Articles

First Published Costa News Group, Jan 2013

BARON DE LEY VARIETALES

RIOJA’S FAMED GRAPE VARIETIES FLYING SOLO!

There isn’t much to thank La Crisis for, here in Spain. But you don’t want me to list, yet again, the financial problems that we have been having for so long now. So I’m going to focus instead on at least one good thing that has come about because of the economic downturn.

From a wine perspective it’s been a super time to be here in Spain. Firstly there continue to be some truly excellent offers re wine prices and special deals on multi-buys and, when we’re occasionally feeling flush, on cases too. I’m sure that you, also, have taken advantage of this tiny silver lining, edging, if not surrounding, the metaphoric grey clouds of recession! I know I have!

But that’s not all. There has, I think, been a general ‘tidying up’ where bodegas have realised that in such a competitive market, quality is all! Thus, in an effort to drive sales, the standard of even the cheaper end of the market has improved. It’s very difficult to find really poor wine in Spain nowadays – would that this had been so when I first came here!

So that’s another plus. But the one that perhaps encourages me the most is the fact that Spanish wine-makers are experimenting more and more. Different blends are being trialled; varieties new to Spain are being planted; innovative wine-making techniques are being tested; and even some old traditional practises are being brought back to life with terrific results! The upshot is a vast expansion of wines for you and me to try. 

The prestigious, though relatively young, Bodegas Baron De Ley of DOCa La Rioja is one such producer who continues with its tried, tested and loved traditional style wines but who is also experimenting. Baron de Ley’s Varietals range is a case in point, and a very tasty one at that!

 

Most Rioja wine has been made from a blend of the approved grape varieties of the DO – Tempranillo, the most used, Graciano, Mazuelo, Garnacha and Maturana amongst others – for decades. Tempranillo is likely to remain the basic building block of La Rioja with it taking the lion’s share of most blends but there has, over the last few years, been experimentation with the other varietals giving them more leading roles than bit parts.

 

Baron de Ley has taken it a step further though. They have produced a range of three mono-varietal wines, Tempranillo (of course, if it aint bust don’t fix it!) but also Graciano and the far less well known Maturana. I was lucky enough to receive this triumvirate of, up to now, experimental wines, and if my taste buds are anything to go by, this range will swiftly move from the merely experimental and be added permanently to the Baron de Ley portfolio.

Considering that the Spanish word for law is ‘Ley’ it’s entirely appropriate as well as being quite striking that the labels on these series of wines look a little like a legal document, duly sealed in wax! Standing in a group the wines are impressive.

Varietal Tempranillo 2010 – initially a quite vanilla perfume on the nose, very Rioja-esque and therefore keeping in touch with its roots. After ten minutes the vanilla became more integrated on the nose with some super soft red fruit coming through and a delightful, meaty (roast lamb, appropriately, considering that this dish seems almost synonymous with Rioja red wine!).

 

It’s pleasantly chewy with a good balance of dark and light red fruit, plums and loganberry. There’s also a slight earthy, farmyard aroma with a good balance of acidity and tannin as well as the good fruit presence. There’s a slight bitterness on the finish endearing this wine to roast lamb, claro, but also, considering its refreshing acidic style, to rich game dishes in order to cut through the richness. 

Varietal Graciano – there are two tongue-in-cheek schools of thought as to how the name Graciano originated: one suggests that Graciano comes from the Spanish word Gracia, grace or joy in English, suggesting an elegant, graceful wine; and the other, rather more derogatory suggestion, is that it comes from Rioja growers of old whose response when offered this variety to grow in their vineyards would say, Gracias no!

Baron de Ley’s Varietal Graciano 2009 lies securely in the former of those two possibilities. There are gentle violet aromas and jammy, brambly dark fruit flavours with a good tannin/acidity/fruit balance. It has an initial slightly thin taste and feel which rallies on the mid-palate. On the finish there are dark chocolate notes with a slightly more bitter finish overriding the fruit. Drink this wine with game and cured meats and maybe some mature cheeses.

Varietal Maturana 2010 – highly purple coloured, this wine came a very close second  (by a cork head!) to the Tempranillo. It’s strength is its fruit content. It’s rich and fruity in the mouth with balanced acidity and sweet tannins. There’s a very slight varietal characteristic green pepper aroma blending pleasantly with some smoky menthol and earthy minerality. There’s also a touch of Mocha and coffee on the nose with some liquorice in there too

Innovation is the key at the moment and here is an example where a trial results in a success and we consumers can enjoy a different style Rioja, and not have to pay too much for it!

