Articles – Page 64 – Colin Harkness on Wine

DO BULLAS WINES

DO BULLAS TASTING

EL MUSEO DEL VINO, BULLAS

I’m quite sure that, if you look around the area where you live, perhaps going to your local Tourist Information Office, you’ll find that there’s a Wine Museum somewhere nearby. Spain has been making wine at least since the Phoenicians were here, and probably before that too. When it comes to wine Spain has plenty of previous!

Such a rich and long history should rightly be celebrated and this is the function of the wine museums. El Museo del Vino, Bullas, a modern purpose built, easy access building on the edge of Bullas is just such a museum. It’s fascinating to see how wine making in the area has developed over the centuries.

It’s also fascinating to see how it continues to develop, and how, maybe it needs to put a move on! The diverse and dynamic world of Spanish wine is now a major player on the international scene with exports from some DOs exceeding 90% of total production. Indeed there are plenty of DO Bullas’ wines exported annually. But there’s room for more, and there’s certainly room to expand the national sales – which are, in truth, disappointing.

Regular readers may remember a series of articles I wrote on the bodegas and wines of DO Bullas. There are some excellent 90+ pointers in the various Wine Guides, Peñin for example – but that’s not all. These are, if you like, the brightest stars which come from a firmament already at a high level. I was very pleasantly surprised by the general quality of the many wines I was sent to taste.

So I was delighted that one of the leading lights of the DO, Bodegas Rosario (of the Las Reñas range of wines), put my name forward to the Museo del Vino as the person who should present in English a wine tasting of DO Bullas wines in the museum, as part of their celebrations for National Museums Day here in Spain.

The tasting was designed as a celebration of both the Wine Museum and its cultural contribution to the area, and of the wines of the region. The tasting was to be delivered in English as part of the town’s cultural exchange programme where different nationalities can mix and enjoy each other’s company and learn about their differing cultures, whilst simultaneously delighting in the area’s favourite product – wine!

We started with a Macabeo 2013, Cepas del Zorro – an entry level wine that was fresh and dry with a lick of acidity, a slight white flower fragrance and a passing nod to green apple aromas and flavours which are characteristics of this variety – which as many will know has the alias of Viura in some other regions.

This wine was made by Bodega Cooperativa San Isidro, one of the bodegas whose wines I enjoyed some months ago, all of which are in the 80s in terms of Peñin points.

Rosmarinus Organic Rosado from Bodegas Carrascalejo was the next wine – but oh dear, what an opportunity missed by this bodega whose rich red wines I’d tasted months ago. Inexplicably they had sent their 2012 vintage which, having been made from the indigenous and darling variety of the area, Monastrell, as well as Spain’s most planted variety, Garnacha, would probably have been a super fruit dominated, clean and fresh rosado – had it been the latest 2013 vintage, as it should have been.

It wasn’t just me who noticed, on pouring, that the brightness of youthful colour was fading to a slightly brick red colour – not a good sign for rosado at all! Fearing the worst I tasted the wine, before the clients arrived of course, and whilst the wine hadn’t ‘gone’ completely, it was clearly a shadow of its former self. A mix-up in the bodega; or a lack of knowledge; or, perhaps worst of all, a lamentable apathy? I don’t know but we were all disappointed and slightly mystified as to why it had been sent!

I’m afraid that, at first, I wasn’t particularly enamoured by the next wine, either – Mercader Quesada 2012 from Bodegas Mundo Enológico Q-M, another organic wine, and our first red. However, after having had time to breathe in bottle and in glass the wine changed for the better and whilst I wouldn’t say that it was an exemplary red Monastrell from DO Bullas it was fruit driven with a little depth and typical dark plum flavours mixing well with an earthy minerality. I recommend decanting this wine perhaps 30 minutes before serving.

Lorca Shiraz 2011 from Bodegas Rosario is another range of wines from this forward thinking bodega, whose export manager, Mara Martínez, had told me that unfortunately she wasn’t able to attend the tasting as she’d be in the USA spreading the good name of DO Bullas wines, having returned not long ago from Japan, where she’d been doing the same!

I love Spanish Shiraz (aka Syrah) – it often has the spicy, black pepper characteristics of French Syrah, but with an extra, sunshine induced richness. Lorca is such a wine – juicy blackberry and stewed plum fruit, with spice, some vanilla, cinnamon and a faint hint of coffee-bean aroma, from the young barricas in which it spent four months.

Lavia 2008, from Bodega Molino y Lagares, has the above Shiraz notes but the addition of Monastrell and extra time in oak makes a wholly different wine. The wine was made using a mixture of grapes fermented in stainless steel and others in French oak. The wine therefore has the benefit of fresh vibrancy and depth, of power and elegance. A layered wine, complex, with excellent fruit and a long finish.

