Articles – Page 43 – Colin Harkness on Wine

Defending Cava after Alimentaria Speaker’s Attack!

I doubt very much that it was just me who started to feel uncomfortable quite early on in Mr. Stevenson’s introductory talk, where his criticism from an apparent lofty position began to feel patronizing!

IN DEFENCE OF CAVA

Regular readers (ahh, come on – there are some!) may remember a recent Cork Talk about my experiences at Alimentaria, the Wine & Food Fair in Barcelona (it’s archived here www.colinharknessonwine.com click Articles and scroll down). If so, you may remember my alluding to a Cava presentation which I attended, given by world renowned Champagne expert, Tom Stevenson.

Mr. Stevenson has written several books on Champagne and his opinions are as much sought after and lauded as indeed he is himself. He is also the founder of the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC) which has now been in existence for I believe three, maybe four years. It is an impressive CV, to say the least!

So I was delighted to be able to wangle my way into the presentation – the Costa News Press Card is a powerful tool! It was a packed house with dignitaries from several of the famous and highly respected Cava Bodegas. Following a brief introduction we were to taste nine different Cavas, all of which were to be described by Mr. Stevenson. I was about to go on a learning curve!

And it’s true, to a point, but it wasn’t a wholly pleasant ride – for me, and I suspect several others present. I doubt very much that it was just me who started to feel uncomfortable quite early on in Mr. Stevenson’s introductory talk, where his criticism from an apparent lofty position began to feel patronizing!

His opening gambit was that Cava will never be taken seriously whilst it retains its several different geographical locations. Cava can be made in, I believe, ten different areas of Spain. It’s a historical and quasi-political matter. Most Cava is made in what many would consider its natural home, Cataluña. However, when the idea of creating a Denominación de Origen Cava was first mooted in the late 50s there were other areas of Spain where sparkling wine was being made, using the same traditional grape varieties and same methods.

Understandably, such areas didn’t want to be left out when DO status was applied for, and indeed granted, in 1959 – it was an opportunity to have their sparkling wines recognized as well. The Ministery of Agriculture of the day considered the application and decided to accept that Cava could be made in different zones of Spain – provided all areas adhered to the same rules.

Mr. Stevenson told us several times that he had tasted 180+ cavas over the two days before his keynote talk, but when I asked him he’d tasted any from outside Cataluña, he agreed that he hadn’t. I wondered, therefore, if he was correct to indirectly criticize (by default) those from other areas, when in fact he hadn’t tasted any. (This I feel is an error of the Consejo Regulador DO Cava, for failing to supply him with any).

I also thought his comment was wrong anyway. Cava is most certainly taken seriously outside of Spain, as well as inside too, of course. And I’m talking about Premium Cava, here, the finest quality and relatively expensive, though not relative to Champagne – and it’s here where the problem arises I think.

Let’s firstly take the notion of Premium Cava. Mr. Stevenson pooh-poohed the idea that styling these top end cavas as Premium Cava, would make a difference to the, in his view, general public’s perception (I presume that he meant the UK public?) that Cava was just cheap bubbles. He went as far as saying that the Consejo Regulador would need to do better than that if they were hoping to change this mindset.

It is of course true that there is a huge production of cheap, thin and quite nasty cava, and it is to this that he must be referring. However, the same can be said of Rioja wines, Bordeaux et cetera – not all wineries strive to make the very best, quantity and sales are the sole goals here. So, DO Cava, is trying hard to persuade people that Premium Cavas are the way to go, with various presentations and tastings all over the world, which are converting into increasing sales as well as greater awareness. There will always be cheap Rioja, cheap Cava et al, which is not at all representative of what can be, and is being, produced.

Plus, from my fairly recent visit to Champagne it was admitted to me and the Press Group with whom I visited, one of the reasons why Champagne is considered such a Prestigious Premium Product is because the price of the grapes and the resulting sparkling wine is deliberately kept inflated. Something that simply doesn’t happen with Cava.

