Articles – Page 93 – Colin Harkness on Wine

First Published in Grupo Costa News Feb 2011

INAUGURAL TASTING WITH TAPAS @

TEULADA’S WINE EXCELLENCE CENTRE

In fact I’m referring to that corner of Teulada where stands: the wine merchants, A Catarlo Todo; the super Wine/Tapas Bar next door, Tapes Tapes; Plus, brand new, their Wine Accessories Shop, Diversus. Individually, each premises stand out for their very high standards; as a whole, this innovative Triumvirate can truly be defined a centre of excellence for all things Wine!

I’ve known brothers José and Javi for many years now and am often found perusing their wines and sampling their original, often gourmet, tapas. So I was delighted to be asked to present their inaugural wine tasting with tapas to introduce the new concept to what turned out to be a full house. Seven wines were tasted with a series of tapas to universal acclaim by those who attended. It was an excellent start to the Valentine’s weekend!

The first wine we tried was a Cava, Pupitre Brut, from the Cava Capital Sant Sadurni D’Anoia. I always like to start a tasting with a Cava – this super Spanish sparkler refreshes the palate and prepares the taster for the wines to come. But Pupitre, made with the three traditional grape varieties, Xarel.lo, Parellada and Macabeo has more to offer than just this. It’s not over expensive and I’d recommend you try it as an alternative to your usual fizz!

White wine followed, in the form of Care Chardonnay – an unoaked Chardonnay from DO Cariñena, with the iconic flat-face modern art label. This wine demonstrates how Chardonnay can be all things to all men (and women!). It loves its own company but is happy also with oak, in abundance or with only a few months ageing.

Care Chardonnay 2010 is grown at altitude – it’s more of an Old World,

A Catarlo Todo - an Aladin's Cave for wine enthusiasts!

subtle Chardonnay than brash New World. Quite full on the palate and capable of another year’s ageing I think.

Mo Rosado from Bodegas Sierra Salinas followed (yes I know you’ve read about this wine before, but no apologies, it’s good!) is made from the top Spanish variety Monastrell (don’t let anyone tell you it’s the Spanish name for the French grape, Mourvedre – it’s the other way around!), Cabernet Sauvignon and that start of Sierra Salinas, Garnacha Tintorera – the grape with the slightly pink coloured flesh.

Our first red of the evening was Vierlas 2007 from Bodegas Guelnenzu of the Vino de la Tierra Ribera del Queiles wine producing area, which is in the Navarra DO zone, but is not DO Navarra. Nor does it want to be!

Another example of how good wines from non DO areas can be! This 100% Syrah has had 6 months in American and French oak and is typical of Spain’s spin on the French variety, Syrah (aka Shiraz in the New World). When cultivated at altitude but with guaranteed sunshine this grape gives super fruit driven, slightly black pepper spiced dark cloured red wine.

La Planta 2009 from Bodegas Arzuaga is slightly less opaque but still darkly coloured. It’s made from 100% Tempranillo in the glorious DO Ribera del Duero. Wines from this DO often seem to coax a touch more depth and opulence from Spain’s treasured Tempranillo (aka Tinto Fino in the Ribera del Duero DO).

But with this particular wine, oh what a super nose – redolent of dark cherries, cinnamon, toffee apple and nutmeg! In the mouth it is a little short of the expectation following the aromas, a little lighter in mouthfeel than the fragrance suggests. But for it’s price it really is good!

The final red wine, Albada 2002, is from DO Calatayud and blends Cabernet, Garnacha, Tempranillo and again, Syrah. It’s a Reserva with 13 months in French and American oak and even after three days open, kept cool, it remains an elegant, yet fully flavoured wine – I’m sipping it now!

The final wine was a dessert wine, Zubiri, DO Navarra, which has taken South East Spain’s Moscatel and turned it into a completely different animal!

NB Our next wine tasting wit classical music and gourmet dining will be on Friday 8^th April at Hotel Marisol, Calpe – it promises to be an excellent evening! Please reserve on 629 388 159 –more details soon!

FIRST PUBLISHED IN COSTA NEWS GROUP, FEBRUARY 2011

CORIMBO

BODEGAS RODA SPREADS ITS WINGS

Remember the dark days for Spanish wine when, not too long ago, the wine lists of even top quality restaurants often had perhaps 30-40 Rioja wines listed, plus a few others to make up the numbers? A sad reflection on the proprietors’ woeful lack of wine knowledge and respect for their clients, as well as for the talented winemakers from other parts of Spain.