Our final wine was from the 2007 vintage – Valché, from Bodega Monastrell. I’ve tasted several of their portfolio and it’s clear that this is one of the stars of the DO. Valché, whose bottle shape and label design already make it stand out on the shelf, is a multi-layered, complex wine, and yet so easy to drink! Its 12 months in French oak have added subtlety, elegance and depth of flavour, but never masking the point – and the point is, just how good can Monastrell be! Answer – very, very good!

Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com and www.colinharknessonwine.com and via Twitter @colinonwine

DO NAVARRA WINES

BODEGAS FERNÁNDEZ DE ARCAYA

DO NAVARRA GOING FULL CIRCLE?

In his book, ‘The New Spain’ revised edition 2004, the late John Radford says that DO Navarra’s wines “ . . represent some of the most exciting and innovative work being conducted in the country . .”.

I agree with him – but when I checked in my wine ‘cellar’ how many Navarra wines did I find – none! Tell me, when was the last time you bought a wine from DO Navarra? I have to admit, I rarely do and judging by what’s offered in friends’ homes and indeed in restaurants on the costas of Spain it seems I’m not alone. It’s a crying shame for Navarra producers who once were as powerful as those of their counterparts in the now far more famous, La Rioja. Well with perhaps a little help from this article and ones to follow, plus the rich wines of Bodegas Fernández de Arcaya I can foresee a change for the better!

Navarra is one of the oldest wine producing regions of Spain. When the Americas were discovered, ships leaving Spain charged with keeping the colonists provisioned, were packed to the gunnels with food and drink. As Navarra already had a fine track record in the export trade (to France, in fact) and in producing fine wine for the pilgrims en route to and from Santiago de Compostela their producers were an obvious choice for the merchants.

Of course the ships returned from the Americas laden with g old, silver, tobacco and other exotic and precious items. The wine producers were paid handsomely, this enabled them to invest in their business and to put in place that which was needed for the future generations to continue in the same vein. This foresight paid dividends as the Royal Courts, Cathedrals and Colleges of Spain located in the area during the following centuries also needed copious amounts of fine (and session!) wine.

Also, in business, clouds can have silver linings and when centuries later the famed French vineyards were hit by the dreadful Phyloxera plague, Navarra was ideally placed to take advantage of the fact that a thirsty France needed supplying with wine!

The good times rolled in Navarra. That is until that nasty pest, Phyloxera, decimated the productive vineyards of Navarra as well, just as it had in most of Europe! The area under vineyard was reduced by over 98% – a staggering blow which left a legacy. Navarra didn’t recover its former glory and as other areas, particularly nearby Rioja, gained in importance it was left slightly by the wayside.

Then the regional government decided to get to grips with the problem. EVENA, the Viticultural and Oenological Research Station was established in Olite – their brief, to investigate just about everything to do with wine in their area – from the soils, the varieties, the climate etc – right up to, and including bottling! Although still wounded, Navarra bounced back.

Clearly one of the reasons is that bodegas continued producing fine wines as they always had done, but they also upped the ante re quality. Bodegas Fernández de Arcaya is just such a bodega. Rustic, with a history in general agriculture as well in vineyards the winery is making traditional and modern/traditional Navarra wines – with one foot in the past, one in the present and an eye to the future.

There’s a small portfolio of wines, just seven in total: a white, a rosado and five reds, most of which, following traditional methods have an element of oak ageing, from roble to reserva in style. But it is the final wine listed on their website (www.fernandezdearcaya.com) that first attracted my attention.

From time to time over the years I’ve written about Kosher wines that are produced in Spain. There are, of course, Jewish communities all over Spain, whose religious dietary requirements must be met. However there are also many Jewish communities throughout the world which, like others, would like to have a wider choice of wines available to them. Kosher wines, wines that are permitted in the Jewish religion – and especially for their various religious festivals, but which are also jolly good wines!

‘Alate Kosher 2011 no mevushal’ from Bodegas Fernández de Arcaya is a 100%, authentic Kosher, Rabbi approved red wine – and a wine of quality, whatever your religion! Made from 100% Tempranillo it has a super deep red colour and an alluring aroma when first uncorked and poured into the decanter or glass.

Like all the Fernandez de Arcaya wines is it rich and fills the mouth with pleasure. Intense aromas of dark cherry, some red and black plum but also a passing note of ripe strawberry and redcurrant. There’s no mention of oak – but the wine feels like it’s had a short time in barrica whilst maintaining its freshness. Lovely wine, recommended!

Perguita Crianza is a died-in-the-maceration-tank traditional Navarra wine. 80% Tempranillo with supporting acts from Cabernet (explaining the darker colour of this wine) and a little Merlot. It’s had 12 monthss in American and French oak, a combination which gives the wine some added aromas and flavours of vanilla, cinnamon, coffee, coconut and a touch of tobacco. It’s a quite intense wine with some complexity and depth. Again rich, and certainly a wine for the dinner table, as well as for simply enjoying!