Mr. Stevenson was also dismissive of the new, and just this week approved, designation, Cava de Paraje Calificado, which readers may remember my discussing in a Cork Talk two years ago. Here, there is a desire to recognize special parcelas/fincas, vineyard/vineyard sites, which have unique terroir which allows them to produce some of the very best Cavas, cavas that will rank, in quality, all be it totally different, with the best from, it seems, Mr. Stevenson’s natural home, Champagne.

And herein, I think, is the nub of my objection to part of Mr. Stevenson’s presentation – he seems to be basing his criticism of Cava on the Champagne Model, regardless of the fact that the new designation will have similarities to the Champagne area where villages are allowed to portray their name on their labels, as it distinguishes their terroir, and their Champagne, from others’.

Mr. Stevenson’s heart is clearly in Champagne where his love of the famous fizz is backed up by exceedingly impressive knowledge of the science of Champagne making and the attendant statistics. Whilst I’m dazzled by his vast knowledge and understanding of the process of making Sparkling Wine by the traditional method, as well as by other methods, when it comes to Cava, he doesn’t understand its tradition or its soul.

His statement that cava needs a ‘sexy black grape variety’ is risible. When I asked if he’d tried an excellent, in my view, Blanc de Noir sparkling wine from Utiel-Requena made with the black grape, Bobal (it’s not cava as Bobal isn’t a permitted variety, though it is the same in all other respects, and made by a bodega that does make cava), he shot me down with, ‘I’d hardly call Bobal, sexy’. (After the presentation another delegate, agreed with me about this sparkler).

I also objected to his insensitive and dreadfully dismissive, cavalier comment that, when his slide depicted a bottle of Raventos i Blanc with the caption referring to it as cava (it’s not, any longer, as this influential producer abandoned the DO a couple of years ago, frustrated at its intransigence in making changes to its rules, something which it is now clearly addressing), he didn’t know who he’d pi . . ed off more, DO Cava or Raventos i Blanc!

And finally, Mr. Stevenson’s apparent lack of understanding of the Spanish Wine scene was highlighted when he criticised a pale styled rosé cava as not being ‘the colour of a Spanish Rosado’. Those of who live here know that nowadays in Spain you can find all the colours within the rosé pink spectrum, from the Provençal pale to the dark, wannabe reds!

For me, quality Cava rocks, just as it is, thank you very much!

My next Fine Wine & Gourmet Dine Programme on 91.8 FM & online at www.totalfm.es will be on Sunday 12^th June, from 18:30 – 20:00 hrs, Spanish Time. Why not join me for wine and food fun, news, great music and wine/food prize competitions too!

As the wine is being poured you can almost feel its rich opulence!

WHEN IN EXTREMADURA, DO AS THE ROMANS DID

I’m sure that Saint Ambrose, one of the four original Doctors of the Church (everybody knows that, right?), wouldn’t mind my misquoting his famous saying. Whilst as a Christian of the 4^th Century living in Milan, he would have abhorred the drunken excesses of the Roman Orgies that had gone before him, he would nevertheless surely have supped a cup on Sundays. Wine was a part of the Sacrament, and therefore an integral part of Church lore.

Ok, it’s a little obscure, I admit – but let me enlighten you. I’m talking amphorae, here! As you’ll no doubt know, the Romans made, kept (when it wasn’t orgy season, of course) and transported their wines in earthenware pots – amphorae. (My Greek friend Thannasis (whom I met at IWINETC 2016 – see recent article www.colinharknessonwine.com click Articles) tells me they are a Greek invention, but then he tells me everything came from Greece originally, including most words in the English language – allegedly!).

If you are having difficulty picturing amphorae, and are of a certain age, and probably male – then think back to, was it the Dandy or the Beano, comics of our youth. Remember Ali Baba and the forty thieves? Well, that’s what they used to hide inside! Clay pots for hiding treasure as well as food, olive oil and of course wine.

