Articles

First Published Costa News Oct. 2012

BODEGAS TORREVELLISCA DO VALENCIA

A MEMBER OF TERRES DELS ALFORÍNS GROUP!

Some of the wines from Bodegas Torrevellisca

It can’t have escaped your attention that there are increasing numbers of Russians moving to the sunshine of Spain, and in particular to the various Costas. However, like many British ex-pats, there are also those who eschew the clamour of the coast, preferring instead more tranquil areas inland where they find that the real Spain hasn’t yet disappeared under the weight of foreign cultures.

It would be difficult to find an area more tranquil than Fontanars dels Alforíns. An extensive plain of flat arable land inland from Gandia home to the sleepy agricultural villages of Moixent and Fontanars where in many respects time has stood still. Such an area though has for centuries been producing wine and, since the latter half of the last century the quality of said wine has been gradually increasing, to the point where wines from here are often voted the best in the DO Valencia!

I can only see the wines from this area going from strength to strength, the more so now that a new group (spotlighted in Cork Talk over a number of months now), Terres dels Alforíns, has been established. This group is dedicated to making top quality wines whilst simultaneously keeping an eye on the environment and the soils, sustainability is the key.

Fontanares’ Bodegas Torrevellisca, now enjoying Russian investment, is one of the member bodegas and I’ve been tasting several of their offerings over the last few weeks. My advice is to look out for them – but take your magnifying glass with you!

There are two wines that are clearly targeting the younger generation. For a number of years now there’s been a sustained attempt to enfranchise, in wine consumer terms, the jovenes of Spain. Youngsters have disposable income (albeit it earned sometimes by their parents!) and wine producers, understandably would like to convince them to dispose if it by buying wine, rather than beers, cocktails and spirits.

The wine marketing people don’t pretend to any altruism here, though it is probably true that, taken in moderation, wine will be better for young drinkers than the rest. They are simply trying to increase their sales. And it’s marketing techniques that are being used, of course, one of which is label design.

Now I’m all in favour of making labels interesting and accessible and I think the labels on the Embrujo Range have their attractions – where the two ends of the label should join to fully encircle the bottle, it doesn’t quite make it. But it does make a rather clever silhouette of a wine glass. Nifty. The problem is though that the minuscule writing on the label (even to the youngsters who were with me when I tried the wine – I’m not just talking about my bespectacled eyes!) is so small it’s illegible!

A shame. as the wine in the bottle is actually rather good. Their white is made with Malvasia, following a nocturnal harvesting – meaning that the grapes were picked after dark to avoid uncontrolled fermentation. It’s a dessert style wine which will please those who have a penchant for sweeter wines, perhaps as an aperitif or to accompany desserts. It’s fragrant too.

Their red wine has a similar label, though purple/pink in colour (an attempt to include young ladies in red wine drinking circles?). It’s made with Monastrell, the darling grape of the area, and a favourite of mine, along with Syrah – which as I’ve said before can be so good here in Spain where it can fully ripen.

Blackberry and Victoria Plum aromas arise from the deeply purple coloured wine along with the merest hint of oak after a very short one month only in French wood. It’s a wine that is meant to be drink in its youth. It has not airs and graces, no great complexity, but it’s not any lesser for it. Vibrant fruit driven wine is what they want (the producer and the young consumer) and that’s exactly what they get!

Torrevellisca’s Zagromonte Range has a different approach, in terms of labelling and wine style. These wines are meant to grace a dinner table – and that they did, with a certain aplomb.

Argentum 2009 Crianza won a Silver Medal at the Bacchus 2012 Wine Competition – and I’m not surprised. Made with Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon this darkly coloured wine has a good depth of flavour following its fifteen months in French and American oak. Blackcurrant on the nose and palate but some soft light red fruits in there too. It lasts quite a while after swallowing too.

At 86 Peñin Points Aurum de Zagromonte Crianza 2009 made with a Bordeaux style blend of Merlot and Cabernet has perhaps a little more to it than the above (it has two more Peñin points for a start!). It has mellowed nicely with time in bottle and the 12 months in French and American Oak have given the tannic grip of youth a soothing hand, whilst retaining its power. A very good dinner wine, this.

The slightly higher Peñin scoring Brundisium 2008 Crianza has had a whopping 20 months in French and American Oak, but not to the wine’s detriment at all. The fruit is still to the fore with a depth and enviable complexity to boot. A triumvirate of varieties: Tempranillo, and the two Cabernets – Sauvignon and Franc, make this a many layered wine which changes over dinner giving a slight surprise each time you take another sip!