Selección Privada Reserva 2007 is made with 100% Cabernet it’s brooding power and perhaps harshness of youth have mellowed perfectly now making it an ideal wine for drinking now and for a couple of years yet. Two years in French and American have added the same as in the above, but in a slightly more melloed, understated manner. Blackcurrant, black cherry and damson are on the nose and the palate.

It’s a complex, structured wine with layers of pleasure throughout its depth and a certain feeling of opulence. It’s a personal favourite of the family, and I can see why!

Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com and through his unique website www.colinharknessonwine.com and you can now follow Colin on Twitter @colinonwine for all the up-to-the-minute information about the dynamic Spanish wine world!

DO Yecla’s Annual Wine Competition

DO YECLA’S 7^th ANNNUAL WINE COMPETITION

YOUR CORRESPONDENT INVITED FOR 2^nd CONSECUTIVE YEAR!

I was delighted to be invited, for the second year running, to be a member of the Judges Panel for the 7^th Certamen de los Vinos de DO Yecla, held recently in the underground professional tasting room of DO Yecla’s Consejo Regulador’s offices, located, somewhat incongruously, in a modern industrial estate in the ancient town of Yecla, Murcia.

The eleven-strong panel consisted of professionals in the Spanish wine world – writers, sommeliers, winemakers, neighbouring DO officials and one foreigner! So an honour for the Costa News Group, and for me, of course!

Nothing is left to chance at the annual wine competition of DO Yecla. During the days before the event the wines (with several bottles of each wine, in case there is a defect in one of the bottles) are placed in foil to prevent recognition and then locked in wine chillers according to their temperature and humidity requirements. Early, on the morning of the event DO Yecla Consejo Regulador officials open the wines giving each an appropriate time to breathe.

The judges are led into the room where they are supervised throughout the tasting with talking only allowed when scoring papers for each category have been collected and locked in a safe until the counting takes place later. Wines, which are served at the correct temperatures, are poured by professional waiters who have been given instructions on how much wine to pour, and who tell you the wine’s number and its category on each pour.

We tasted fifty-four wines and I could tell from the off that this year’s competition was going to be even better than the preceding year, which had been of a high standard. As the judging continued over a four hour period, those initial thoughts were confirmed as a succession of aromatic and flavoursome wines were tasted, assessed and, certainly in my case, awarded good scores.

Scoring categories were: the appearance of the wines; their aromas; and their taste. Each category was subdivided: Appearance – colour and how clean; Aroma – openness, intensity and quality; Taste – intensity, openness, quality, length. Scores related to Excellent; Very Good; Good; Correct; and Insufficient!

Each judge was assigned a number, we had to sign each paper which also had to be signed by the Director of the Tasting, and the papers were collected and collated by another DO Yecla official. This is a serious business!

I sometimes find that young reds with no time in oak can be a touch short on delivery. Sometimes their perfume can promise, but they come up short on the palate. Conversely, sometimes an undistinguished nose can surprise the taster by giving more than expected on the palate. However, the combination can occasionally be left wanting, for me, when it comes to young reds.

This time it wasn’t the case, and after some enjoyable whites and rosados (none were given Gold subsequently though), the standard took a further jump in the quality and pleasure stakes. It was fascinating to learn later that there was a clean sweep of Bronze, Silver and Gold in this category – from Bodegas Castaño, who export 95% of their wines, and most of the 5% left is bought by we extranjeros!

I liked the whites but felt that there wasn’t an outright wine deserving gold – though I’d be interested to know how close to Gold was Bodegas La Purísima’s Estio 100% Macabeo. They won the Bronze too, with their Purísima Blanco 2013. And they Bronzed in the Rosé category, with the first place, silver again, going to Bodegas Barahonda, with their eponymous Rosado.

The category, reds with some limited oak ageing (that’s semi-crianza or roble wines) also didn’t have an outright Gold winner – however, the equal Silver award went to Nymphina 2012,from Bodegas Castaño and Valcorso Monastrell from Bodegas La Purísima. Bronze was taken by Valcorso Syrah from the latter bodega.

All the wines in this category had an appealing oak/fruit/red wine fragrance, with the above being those that demonstrated the style best.

The category, Reds with oak ageing up to the 2011 vintage, is probably the category most eagerly awaited in this ‘big’ wine orientated DO – and as expected there were some real crackers!

The red wines tasted at the 7th Annual DO Yecla Wine Competition 2014

The Gold was won by a fascinating red from Bodegas Barahonda – Wine and Song 2010, whose crianza was accompanied by music played softly over speakers in the cellar! Not only an interesting concept, but a super wine! Monastrell, Petit Verdot and Cabernet make up the blend – and it’s lovely!

