Category: Articles

X CERTAMEN DE VINOS YECLA SAN ISIDRO 2017

 

I’m neither surprised nor disappointed that I can no longer lay claim to being the only foreigner to be invited to help judge the annual Denominación de Origen Yecla! When, as a British wine critic living in Spain, I was asked for the first time, several years ago now, I felt extremely honoured to be included in such a very parochial affair. I was flattered that my Spanish peers viewed my opinions on their wines to be valid and of some note.

 

Two years ago I was joined by another foreigner, Peer, Vice President of the Sommelier Association of Germany – an impressive title, and certainly a knowledgeable and experienced judge. Unfortunately, when he received his invitation this year, he’d already committed to another event and so wasn’t able to attend. However, when introduced/reintroduced to several of the judges the night before the competition in May this year, the name Martin, like my own, didn’t sound so Spanish!

 

Martin has worked all his life in the retail and wholesale wine business, originally in his family’s wine shop in Holland, and then, when he married the boss’ daughter, in another business, this time a wine distributorship, also in Holland. Martin is one of the buyers and as such travels a lot around Europe, often in the East, but also in Spain. Again, a knowledgeable and experienced judge and commentator.

 

The Consejo Regulador always spoils the judges during the two days of this event. When Arriving the night before we are given time to rest in our rooms or walk around Yecla until we all meet to go for dinner. This year the hotel (they rotate the hotels so that not just one has the business, which is typically caring – it’s a local community after all!) was a mere 30 metres from the restaurant, where we enjoyed several courses, accompanied by, of course, some fine Yecla wines.

 

The following morning we were collected by cars and taken for an 09:30 hrs start at the  Consejo Regulador’s HQ, their purpose built premises in the nearby industrial estate. Rectptions rooms sit atop the tasting cellar below, which was perfectly professionally laid out for a quite heavy (50+ wines) judging session, to last until about 13:30 hrs.

 

Then, and I have to admit, this is the part that I really love, we are taken to another restaurant to enjoy and excellent lunch, with wines that have won prizes, though we are not told which medals! Therefore lunch is accompanied by a host of top wines! It’s a lengthy affair and there is always lots of chat with fellow judges, but also with many of the bodega owners and winemakers.

 

 

This year, for example, I sat next to a charming ‘new’ winemaker, Ángela Castaño Lorenzo – yep, you spotted it, daughter of one of the three incumbents of the Bodegas Castaño family, who is now making wines along with Head  Winemaker, Mariano. It was also a pleasure to meet again winemakers, growers, bodega owners and Consejo Regulador officials whom I’ve come to know over the years.

 

Unfortunately, for me, I had to decline the annual invitation to attend the gala night (knee problems!), where one of the excellent Yecla restaurants is selected to put on a truly superb dinner, with Yecla wine (claro!), before the winners are announced and the prizes presented. I know from lots of such dinners before that there is always a palpable air of both excitement, and tension, at these affairs – for all in attendance, except for we judges, who are now entrenched in relax mode, having done our job!

 

The wines were judges in six different categories: White Wines 2015 & 2016; Rosado Wines 2015 & 2016; Unoaked Reds 2015 & 2016; Oaked Reds 2015 & 2016; Oakewd Reds 2014 and Earlier; Dessert Wines.

 

In the first category Bodegas Castaño won Gold and Silver, with Bodegas La Purísima taking the Bronze. For me, in this predominately red wine area, the whites of DOP Yecla increase in quality each year  – without exception they are fresh, clean and refreshing with fine aromas and good fruit.

 

In the rosado category the medalists were: Bodegas Evine and Bodegas Castaño, both receiving Gold; Bodegas Purísima took Silver; and Bodegas Castaño figured again, this time with Bronze.

 

The young unoaked reds had a lot of the judges lip-smacking and talking about the high quality this year when we’d stopped for a break during judging and medalled thus: Gold & Bronze – Bodegas La Casa de Las Especias (a new bodega in the area, and one, clearly, worthy of further investigation – watch this space!); Silver – both Bodegas La Purísima and Bodegas Castaño.

 

The oaked 2015 & 2016 category had a straight Gold for Bodegas Evine, Silver for Bodegas Castaño with their evocatively named ‘Nymphina’; and at last making their mark, Bodegas Barahonda with Bronze.

 

Many commentators consider Yecla to be all about aged red wines and it’s true that the medal winners here are outstanding wines that can hold their own against many of the best in Spain on quality alone, then, when you consider pricing and therefore value for money – well go buy ’em willya! However, it’s clear from the above categories that Yecla has many strings to its bow!

 

The oaked reds leading up to the 2014 vintage were all fantastic wines to my taste – Gold went to Bodegas Barahonda with their lovely Lualma; Silver and Bronze were won by Bodegas Castaño with their Santa and Casa Cisca, respectively.