So Bodegas Torrevellisca – wines from Valencia with a Russian influence!

colin@colinharknessonwine.com and www.colinharknessonwine.com

First Published Costa News Group, October 2012

BODEGA PUERTO

JAVEA PORT’S NEW WINE MERCHANTS HOSTS WINE TASTING

 It has to be a courageous couple to open a new business on Spain’s recession-hit Costas, but Mari and Juan, of the new Javea Port wine merchants, Bodega Puerto, are exactly that!

 Juan and Mari were unperturbed by daily gloomy economic forecasts including such baffling lofty phrases as: “ Moody’s Downgrade Spanish Bonds to Junk Status”; and “Fitch Ratings for Spain free-fall to CCC Grade”, and worse (for heaven’s sake, what does it all mean?!). Plus the instantly understandable and down-to-Earth (unlike the above) sad sight of so many ghostly business premises now empty would put off most entrepreneurs. In such a climate is it wise to start a new enterprise?

 Well an early-term report suggests that Bodegas Puerto is definitely bucking the trend and I, along with a full-house of wine tasters, went along to find out about an oasis of success in what we are led to believe is a desert of recession.

 Having opened in early June, owners Juan and Mari have been pleased with the passing trade that has slowly developed over the months. Many stopped passing and became regular customers, but now the Summer tourist consumers are being replaced by Autumn tourists and this business will again change as Winter comes along.

 In anticipation of this change and natural reduction in numbers visiting the shop, Juan and Mari asked me if I’d like to present a tasting of some of their wines as a promotional exercise. Having visited the premises and having been impressed with the variety of well chosen wines, plus gastro delicatessen-like nibbles also on offer, I accepted with alacrity.

 And, when advised of the tasting, so did the maximum forty inquisitive people, within 48 hours of notification! It seems that Juan’s pre-opening research was correct in suggesting that there is a demand for a quality wine shop in Javea Port!

 We tasted five wines, with nibbles, which were served by charming family members all delighted to help and to meet potential new clients. I made no apology for starting proceedings with Bodegas Dominio de la Vega’s Cava Brut. A consistently good sparkling wine which belies its humble price bringing faint green apple flavours to the typical Cava patisserie, bready nose.

 But that’s not the only reason why I often choose Cava from this highly-rated Utiel-Requena based bodega. With Domino de la Vega Cavas you know exactly what you are getting  – just look at the back label. Here, unlike most Cavas (and Champagnes and other sparklers), you’ll see the month of disgorgement clearly printed.

 This records the month when the sediment (dead yeast cells) that caused the secondary fermentation (which is how the bubbles arrived!) is ejected from the bottle. The Cava was then immediately ready to drink and indeed will be for the next nine to twelve months. After this time (roughly, it’s not a precise science) the wine will slowly start to fade. Of course without the date on the label how do consumers know if the sparkling wine is likely to still be in good condition? Answer – we don’t!

 I applaud Bodegas Dominio de la Vega for taking this stance, their voice in the wilderness should be joined by a huge choir of all makers of sparkling wine singing the same song!

 All the next wines were made under the auspices of the famous Rioja bodega, Ramon Bilbao – which I’m sure many readers will have seen and probably tasted too. However their first wine of the evening wouldn’t perhaps have been recognised immediately as a Ramon Bilbao wine – it’s white, and it comes from DO Rueda!

 I wonder if Monte Blanco, produced by Bodegas Ramon Bilbao in DO Rueda is the result of a decision some years ago by the bodega owners to produce a white wine but out of the Rioja area and therefore not having to use the Viura grape variety? (please see Cork Talk past articles White Rioja Parts One and Two).

 No matter, the point is that this Verdejo wine has lovely, inviting bright lime green tones with hints of pure gold. The flavour is classic crisp Verdejo – asparagus, mountain herbs, long thin Italian green peppers, gooseberry and under-ripe kiwi. It’s super stuff and under 6€!

 You’d be hard-pressed to recognise also that Lucero del Alba, from Rioja’s arch enemy Ribera del Duero, is also made by Ramon Bilbao – there’s no mention of it on the label. But Bodegas Cruz De Alba is part of the group and here responsible for a Roble wine, that is a wine with some oak and bottle ageing but deliberately not enough for it to be called a Crianza.

 Juicy fruit with a noticeable acidity on first opening mellows quickly to be a fruit-led wine but with some depth provided by the American oak. After ten minutes or so just enjoy the caramel and dark fruit aromas wafting out of the glass!

 Ramon Bilbao Crianza 2009 is made from 100% Tempranillo and has had more time in oak and bottle to produce a classic Rioja style Crianza. There’s a nice balance between dark red fruit, some lighter loganberry and herby notes, particularly bay leaf, with the vanilla of the oak. Easy and delightful drinking, and with food.