Occasionally these days ancient amphorae are found at the bottom of the ocean, perhaps miles away from where their ships sank whilst sailing the trade routes. Be it Phoenicians, Greeks or Romans amphorae were de rigeur in the win e world of the time.

Now fast forward to Extremadura in the 21^st Century, and specifically to Bodega Pago de Domblasco (http://www.domblasco.com/) and, remarkably, you’ll see the same thing. Large amphorae that have seen more than 100 vintages are being used to ferment and age wines – to this day. And to excellent effect!

Now, a little, more modern, background – I came across these, and other, wines by virtue of a chance meeting with my now friend and colleague, Yolanda Hidalgo, when she and I shared a judging table in the year’s DOP Bullas Annual Wine Competition.

Apart from being a wine judge, Yolanda is also a wine-maker in her own right, as well consulting on various wine-making projects in several different parts of Spain, ad in Portugal. She has an interesting life, and clearly knows her wines. (http://www.ydalgoenologia.com/ and http://vinovidavicio.blogspot.com.es/).

We chatted and she told me about her wines in Extremadura, and also in the Province of Cádiz – well it would have been rude not to ask for a couple of samples!

I was both delighted and enchanted with the amphorae wines from Extremadura. The first I tasted was the silver medal winning Domblasco Garnacha, whose distinctive label and impressive bottle shape makes it stand out, before you taste the contents! Then when the cork is removed and the, initially shy aromas, start to escape genie-like (nostalgia’s not what it used to be, I’m back on the comics again) from the bottle neck, you’ll quickly realise that the flattery is not to deceive!

As the wine is being poured you can almost feel its rich opulence! In the glass it’s a dark red promising certain, captivating seduction – which is delivered on the palate. It’s full and juicy with very dark cherry aroma and even more so, flavour. There are stewed damsons in there too with a little herby and mineral note, reminding the taster of the terroir from whence it comes.

If this is typical of red wine made in Exremadura, fermented and aged in amphorae – then give me more, please!

The shame shaped bottle and label, though different colour, contains the second wine from this old bodega, a wine that this time has had some extra ageing. Whilst the fruit is still present, this is a more mature wine, elegant, structured and with some thought provoking complexity.

Garnacha, Mazuelo and Petit Verdot make up the blend in Sueño de Facio and the wine has clearly enjoyed it’s 8 months in amphorae, as well as 6 months in a mixture of French and American oak, plus a further year and a half in bottle before its release.

This is a wine to grace the dinner table. It’s full and rich enough to pair with all manner of meats, including game, and will also be excellent with cheese, semi-curado and curado. There’s a little bay leaf on the nose plus a very faint hint of rosemary as well as some earthy mineral notes.

Fruit wise, look for plum and blueberry and, perhaps more so, brambly blackberry notes, which again make it quite a fruit packed wine. As I said – give me more!

Yolanda’s other project at Bodegas Páez Morilla http://www.bodegaspaezmorilla.com/), is near to Jerez de la Frontera, home of the Palomino, Sherry, grape variety – so it’s not surprising that Palomino figures in the white wine she makes there. Also unsurprising is that another variety in the blend that makes up her Tierra Blanca (named after the almost white appearance of the soils in the area) dry white wine, is Moscatel – which, along with Pedro Ximenth (usually shortened to PX), is responsible for the luscious dessert sherry of the area, though in this case it’s vinified dry.

However, like myself, I’m sure you would be surprised to know that the third variety of this triumvirate – is Riesling! Yes, Riesling, the star of Alsace and Germany, where there is altitude, rainfall and freezing temperatures, all of which are notably absent from Cádiz!

This wine is a fresh and dry white, super refreshing to sip on the dusty dry days of an Andalusian summer.

I’m occasionally accused, quite rightly, I have to admit, of hardly ever writing about the semi-dulce style wines of Spain, wines that are not made as dessert wines, but wines with a sweetness for those who find dry wines to be too austere. Well Yolanda’s Tierra Blanca may well be the answer for my critics. Made with the same grape varieties, but with the final addition of some Moscatel juice to up the ante regarding its final sugar per litre count.