Thankfully most of these restaurant dinosaurs have either become extinct or have mended their ways to arrive, at last, in the 21^st Century where Spanish wine making can be as good as it gets! There will still be a selection of Rioja wines on their lists of course and rightly so. They would be foolish to deny a public desperate to drink offerings from this, Spain’s most famous fine wine zone.

But which one to choose? Well, like myself, you too may have had this quandary. Price can be a guide. Up to a point (and this point varies according to the depth your pocket) the more expensive the better the wine. However if there are several priced similarly which one should you select?

Well if one of them is Roda – don’t waste further time, go for it! Bodegas Roda, established in 1987, makes consistently top Rioja wines. All of them earn 90+ points in the guides, their best (and scarily expensive) Cirsion, was given 96 for the 2007 vintage! They are the epitome of smooth. Full bodied and sensuous but wonderfully elegant with layers of flavour pleasure as you lazily get through the bottle. If you are looking for a Valentine’s wine for next year, this is the one!

So, having set such high standards you’d expect Bodegas Roda’s venture into rival DO, Ribera Del Duero to produce similarly excellent wines. Corimbo 2008 is their first from the La Horra vineyards and I’m pleased to report that it does not let the side down!

Recognising the fact that Tempranillo grows perfectly well in Ribera del Duero as well as in it’s spiritual home, La Rioja. Bodegas Roda set about establishing a new sister bodega, in an area they considered to be best for this noble grape variety. Bodegas La Horra was born and its first wine was sent to your correspondent to elicit my comment and of course to spread the word.

I’m happy to do so as this is lovely fragrant wine which captures the depth and richness of taste is another fine ambassador for the mother company, as well as for the new bodega, of whom I’m certain we’ll be hearing more.

The label is quite striking, the petals of a thistle stand out in blues, greys and lavender. It’s a deeply coloured wine with purple notes on the edge when held against a white background, indicating its youth. However the tannins are mature, nothing harsh in there at all, and the acidity and fruit levels along with an abv of 13·5% will ensure longevity of probably three – five years.

It’s had a year in a mixture of French and American oak, the majority being in the more subtle French. Dark fruits are in the majority but there are lighter red fruit flavours too, perhaps cherry and loganberry. There’s a refreshing black pepper flavour as well as grown-up aromas of minerality and autumn leaves, with maybe a faint herbaceous note too.

At present there are just two wines planned, Corimbo and an older brother as yet to face its curtain call. Clearly the Roda people know how to craft top red wines, so you can now refer to the Ribera del Dueros on the restaurant wines lists as well. I wonder if they’ve considered white wine, after all Rueda is just round the corner, and over the page!

First Published in Costa News Group, February 2011

VINOPOLOS

EXHALTED SEAT OF WINE LEARNING

OR LAND-LUBBER’S BOOZE CRUISE?

In December 2009 I reported on my visit to London’s Vinopolis, the huge wine experience venue. I’d been invited by the then Managing Director, Rupert Ellwood, and was given the VIP treatment normally reserved for journalists of greater stature than me!

Rupert had made some changes during his tenure and it was clear that he’d

taken some tough commercial decisions. The result was that Vinopolis had morphed into a different animal from that which had enjoyed a fanfare opening with resounding applause from the wine writing fraternity some ten years previously.

Whilst the basic tenet of relaxed, fun wine-education remained in place the original philosophy, under Rupert, started to lean a touch more to the fun side of the equation. Vinopolis was promoted as a venue where people could learn a little about wine and how to appreciate it, whilst enjoying a good few drinks along the way. The very popular Comedy Night concept was installed, and Stag/Hen parties were encouraged to book the venue. (I wonder what occurred when frolickers from the two met head on!).

But that was then. When I visited just before Christmas 2010 it was a year on and Rupert has left, headhunted in fact by the Waitrose Supermarket Organisation. So what changes, if any, have been made by the new incumbent?

It wasn’t made clear to me who the new MD was. The lady I eventually dealt with was clearly in charge, but I’m not sure of her title, but no worries, when we arrived at the appointed hour two top of the range tickets had been left for us!