 Their Reserva 2006 is a dinner table wine and if you open this wine in the UK or anywhere else in the world, you’ll instantly be transported (beam me up Scotty!) to Spain. It speaks of Spanish wine and of course specifically of La Rioja. Tempranillo is joined by the highly perfumed Graciano and the meaty, darkly coloured Mazuelo (aka Cariñena) varieties – a typical Rioja triumvirate. Bay leaves and a very distant thyme and mineral note with roasted coffee beans, coconut and dark blackberry fruit help to make this a flavoursome and deep, complex wine.

 Needless to say – they’re all available at Bodega Puerto!

 colin@colinharknessonwine.com and www.colinharknessonwine.com – are you interested in learning more about wine appreciation, individual and small group courses available!

First Published Costa News Group October 2012

BLANC MONASTRELL

BLANC DE NOIR FROM BODEGAS ANTONIO ARRÁEZ

Monastrell Blanc from Bodegas Antonio Arráez

Perhaps you’ve heard me at one of my wine tastings explaining to those who don’t know, how rosado wine is made? It’s not, as many will know, made by mixing a bottle of red wine with a bottle of white wine. Although there are still rosados made by using black grape must (juice) mixed with white grape must, the white dumbing down, in terms of colour, the dark red, and of course adding freshness, acidity and aroma to the finished, rosé coloured brew.

However the vast majority of rosé wines are made by using black skinned grapes. Yes, the same varieties that make the full bodied, richly coloured red wines that we love: Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Merlot et al. But how can this be?

Well, the next time you buy some grapes, black and green, just for a second take the time to cut one of each type in half and study the centre of the grape. You’ll find that the flesh of the grape at its centre and going outwards towards the skin, is in fact the same colour for black and green grapes.

The juice of both types of grape would be the same if it weren’t for the skins which are pressed in order to release the juice. The black grapes also release some of their colour and when the grape is further pressed and then the must is left in contact with the skins the colour of the juice changes to a much darker red as more colour leaks from the skins. The results is the black grape must which will next be fermented ending up with a red wine.

However if the colour leaking process is interrupted part way through – the colour of the must will be less than red, more of a pinky colour, really – rosé. Hence, while a red wine is red by virtue of the time its must spends in contact with the black skins, a rosado wine is rosé coloured because it spends less time with those skins.

Ergo it must be possible to make a white wine from black grapes by keeping the juice and the skins separate. It can’t be totally white as the pressing, albeit very gentle, is bound to release a little of the colour contained in the skin, but in order to limit this colouring as much as possible the must is whisked away from skins in double quick time!

What’s left is a juice, and ultimately a wine that has the palest of pink hues, or sometimes a little similar to onion skin colour, in fact just like the Monastrell Blanc.the wine to be described in a moment, from Bodegas Antonio Arráez.

But why do it, one may ask? We already have: white wine, rosado, red, as well as many different styles within those colours. Do we need another type of wine?

Well, for sure, such wines have a novelty value – there aren’t many produced (Blanc Monastrell is a limited production of just 2,400 bottles) and their rarity is of interest to those keen on tasting different wines. This wine will be a sell-out, if it hasn’t already. However, given the chance next year to buy the same wine – will people do so again, having tasted the first, initially just to try it, to see what it’s like?

Blanc de Noir wines (white from black) are made to satisfy a demand, albeit small at the moment (but definitely increasing) for wines that combine the freshness of a crisp white wine with the rich, depth of flavour of a red. They also satisfy a winemaker’s desire to make something different, something special.

I think it goes without saying (but that’s never stopped me before!) that such wines will always have enjoyed the winemaker’s loving attention – it’s unusual, something of a vino d’autor, and will thus be his or her ‘baby’ causing her/him to pay perhaps even more attention to it than others from the same stable.

 

White Wine Made From Black Grapes - Blanc de Noir!

I’m certain that those of us who have tasted Bodegas Antonio Arráez’s Monastrell Blanc 2011, will return to it next year, and so on!

 

The colour, pink-hued pale onion skin, is unusual but pleasant in the glass and when pouring one is treated to a burst of floral, red rose aroma with at first unidentified fruit, including citrus, lingering in the air and seemingly clinging to the sides of the glass.

 

Raise that glass and on the palate and the treat expands with both dark and light red fruit (blackberry, Victoria plum, loganberry) notes as well as some grapefruit abounding but with a gentle herby aroma allied to the faintest whiff of cranberry too!

 

It has a mid-length, dry finish which leaves the palate with a richness but freshness too. Super wine – let’s have more!

Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com and through his unique wine services website – want to know how to obtain more from your wine, how to choose wines in a restaurant; visit a bodega; hold a wine tasting for your friends; match wines and food; etc – then visit www.colinharknessonwine.com

First published Costa News Group, Sept. 2012

BODEGAS ANTONIO ARRÁEZ DO VALENCIA

GRUPO TERRES DELS ALFORÍNS

I’m returning this week to some of the wines produced by the individual and autonomous bodegas within the Terres dels Alforíns Association, referred to in Cork Talk several times in late June and July.