This bodega also makes a young red wine, Selección Don Antonio, made with Syrah, Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon. For me, it was the best of the three, with good juicy fruit, some mature tannin, for a young wine and a good finish. It’s had just a few months in French oak to make it a little more serious. Easy drinking, but good for rice dishes, tapas and meat too.

Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com and Twitter @colinonwine & Facebook Colin Harkness and please visit his unique website www.colinharknessonwine.com

Colin’s next Fine Wine & Gourmet Dine Programme is on Sunday 12th June from 18:30 hrs – 20:00 hrs on Total FM 91·8 and online www.totalfm.es.

ALIMENTARIA – AND ITS DECLINE?

ALIMENTARIA 2016

THE DECLINE OF SPAIN’S ONCE HUGE WINE/FOOD FAIR?

I’ve been going to Barcelona’s biennial food and wine fair, Alimentaria, for the last 14 years – that’s a lot of wine (I don’t have time for the food!). However, this year it’s been a little different, and it may be my last!

The halcyon days before La Crisis (Spain’s long-lived recession out of which we still haven’t emerged, though I’m delighted to say the signs are encouraging) are long gone, I know. For example eight or ten years ago, this fair was so huge it filled two massive sights in Barcelona, with an invariably packed, complimentary bus shuttle pinging back and forth between to two, like a pre-programmed pinball machine.

When La Crisis hit, the two sights were merged into one, understandably, though this one arena had several different pavilions covering, I don’t know how many thousand square metres. Abbreviated, yes, but in no way diminished. Alimentaria was still the go-to fair for all wine producers in Spain, as well as a number from abroad too, with this applying the more so to the food side of the show – often countries who share the same language, such as those from Central and South America.

So, having chucked my luggage in my, shall we say, modest, hotel room on arrival in Barcelona, just a couple of hours after the inauguration of Alimentaria 2016, I caught the metro (the bus had disappeared two or more years ago) to the Gran Via site. It was quiet when I entered the press room, though perfectly professional, as always. This quiet, in terms of delegates, press people and visitors, continued, slightly eerily, as I walked to the Intervin Pavillion, the location as the name suggests, where I would be based for the three days of my trip.

The normally packed, approximately 100 metres long aisles, were also quiet, with exhibitors all looking slightly pleadingly as I did my usual recce. I’ve always walked up and down along all the aisles, delineated helpfully, as always, by huge letters strung from the rafters many metres above. This year was no exception – however this year was an exception in itself. I was surprised to see, firstly several areas, with some bench seating set aside, nominally for rest and business discussions. Sounds like a good idea – except, that these areas have not existed in the past as there have never been any areas, capable of housing a stand, left free. A sort of cover-up by the organisers.

Next, I noticed that there were several (lots actually) DOs that this year were not represented. This was in rather ominous contrast to previous years when such DO stands had been lifesavers for bodegas who were suffering the effects of La Crisis and couldn’t afford a stand of their own, as they’d enjoyed in previous, more plentiful years. The DOs rented the stand area, no doubt charging the bodegas a sum to mostly cover their costs, but a sum more easier to find than their having to find the whole cost of an individual stand. The absence of several DO stands, thus meant an absence of lots of bodegas too.

Then, to my initial interest, but eventual slight despondency, I realised that the quite appropriate wine complementary industries – Olive Oil, Nibbles etc, were in fact taking up a rather disproportionate amount of space. For example, rather than a few olive oil producers, there were, what, maybe 50+ stands offering tastings of the wonderful golden and dark green liquid.

One end of the pavilion was populated by olive oil producers, whilst the other end displayed an impressive assortment of food stuffs, often, though not exclusively, wine-related. Wait a minute though, shouldn’t the majority of these exhibitors have been in the food halls? Is the food part of Alimentaria expanding at the expense of the wine part? Well, yes, I think it must be!