PS If you’re interested in learning more about Spanish wine, and having a super and very tasty time doing so, then why not join my e-mail list so that you hear about the many wine tastings I present and bodega visits I organise. I also present private wine   tastings for groups which are always informative and great fun! And, why not go further and enjoy a wine appreciation course, tailored to your requirements – either individually or in small groups? Please contact me as below!

colin@colinharknessonwine.com and www.colinharknessonwine.com

First Published Costa News Group, Jan 2013

WE’VE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD!

WINE-WISE, WE’RE BETTER OFF HERE THAN IN THE UK!

Our recent sojourn in the UK was great! We love to see family and old friends and of course we are always trying the wines that are commonly available in the land of our birth!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I believe the UK is the best country in the world to buy wine! The variety of styles and the exhaustive choice really are second to none. All the wine producing countries of the world sell their wares in the UK, plus of course, the English and Welsh also make wine themselves! It’s an Aladin’s Cave of a country!

There’s also the advantage of the UK being the country which boasts the greatest number of Masters of Wine (many of whom act as consultants for the wine buying retail outlets of Britain) as well as the large number of wine articles and Radio and TV programmes that are available. This again leads me to an oft repeated comment of mine that the British public are probably the best informed wine consumers in the world!

A fact that is far too slowly becoming recognised by Spanish wine retailers and restaurateurs whose very gradually slackening head-in-the-sand attitude has been a source of considerable frustration for this particular commentator over the sixteen years I’ve been banging my head against their brick walls of incredulous denial!

Fortunately, forward thinking bodegas (whose numbers have swelled dramatically over the last ten years) and at last some Spanish wine retailers (witness my final paragraph here, for example) have acknowledged that the British Euro (Euros spent in Spain by British residents and second home owners) makes a significant and positive contribution to their balance sheets, and are now actively targeting (in the nicest possible way!) UK ex-Pats with their promotional campaigns etc.

From this point of view things are improving in Spain, though there’s still a lot to catch up on when comparing this aspect of the wine trade to that in the UK. However where Spain fares far better than the UK is, judging by my latest visit, in the quality, the sheer pleasure of the taste and aromas of so many of the wines on sale for the prices being charged!

You will surely have noticed when last in Britain that the major supermarkets have a very broad selection of different wines, but when one considers their quality, the choice dramatically narrows. The more so when considering the price point and the large number of discounted wines.

When in UK supermarkets we are assailed by offers of wines, normally (we are led to believe!) in the, say, 6 – 8 pounds price bracket. These are offered at the ‘bargain’ price of about  5 – 7 pounds, corresponding to a discount of approximately 20% off their ‘normal’ price. The wines fly off the shelves and it seems almost everyone drinks them.

But are they happy with them? Well, given that price has to be king for most of us in these hard economic times, I’m sure that most people in the UK are either quite happy, or convince themselves to be so! However, considering that a wine that is discounted(!) to five pounds actually means that people are paying approximately 6·15€, we can taste the fact that they are really being ripped off!

For just over six Euros I can think of very many Spanish wines readily available here that will knock the socks off wines currently being sold in the UK in this price bracket! In Spain we lucky to be able to enjoy far richer, fruit driven and aromatic wines for that sort of figure, and if you trade up a couple of Euros, the difference is even more pronounced when compared, for example with the ‘special offer’ wines if they were sold at their ‘normal’ price!

Consider also that the duty on wine in the UK is approximately 1·5 pounds. Add that to the cost of transport from the country of origin (it’s a helluva way from Chile!); the cost of the bottle, cork/synthetic closure/screwcap, labels and foil, subtract this figure from the purchase price and see how much you are left with!

This paltry sum is of course the real value of the wine – no wonder so many of these ‘bargain’ wines are thin, insipid and wholly undistinguished.

But not all of them! I enjoyed several of the various different New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs I tasted; one of the Pinot Grigios, from South Africa, I think; and an excellent, remarkably inexpensive generic white Burgundy.

I was mostly disappointed with the reds. Last year I was bemoaning the glut of over-rich (to the point of being ‘sickly’!), powerful Chilean reds – how I missed them this year! There were very few, with Argentina and South Africa having much more shelf space this year, though the Maipo Chilean Merlot was good.