Groups embarking on the tours are taken firstly to a small circular cage, actually, for a tutored tasting. This short, mostly enjoyable session is designed to teach techniques to clients who are not conversant with the mechanics of tasting wine. It was accurate and useful, I’m sure, to our fellow tasters but didn’t allow for the possibility that there may have been some there who already knew the basics, or who were quite experienced.

It wasn’t a problem to us but the delivery, unfortunately smacked of the alcohol that the presenter had been taking in during the afternoon (I think she said that this was the third tasting she’d presented with not a lot of time between).

However, more disappointing than the presumption that we were all novices was the obvious supposition that in fact we were really only there for the alcohol! This rather unfortunate theme raised its head a number of times in the two hours we were there, leading me to the conclusion that too often it is the fun element that is the driving force, perhaps at the expense of those with a genuine desire to learn more about wine.

That’s not to say that there weren’t several tasting tutors who took wine tasting seriously and, in a mostly enjoyable way, imparted their knowledge of the wines for which they were responsible. A highlight was the Spanish lady, in fact at the Champagne tasting station, who was clearly passionate about the three Champagnes she talked us through!

It was fascinating also to see and hear so many different nationalities giving out information and tips about wine. Vinopolis in this respect is a veritable United Nations with any differences of opinion being settled over a good glass of wine. Would that our politicians were able to do the same!

And there are for sure good wines at Vinopolis – the best for me were two from the Lebanon, talking of uniting nations!

PS We are revivig our excellent wine tasting evenings with classical music and gourmet dining. The first of this year will be in April. Please watch this space; visit www.dolcedivas.net ; and my website for details.

First Published in Costa News Group, February 2011

HAVE BODEGAS GOT THE BOTTLE?

A Spanish company, Estal Packaging, has just produced a new, uniquely shaped bottle, designed by famous Basque Restaurateur Martín Berasategui, which claims to be the answer to the problem of sediment in fine wines. I have a proto-type sitting on my desk right now – alas, empty!

However there are many such bottles that have recently been shipped for trials to a number of bodegas that pride themselves on the longevity of their fine wines. The factory results are excellent but is the proof of the bottle in the pouring thereof, of fine wine that has thrown a deposit? Do they actually work?

There are countless wines produced each year that will not require the services of such a bottle. Some grape varieties rarely leave a deposit anyway and many producers are worried about having ‘clean’ wine so as not to alienate the consumer, who doesn’t want tiny deposits in the bottom of his glass and insists on pouring the whole 75cl.

Yet it can be argued that wines which undergo: fining (a means of clarifying wine by adding a fining agent to coagulate or absorb the microscopic particles left in the liquid which then drops to the bottom of the tank); and racking (where clear wine is removed from the sediment at the bottom of the barrels), lose something along the way.

Purists would say that the heart of the wine has been extracted from the finished product making it a slightly lesser wine. Indeed there are many producers who deliberately do not ‘fine’ their wines preferring to have some sediment in the bottle to help the continuing maturation process. Often such bottles proudly proclaim that the wine has not been fined/racked/clarified warning consumers that there may be a sediment so please pour with care. I often go for such wines.

Well it seems that there is now the increased possibility of our buying wines that have not undergone the invasive procedure of fining and racking but that will still be clear when poured into the glass despite the presence of sediment. The slightly odd-looking, and I have to say, not so aesthetically pleasing, new design will hopefully trap the sediment in its base allowing us the benefit of a wine with its heart in place but without unpleasant looking deposits in the bottom of the glass.

Nevertheless I do have some reservations, which I hope will be proved wrong in the clinical trials that are already taking place.

When a wine is poured from the tank or barrel into the bottles it brings with it the tiny particles mentioned earlier – some of the fruit and the dead yeast. With time, Isaac Newton, our science teachers and, just to be sure, the winemakers, tell us gravity will take these particles down to the base of the bottle. The bottle manufacturers conclude that this is where the sediment will be trapped when the bottle is eventually poured.

However, as we know, when storing wine that has been closed with cork it should be left lying horizontally to keep the cork in contact with the wine (to avoid the cork drying). If we do this with the Martín Berasategui System bottle the sediment will not all be trapped in the base.

Well the design team must have seen this criticism coming as they claim that the new packaging system they have also invented allows the bottles to stay in their case which stores them at an angle, where the cork remains moist and the sediment stays where it’s meant to.

The jury is out but I’m hoping for a positive verdict!