To qualify for membership of this elite group of bodegas one has to demonstrate a passion for fine wine making, where a concern for the environment – the soils and ecosystems of this beautiful part of DO Valencia, is as important as the wine itself.

(A buzz-word (bandwagon?) in the wine world at the moment is ‘sustainability’. Producers the world over are signing up for the eco-friendly concept of ensuring that the soils and general environment of vineyards must be protected from abuse so that the industry can continue for future generations without fear of harming the vines’ (and our) natural habitat – the earth/Earth!

A noble ideal and, where this belief is genuine, I wholly applaud it, of course. However that nasty cynic in me cannot help but question some of those fully-paid up members of the ‘sustainability society’ as to their real motives. Are some paying only lip-service to the notion, with the ulterior motive being simply commercial? Are some signatures solely sales-driven?)

Well I have no such worries about the members of the Terres dels Alforíns Association! I’ve been there and met several of the founding members, invariably a younger, more savvy generation, taking over the reins from their fathers, combining family and local/regional knowledge with: University degrees in oenology; modern technology; often wine-making experience in different countries; and an encouragingly open and enquiring mind.

It seems, from my experience with the wines of Bodegas Antonio Arráez, that it also helps to be a little bit crazy! ‘You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps!’

You know - it's not a Bad Life!

Witness if you will (and you should, the wines are super and the label’s fun!) Bodegas Antonio Arráez’s Mala Vida (Bad Life, in English!). The foil and particularly the label invite extra inspection with apparently random black silhouette images of: a cat, musical notes, a stiletto, the @ sign, balloons and in contrast an elegant tall red wine glass, plus a black bottle with a white heart label and a red drop of wine escaping!

Turn to the back label and in Spanish it says simply “Everyone should believe in something, I believe I’m going to carry on drinking, sorry!” with no more information at all! I love it – though I wonder if it might put off some, perhaps more conservatively minded consumers, who would consider it just a gimmick which couldn’t possibly be related to quality wine. More’s the pity my small c friends, wine can be funky and good!

This is! It’s made with an eclectic blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Monastrell, Garnacha Tintorera and Syrah with a touch of oak to deepen the flavour and extend the length of the wine. There’s spicy ripe fruit on the palate with back-up of integrated light to medium done toasty aromas blending perfectly with the dark fruit.

I’m impressed too with their Lagares 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon which has had a full thirteen months in American and French oak plus time in the bodega’s cellars before it’s release. It’s one of those modern wines that defies the red tape of titles such as Crianza and Reserva – it’s neither one nor the other having been made according to the winemakers requirements and not those of the statute book!

Cabernet Sauvignon is a grape variety whose wines are notoriously harsh in youth when grown in northerly climes, though those with the patience (and the correct storage facilities!) are rewarded, years later with some stunning wines of depth and complexity. However when grown in the full-on sunshine of the Valencia region one needn’t worry about the grapes fully ripening, rather, the challenge is to ensure that the wines don’t become too flabby and alcohol-loaded.

Here the reward of fine wine can be realised far earlier than, for example in Bordeaux. These days of climate change mean that the winemaker in southerly climes must spend more time in the vineyard (quality wines are made in the vineyard not in the winery) ensuring that the vines don’t over-crop and that canopy management protects the grapes from too much exposure et cetera.

It’s clear that those at Bodega Antonio Arráez are more than capable of doing just that! I disagree with the points given this wine in the Guía Peñin, 83 points isn’t bad, but the wine is far better in my opinion. Perfectly approachable now but with life in it too this wine is deeply flavoured with sweet tannin, bags of blackcurrant fruit, some vineyard stone-derived minerality and a good length too. It’s an oxymoron of a wine  – serious and fun!

I’m going to leave the final wine from this forward thinking, modern bodega whose roots in fact go back over a hundred years until next week – it’s made from Monastrell, but you aint seen (better still, tasted) anything like it!

NB Thursday 4th October – I’m presenting a Wine Tasting with Aperitivos in Javea Port’s super new wine merchants, Bodega Puerto. Starting at 7:30 pm we will be tasting a cava, a white wine and three styles of red wines – all quality and very tasty. Aperitifs will also be be served. Plus there will be super offers on wines etc and it’s only 9€ per person. Please call me asap (629 388 159) to reserve, as spaces are limited – or reserve by visiting Bodega Puerto, Javea.

colin@colinharknessonwine.com Please visit www.colinharknessonwine.com to see how I can help you enjoy wine even more!