One Côtes du Rhône (chosen because of the IWSC medal sticker on the bottle – a sure mark of quality) was very good and I did very much enjoy one or two excellent Champagnes.

Over all though I’m so grateful to Señor Daniel Castaño of Bodegas Castaño, DO Yecla, who sent a case to our address in England – I guess he’s been to the UK recently and was worried that I wouldn’t be enjoying the wine available there!

First Published in Costa News Group, December 2012

THE COSTA NEWS TOP TEN

CORK TALK’S TEN BEST SPANISH WINES OF 2012

Since its inception ten years ago, following a reader’s suggestion, the Costa News’ Top Ten Spanish Wines of the Year has grown considerably in stature. A growth commensurate, I believe, with a similarly dramatic increase in the quality of wines made here in Spain over the same period.

I’m not suggesting that wine making bodega owners the length and breadth of the Iberian peninsular are sitting on the edge of their seats awaiting the following list of winners, but as is always the case, I know there is considerable interest in which bodegas have earned a coveted place on the podium.

As is always the case, there are several wines that could have made the list, had they been given just one more mark, or with some wines, just half a mark! But the Top Ten has to be just that, Ten only!

No. 1 The Costa News’ Top Wine of 2012 is: Doix 2008 from Bodegas Mas Doix, DO Priorat: Perhaps considered their flagship wine, Doix 2008 is made from low yielding venerable old Garnacha, Cariñena and Merlot vines, the oldest of which can count 105 harvests! French oak has made the wine wonderfully supple, tasty with depth of flavour and complexity.

No.2 = Sharing second place is another wine from the vineyards of North Eastern Spain, which underlines just how good wines from Cataluña can be. The honour here goes to: Dos Dedos Del Frentes, Bodegas El Escocés Volante, DO Calatayud. This unfiltered red wine is a fascinating blend of Syrah which grows so well here in Spain and the wonderful white wine grape variety, Viognier. Unusual bedfellows here in Europe but quite common in New Zealand. The Viognier makes such a significant contribution to the perfume of the wine as well as adding a lightness to the spicy, black pepper and olive, rich dark berried flavour of Syrah. Integrated oak adds to the party and makes for a super-flavoured red wine.

No. 2 = From the same stable, El Escocés Volante, and impossible to separate from the above, El Puño Garnacha displays the subtlety of French Grenache, judicially oaked, with juicy Spanish sunshine-inspired deep and dark fruit this wine is a fine Garnacha example. Herby mineral notes and a long finish, it’s as elegant as a fine French maiden but with machismo strength of flavour.

No. 2 =Blanc d’Enguera, Bodegas Enguera, DO Valencia is the final wine to share second spot. Readers will notice two interesting points about this wine, firstly it’s white and secondly it’s from DO Valencia, the first time that a Valencia wine has figured so highly on the Costa News Top Ten – and a white at that! Following clarification and gentle filtration the wine undergoes a short ageing in lightly toasted French barricas which results in integrated oak with a lovely fragrance. On the nose there are hints of grapefruit and Seville orange peel, with further citrus notes and a fleeting memory of apricot too! The local Verdil variety (70%) is joined by Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier and Chardonnay a certain percentage of which has been fermented in oak.

No. 5  Quinta Sardonia, Bodegas Terres Gauda, VdlT Castilla y León. QS is made with Tinto Fino (aka Tempranillo) and Cabernet Sauvignon; Merlot; Syrah (only 5% but surely impacting significantly on the overall juiciness of the finished product); Petit Verdot; Cabernet Franc (interesting this because, if Mencía shares any characteristics with another variety, it’s Cab. Franc); and finally Malbec! Its colour is a glorious dense and dark cherry, picota, red. On the nose there is an alluring intensity with cassis and mountain herbs to the fore. On the palate you’ll find ripe plums, a touch of black pepper with a hint of black olives too. Sixteen months in French oak have added depth of flavour and complexity.

No. 6  Cullerot, Celler del Roure, DO Valencia. Yes, another white and again from Valencia. This beguiling, aromatic dry white wine has a fragrance similar, in its subtle style, to a perfume. It’s made from an eclectic blend of Macabeo, Verdil, Malvasia, Chardonnay and PX (normally found in Jerez). Fresh in the mouth, there is also a hidden depth of flavour, with a Chardonnay finish wrapped around blanched almonds and citrus flavours with floral notes too!

