should be one further requirement – it should be obligatory to display the date of disgorgement on the labels. But, hey we can’t have it all – I guess?

 

Next Fine Wine & Gourmet Dine Programme on Total FM 91.8 & www.totalfm.es is Sunday 12th February, 18:00 – 20:00 hrs (Spain Time) and we are celebrating our 1st Anniversary! You may guess that we’ll be doing this with Sparkling Wine, of course – but did you know that there are three different methods by which Fizz is made? Well, I’ll be tasting: Cava, made, of course, by the ‘Traditional Method’; Prosecco made by the Charmat Method; and finally, and most unusually Spanish Sparkling Wine made by the Ancestral Method! Why not join me and find out more? Comments/Questions to: colin@colinharknessonwine.com. Plus, during the prog please text (00 34) 629 388 159.