 

The red dessert wine category astounds me each year – these wines are so good, not just with postres but also with cheeses. Gold: Bodegas Barahonda and Bodegas Castaño; Silver: La Purísima: This year, to  my surprise at least, the Bronze Medal was not awarded.

 

So, it’s clear wines from DOP Yecla are to be sought out!

WINE TOURISM PART TWO

 

This week I’m celebrating again the encouraging success story of Spanish Wine Tourism, a now burgeoning, integral part of the Spanish Wine Industry!

 

A recent article (archived here www.colinharknessonwine.com click Articles) proudly reported on a considerable percentage increase in Spanish Wine Tourism, in terms of both number of visitors, and in revenue. Enoturismo now rocks and I’d like to expand on how, and what’s now available, after humble, and occasionally dreadful beginnings!

 

I’ll start with two laughable (that’s now – neither I nor my clients found it so amusing at the time!) incidents in the very early days.

 

Although I’d had a house on the Costa Blanca for a number of years before I moved here, 20 years ago this coming August, I was pretty green when arriving to make Spain my new home. Yes, I liked the sun, the prices and the layback feel of the place. However, I wasn’t one to be content withy just that, nice as it was. I needed to travel a little and see more of Spain.

 

Wine was an ‘in’ for me. I came armed with a pretty good knowledge of wine in general having passed the first of a possible four-part journey to Master of Wine status, but I didn’t know enough about Spanish wine. As it happened, it was this thirst for knowledge and experience of the wines of my new adoptive country that really stopped me taking the next steps to attempt to become an MW. It was clear that there was enough to learn here, as well, of course, as a huge variety in wines to taste!

 

I started on a crash course re Spanish wines and was soon pleased to see that part of the itinerary of a day trip I’d seen advertised included a visit to a winery. It was to be my first wine tour, and was certainly a cathartic moment. The day was fine, the bodega visit, a disaster – I knew I could do better, much better!

 

I won’t go into all the details, but let’s just say it started badly, and failed! In a warehouse whose temperature must have been over 30ºC (I cringe nowadays to think of the poor wines!) we were offered a tiny white plastic cup of undrinkable wine drawn from some sort of receptacle by an old chap, who clearly would have preferred to be finishing his siesta and whose cigarette dropped ash around the wine, and occasionally in it too!

 

That said, not all the trips I subsequently organized with my own small business went perfectly.

 

We arrived in mid-Spain – for fear of being sued, I think I’ll leave the location at that – 55 of us, ready for a tour and some refreshing wine. This was a bodega whose wines were doing well (I’d tasted several) and had made a commitment to wine tourism. Part of the tour was around the, as yet unfinished, visitor centre, impressive already with its stone façade, sweeping staircase etc.

 

I wasn’t dismayed to be shown into the far smaller, converted finca building that wasn’t large enough for our tasting, this was a period of transition – rustic, was how I put it. However, the tasting went dreadfully downhill from there! Plastic cups again, only two wines tasted, nowhere near the correct temperature, and, worst of all, it was clear that these were their worst wines, the ones they needed to get rid of!

 

Despite my advising that this was not at all representative of the fine wines that the bodega made, and my apologies for such a shabby tasting, I was the only one who bought wine! Not, of course, the foul brews that we’d been given, but the good quality stuff that I knew. Unbelievably bad business!

 

Well – that was the ridiculous, and a long time ago; now I’m moving to nowadays, and the sublime!

 

Firstly, to briefly track the development of Enoturismo, following the end of the first part of this two part success story.  The wineries who were the first to cotton on to the fact that there was money to be made from wine tourism, started to commit to it. A mini-budget would be allocated – glasses would be required, for example. Some realised early on, that at least one toilet would be needed!

 

And so it went. Gradually bodegas established Wine Tourism Departments, English speaking staff were at a premium, even better if they had a personality and were charming! Roads were widened (and tarmacced!); entrances were made grander and larger, allowing coach access; car parks were extended, re-surfaced and marked, often with mini-walls or hedges; floral gardens developed, roses were popular because of their association with vine growing, perhaps with some herbs for the olive oils mentioned in the first article, and why not a centenary olive tree, uprooted and repositioned (don’t worry, no olive trees have been harmed for the purposes of this article!).

 

Fast forward to these days and there are many sublime wine tours on which people can go. I’ve tasted wines onboard a boat on a short river journey as part of a tour; the same,  but this time in a hot air baloon; on a subterranian train; in the ancient cellar from which Colombus bought his wines; and again in a beautiful horse-drawn carriage (it’s all on my TV series, DVD copies available!).