No. 7  Absis 2005, Bodegas Parés Baltá, DO Penedés. Cataluña again, and this time a red wine from a bodega perhaps more famous for its Cava. Tempranillo with Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a wonderfully dark coloured wine, sultry in the glass, with aromas of black cherries and blackcurrant jam (with a whiff of same but with a tiny splash of whisky or brandy in it too!). Complexity, richness, depth, minerality and elegance in equal measure!

No. 8  Finca Caraballas Verdejo 2011, DO Rueda. I’m delighted to include a wine from an area so well liked by readers, DO Rueda. Finca Caraballas’ organic methods include the use of only natural yeasts indigenous to the vineyards. There’s no spraying either, no artificial fertilisation, no chemicals – nothing, just nature. The young 100% Verdejo has a certain singularity, that distinguishes it from others made from the same grape. The wine’s perfume is wonderful, inviting. It has an abundance of deep, fresh, fruit with similarities to subtle gooseberry but with herbs, even basil too. It has vegetal notes, green pepper perhaps and the whole assembly is full and rich with clean acidity and a super-long finish.

No. 9  Blanca Cusiné, Bodegas Parés Baltá, DO Cava. Perhaps the flagship of this bodega is the Micro-cuvée range, wines and cavas made from low yielding old vines grown in vineyards that boast beneficial micro-climates and terroirs. From this range comes Blanca Cusiné 2008 Cava whose Champagne-esque blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (the Pinot having been fermented in 400 litre French Oak barrels) is expressive on the nose, a touch toasty, and deeply flavoured on the palate with a long finish. It’s had 35 months in bottle following it’s second fermentation and as such is a similar style to a Cava Gran Reserva.

No. 10  Señorio de Nevada Club de Barrica Syrah Selección 2008. A late entry, received early December and selected for the pure pleasure of simply drinking it! It’s the best Syrah I’ve tasted in Spain, thus far. Big ripe fruit flavours of dark cherry, blackberry and damson plus mountain herbs and with some black pepper spice too. A conversation stopper with a long finish from the Sierra Nevada above Granada, in fact some of the highest vineyards in Spain. The consequent dramatic drop in temperature from day to night adds a crucial acidic lick to the wine and enhances aromas too.

Watch out for wine tastings and bodega visits, plus special wine offers through Heat Gold FM 91·1 FM and www.heatgold.fm Listen Live throughout 2013! colin@colinharknessonwine.com and www.colinharknessonwine.com

First Published Costa News Group, December 2012

CLOS d’YVIGNE

PATRICIA ATKINSON’S DIET OF WINE AND LITERATURE!

At a time of pre-Christmas dieting, I couldn’t resist the above title. Although, as far as I know, this Atkinson diet bears no relation to the Atkins Diet that so  many of us have and tried and failed/succeeded! I’d far rather follow Patricia’s diet of erudite prose and silky, alluring French wines, any time!

Hers is an interesting story. To escape the frenetic pace of a fast-lane life in the UK Patricia and husband took the decision to buy a farmhouse in France, near Bergerac, where much of James’ work could be done via the internet with regular visits back to Blighty. The rural idyll they found, which included a almost incidental few hectares of vines, seemed to be perfect and both set to work making a new life for themselves, restoring the accommodation, the wine making facility and discovering a new hobby – wine making.

I’m not the first to comment that their story, told in Patricia’s first book ‘The Ripening Sun’ (published by Arrow Books, www.randomhouse.co.uk) can be likened to Peter Mayle’s ‘A Year in Provence’, albeit a vinous version of the same. However, whilst there are similarities, Patricia’s experiences, I think, surpass those of Peter’s. Patricia Atkinson’s debunking to France was at first a matter of re-location, a combination of working holiday and new lifestyle.

But the debilitating illness that her husband contracted not long after the move, causing him to have to return to the UK, left Patricia with the vineyard as her only means of support. In a matter of one or two growing and harvesting seasons she would have to become expert in a business of which she had no knowledge and no experience and in a language for which her schoolgirl French had hardly equipped her!

The trials, tribulations, disasters and sweet successes which are so poignantly described in the book that the reader feels he/she is living them him/herself. And, of course, you can follow the story by buying the book (and its sequel, ‘La Belle Saison’, which, though I haven’t read it yet, I expect to be similarly entertaining). The only thing missing is being able to taste the wine from Clos d?Yvigne.