So, a slightly (very?) doom and gloom report on Alimentaria 2016 – but I haven’t finished yet. There were certainly several highlights for me, and if was definitely worth the expense of going.

Each year, and 2016 was no exception, there are two areas to which I’m drawn like moths to light, and neither disappointed, in fact, both exceeded expectations!

Vinorum Think (I believe, a re-vamped, re-named version of that which preceded it) had, as anticipated, organised some excellent tutored tastings presented by wine luminaries of national and international fame. Whilst I say, perhaps a little immodestly, that I believe I know a fair bit about the Spanish wine scene, I’m certainly neither conceited, nor daft enough to think I know it all! Nobody does!

So, my aim, when attending such presentations, is firstly to learn as well as, on occasion, to have my knowledge confirmed, often adapted and sometimes – dashed! Speakers like: Andrés Proensa of what for me is Spain’s best Wine Guide and Wine Magazine, respectively the Guía Proensa and PlanetAvino; his oppostite number, chief competitor, José Peñín, founder of the comprehensive Guía Peñín; Victor de la Serna and business partner (in their also excellent wine magazine, ElMundoVino, Juancho Asenjo; Alberto Gil and Spain’s champion Sumiller of 2014, Guillermo Cruz; and the controversial, and to my mind slightly inappropriate in his comments, Tom Stevenson, dubbed the most important sparkling wine critic in the World, and founder of the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships.

More soon on these particular tastings, the wines so enjoyed by all of us, the ones that perhaps, for me, didn’t live up to expectations, and indeed the controversy alluded to above, in future Cork Talks.

My other regular port of call at Alimentaria is to the area set aside for tastings organised by the Cataluña Communidad, which, of course, comprises several (I think 11) different DOs. These smaller tastings, for just 30 people maximum, are always a little less formal, though no less informative than the large scale ones above.

This year I was delighted to see (hear and understand!) that speakers were very willing to present in Castellano, rather than the go-to Catalan language, used automatically in previous years. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m wholly in favour of keeping Spain’s varied languages and dialects alive. However, at an international event such as Alimentaria it makes far more sense to talk in the language of the country as a whole, the one (if any) that visitors like myself understand and in which we can converse sufficiently well to ask questions and clarify points.

These more intimate tutored tastings also boast well respected presenters, for example one this year was the Sumiller Champion of 2014, a newer vintage of the above! Plus, another advantage is that it gives those lucky enough to secure places, an opportunity to taste wines of the area that aren’t always produced in sufficient numbers for them to be enjoyed outside of Cataluña. There is an amazing variety and lots of excellent quality too!

Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com Facebook Colin Harkness Twitter @colinonwine

NB Colin’s next Fine Wine & Gourmet Dine Programme on Total FM 91·8 and online www.totalfm.es will be on Sunday 15^th May from the new time of 18:30 – 20:00 hrs (Spanish Time); that’s 30 minutes extra of wine and food chat, wine maker/chef interviews, on-air tastings, competitions and lots of fun, due to popular demand!

Re The Fine Wine & Gourmet Dine Programme

Hi Colin

Just to say thank you for the magnificent wine prizes*, and the advice at the Spanish Wine Fair. [Solpark, Annual small wine fair in Moraira, Alicante].

Some presenters complained it had not been as profitable as in previous years. Not sure if it is for a reason but we noted there were no signs on the road letting anyone know it was on? A banner on the main road would have pulled in many more people however maybe they don’t want people just turning up for a free drink.**

It was our first visit and hopefully we can attend every year to keep up with what’s happening in the industry and possibly pick up some helpful production tips.

Anyway thanks again.

Kind regards

Sue & Roger

*Prizes for correct answers to wine/food questions live on The Fine Wine & Gourmet Dine Programme on www.totalfm.es Total FM 91.8 , Sundays, fortnightly, 18:30 – 20:00 hrs (Spain Time) – next programme, Sunday 15th May.

**Good points which I shall pass on the the organisers!