 

Many tours include amazing architecture, look at the ultra-modern Marqués de Riscal  building, housing the outstanding restaurant and hotel; and contrast this with the beautiful, almost castle-like building that is Rioja’s oldest bodega, Marqués de Murrieta. Wine tourism can also include visits to historical and cultural centres nearby as well as world famous fiestas, such as the wonderful Horse Fair of Jerez, being included.

 

Wherever you go (I can help here by the way!) you are sure to be welcomed with open arms and nicely charged wine glasses, assailed, in the nicest possible way, with the history of the bodega, its philosophy, its fine wines, its own particular style and spin, and very often the fine cuisine of its restaurant! As I said, Wine Tourism in Spain rocks – so why not go out there and taste it!

WINE TOURISM IN SPAIN

 

I’m delighted to read that in 2016 Wine Tourism in Spain, Enoturismo, registered an increase of 21% on the previous year. in terms of visitors, as well as an almost 11% rise in revenue.

 

I’ve been involved in this industry since before it was ever recognised officially as such, and indeed, since even the name Enoturismo had been coined! Thus I have a natural interest in its development, the more so, as I continue to work within the sector.

 

When the bad, sad old days of the recession started (known here, rather appropriately,  as ´La Crisis’) the wine industry, in common with most other sectors suffered diminished sales, and expectations too. I say ‘most’ because in such times there are industries that do the opposite – rather than contract, they expand.

 

An example is the DIY trade – folk who find that their income no longer supports a budget for home improvements exectuted by the professionals, often turn to ‘doing it themselves’. (I include even myself here, a guy who is totally inept at all things DIY)

 

Another sector that benefits in times of ‘crisis’ is the BBQ industry – sales of BBQ equipment increase as those who like to dine out, start to feel the pinch. Related here, of course, are the butchers, whose domestic sales rise while their ‘trade’ sales decline, perhaps therefore, whilst not registering increased revenue, they at least maintain their levels. Which, in hard times, is also a result.

 

The wine industry, like most sectors, began to suffer. The first things abandoned in such times are the luxuries – sadly, wine is considered to be one that can be done without. Bottle sales decrease, but the winery still needs to harvest its crop and make the resulting wine. It still has to replace its barrels and it still needs to retain staff, service equipment and so on.

 

So Plan A – ‘make wine and sell it’, had to be revised. Plan B came about, often in two phases. How many readers noticed, as did I, that, gradually, there were more bodegas selling Extra Virgin Olive Oil as well as their wines? Well, it’s a natural progression in a way – many bodegas are founded on old fincas which originally made wine from the vineyards and oil from the olive trees, for the family.

 

Wine production became the best bet for commercial revenue, so efforts and resources were directed towards the vines, relegating the olives to the lesser role of simply providing oil for the family.

 

A marketing opportunity arises for the cash-strapped wineries – let’s try and supplement declining wine sales by selling ‘Prestige Finca Olive Oil’. Let’s also use the wild Rosemary et al to add to the olive oil and diversify still further. Phase One.

 

Phase Two, was really only for those who had the wherewithal – the bodegas who could afford it, realised the way forward re wine sales was to expand horizons. Whilst many countries in Europe, and further afield, were also suffering from recession, other countries were enjoying an improving economy, with some actually booming!

 

These were the countries into whose markets Spanish wine producers had to make inroads. Emmisaries were despatched and over time clients were gained and sales achieved. No doubt these lucky bodegas were also selling their prestige olive oil there too!

 

Clearly though, a Plan C was needed for those who weren’t able to evolve as above, and indeed for those above too. Wine Tourism had found a raison d’etre! But not yet, the name!

 

The development was gradual. Most bodegas initially dipped a toe into the water. With some, it was just the little toe, manifesting itself as simply a sign in the grass verge at the entrance to the winery advising ‘Visitors Welcome’. Some went for the big toe option, though nevertheless still hardly dynamic, perhaps advising travel firms that they were open for group visits, with maybe the occasional advert in the local or regional papers.

 

However, those producers who could see the potential, went for full body immersion! Firstly, the above, but also with a changed job description, perhaps for the ‘commercial’, the sales rep, who was spending too much time in those days kicking his heels instead of selling his wines. He (usually, there has been a dramatic sex change [in a manner of speaking!] during the intervening years, with the fairer sex far out-numbering men these days!) would now also be I/C visitors.

 

From an often, uninspiring, and always humble start, during the interveing years there have been amazing, occasionally incredible, developments in this, now integral, part of the majority of wine businesses in Spain. Part Two of this article will be published soon, entertaining readers with some of the risible experiences that I suffered when visiting bodegas in the early embrionic past, right through to the present day, giving you some very positive ideas as to how you can take advantage!