So when our great pals, Mary and John, gave me the book, having visited the area on holiday and indeed visited the winery and tasted the wines, I felt I needed to investigate further. An e-mail enquiry resulted in a white and red to taste, plus three different vintages of Clos d’Yvigne’s flagship wine when John and Mary made a subsequent visit.

The vast array of super wines in Spain makes it unnecessary to taste wine from other countries. However, as variety is the spice of life and because it’s so stimulating to compare other countries’ wines with those available here in Spain I was really looking forward to our recent dinner party where the wines were going to be tasted.

And I wasn’t disappointed!

Clos d’Yvigne’s Princesse de Cléves is named after the heroine in Madame de La Fayette’s early 17th Century novel, whose purity is reflected in this quality white wine. Made from a blend of Semillon (a French variety which has quietly been responsible for super white wines for hundreds of years, but perhaps now better known, though inaccurately, to 21st Century wine drinkers as an Australian grape),  Moscatel and Sauvignon, it has a fascinating floral nose (Elderflower and Magnolia) with citrus notes, some green leaved herbs and a depth of flavour too.

It’s a dry, clean and refreshing white wine that has a touch of residual sugar along with a dry, quite long lasting finish. There’s depth and complexity in the wine too, coming in part at least for the short time it has spent in oak. We tasted it with moules (it was a French night after all!) with which it coped admirably, as it would also with fish dishes, with or without sauce, and light meats, particularly chicken and turkey.

There is an established order in which to taste wine, so that the palate remains fresh to take on the new flavours. Of course nothing is written in stone and I’ve had several off piste tastings where the tradition is ignored. However, I felt that sticking with the norm would be best for these wines so we started the reds ‘correctly’, with the youngest wine first.

Le Prince 2009, Appelation Bergerac Contrôlée (as are all Clos d’Yvigne wines; AC being similar to the Spanish DO), is a well-rounded, supple, richly fruited wine which, put simply, is a real pleasure to drink. Merlot and Cabernet Franc from the  estate’s oldest vineyards. It’s a tactile wine, with a velvety smoothness and depth coming from the two years it has spent in oak (French, mais oui!).

It’s mellow with no harsh tannin, but with a pleasing acidity, excellent fruit content and 14º abv all of which auger well for ageing. Look for cherry, mostly dark but with lighter elements too, integrated vanilla, a fleeting and yet persistent aroma of bay leaves and just a touch of peppery spice. We all love it!

A vertical tasting is where different vintages of the same wine are tasted against each other. Quality bodegas/chateaux/wineries always keep back some cases of wine from each year so that they can taste them in future as part of their quality control and of course to see how they evolve over time. It helps enormously in assessing the longevity of a certain wine.

We started our vertical tasting with the 2009 vintage of the chateau’s top wine, Le Rouge et Le Noir. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are bedfellows for this wine which has also enjoyed two years in oak barrels. Fruit laden Merlot, red and black cherries, combine perfectly with more brambly, blackcurrant Cabernet Sauvignon.

There’s an earthy, mineral aspect to this wine with maturing tannin and an acidic lick softened by rich fruit (I’m sure 2009 was a good year, the fruit laden Le Prince is from the same vintage) with vanilla and a touch of a new leather upholstered car aromas and just maybe a tweek of cigar box too! Balanced and drinking very well but with time to mature, as indicated by its attributes and the fact that the 2008 is a different animal!

The voluptuous fruit of the 2009 has become more integrated in the earlier 2008 vintage. The wine as a whole retains its richness but is more serious, more subtle, though that’s not to detract from it at all. It’s a wine that is lovely to sip and enjoy with friends but one that will also suit meat dishes – our cassoulet loved it, and vice versa.

The final Clos d’Yvigne wine of the evening was the Le Rouge et Le Noir 2007. At five years of age there’s no sign of this wine becoming tired. It still has good fruit a touch of minerality and some wild mountain herbs on the nose – I find bay leaf again, though I’m  not sure where it’s coming from! Slightly more tannic than the younger versions, this wine is set fair for the dinner table, suiting game and beef dishes for sure and duck, for me, without the influence of a sweet, rich sauce.

In a head to head between the Atkinson and Atkins diet, I know which I’d choose! (Clos d’Yvigne wines are available on-line www.closdyvigne.com, as are both books).

PS If you’re looking for more knowledge about Spanish wines and how to taste them; bodega visits; wine tastings etc – please contact Colin at colin@colinharknessonwine.com and www.colinharknessonwine.com