Silver went to Casa de la Cera 2011, one of a small group of new wines from the Castaño portfolio and one that is attracting lots of praise – it can’t have been short of the points total of the above! Bronze went to Finca Rosal 2011from Bodegas La Purisima – another super wine to run the others close!

The final category – ‘dessert reds’ is a wine style that is becoming synonymous with DO Yecla. There are excellent wines of this type being made here. It was very, very close: Gold – Enesencia 2011 Bodegas La Purisima; Silver – Castaño Monastrell Dulce; and Bronze – Bellum El Remate from bodegas Barahonda. All these wine are highly recommended as dessert wines, but also wine to go splendidly with cheese, particularly mature and blues cheeses.

Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com and through www.colinharknessonwine.com and via Twitter @colinonwine.

The Great Bobal Taste-Off

THE GREAT BOBAL TASTE-OFF

PART TWO

As I explained in last week’s article (still available www.costa-news.com click Cork Talk) my inspiration for the idea of a ‘taste-off’ between the highest ranking wines made with the indigenous grape variety, Bobal, in the Valencia Community came from Bodegas Dominio de la Vega and their excellent Arte Mayor wine.

All accepted wines had to be 90+ pointers in the Peñin Guide and all must have been made either with 100% Bobal, or at least 80%. DO Utiel-Requena and DO Manchuela provided the bulk of the wines but there was also an entry from Pago el Terrerazo (and what an entry!). Plus, one of those currently under the auspices of DO Utiel-Requena is about to be elevated to Vinos de Pago status!

All the wines were soon in my Cave Vinum (specialist wine store) resting after their journey and, over a period of time, each wine was decanted and tasted. The Great Bobal Taste-Off had begun!

However it soon became apparent to me that with wines of this pedigree it wasn’t going to be fair to place one above another. This of course is almost contrary to the concept of wine competitions where wines compete against each other to be named ‘best in show’, as it were!

The way that the competitions manage to circumvent this problem is by awarding medals, Gold, Silver and Bronze so that there are many wines entered that are thus awarded and considered to be of a similarly high standard to others within the medal band. Often there will be one wine which is given the absolute top spot, the first amongst almost equals!

All wines submitted for The Great Bobal Taste-Off were excellent wines, and I believe, certain medal winners in the three top wine competitions of the world, should they be entered (one of which, the International Wine and Spirits Competition, sees me as one of their judges)!

So I’m not sitting on the fence, fudging, when I place all of the entries in that top medal bracket – Gold! They all deserve that sort of recognition.

It also became apparent that, with this selection of top Bobal wines, there are also horses for courses. One, for example, is pure pleasure in a bottle for drinking right now – I loved it; another was one whose subtlety caused it to change in the passing of a mouthful; another whose complexity and depth will best be appreciated in a few (several?) years time. And so on.

So, remembering Arte Mayor above, which certainly earns a Cork Talk Gold, the wines in The Great Bobal Taste-Off are as follows:

Casa Don Angel from Bodegas Vera de Estenas (the bodega that is about to be placed in the category, Vinos de Pago) was sent to me with a hand-written label as it was a matter of only a few days before all the limited production of this flagship wine was to be bottled and released on to the market.

It is a classic Bobal wine crafted with loving care by my friend Felix who has managed to embody not only the natural characteristics of the variety, but also a sense of place too. Made from grapes, twice selected from 100+ years old vines, the wine has been aged for a total of 18 months in American and French oak – for added depth of flavour and complexity.

Classic black cherry notes are complemented by peppery spice, a slight cinnamon nuance and a certain terroir-led minerality. In the mouth it is rich and full and yet elegant too. Its 93 Peñin points puts it firmly in Gold Medal position, which is confirmed by its listing in the Proensa Guide’s 500 Best Wines in Spain!

Another wine that features in Proensa, and that is given 91 Peñin points, is the delightful, immediately accessible extremely fruit-driven Cerrogallina from Cerrogallina, whose red and black hooped foil and emblematic label also make it stand out from the crowd.

This wine is made from 90 years old vines whose yield is a stingy half a kilo per vine! These super rich grapes undergo selection in the vineyard where only those passing muster are picked to go to the bodega for further stringent selection. Only the best are used for this lovely wine.

Black Cherry, Blackcurrant and blackberry fruit fill the mouth with flavour, which is backed up with integrated French oak following its 18 month crianza. There’s an understated earthy element to the wine, which again speaks of its terroir and the finish is long, very fruity and an absolute delight!

There’s more to come re The Great Bobal Taste-Off in next week’s Cork Talk! You must try these wines!

Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com and through his unique website www.colinharknessonwine.com and via Twitter @colinonwine