Tag: Costa News

First Published in Costa News Group’s Four Titles!

AVOIDING A SPANISH WINE LAKE

 Of late I’ve been working as a wine consultant, advising and brokering deals between Spanish bodegas and wine buyers from different countries who wish to import Spanish wines to sell to their clients. (It’s an expanding part of my business, so if there are any readers interested in buying Spanish wines to sell on, then please contact me – I’m certain I’ll be able to help!).

 It’s not difficult swapping hats from wine writer and critic to wine consultant and broker – the rules are the same. As a wine writer I have to be both impartial and honest; the same applies when I am advising a client to buy or not to buy. So, no problem.

 But in wine writing there is a third principle which perhaps bends, but certainly doesn’t compromise these self-imposed regulations. Nobody wants to read bad news. Cork Talk readers want recommendations, not diatribes about disappointing wines; and bodegas don’t want me to bang on about any of their portfolio that aren’t up to scratch.

 So when I’m sent a raft of wines I taste them all with integrity and impartiality. The ones that are of good quality and above will receive a positive report; those that are not, simply don’t receive a mention. It’s a system that works. Nevertheless this rule can be bent as well!

 Most recently I’ve been trawling the more economic end of the market for would-be buyers where, I’m sad to say, there are more in the latter category above than in the former. Far more. In fact it’s been quite a shock to taste so many thin, acidic, harshly tannic, and fruitless wines!

 The lower end of the market has bottomed-out to a point horribly reminiscent of the dreadful cheap wines of Spain thirty years ago – and this from me, a keen and loyal supporter of Iberian wines!

 The best wines are made from the juice of first 50-60% of the gentle pressing of the grapes. There is more juice left, of course, so the grapes can be further pressed and indeed, ultimately crushed to death by relentless pressure to extract the very last drops and thus maximise output. These dreadful, sadly cynical, wines are made from the grapes of over-cropped vines which then suffer this overbearing crushing where the pips, too, make their tongue-furring contribution.  

 So what’s to be done? Well there is still, regrettably, a market for wines of this depressing standard (I was going to say ‘of this quality’, but that word shouldn’t be in the same sentence as some of the wines I’ve been tasting). There are those in this country and in the UK who will drink them because they are a cheap ticket to an alcohol trip. But those of us who may not be in the position to buy expensive wines, but who still want to enjoy flavour, must still be catered for.

 In the UK, a wine that wholesales here at say 1·50€ (the cheap end of the market), is going to retail at about 4·50 pounds after the importer’s transport, tax and duty costs plus a tiny profit. On the supermarket shelves in Britain you’ll see many wines from Chile, for example, at this sort of price. Taste them and you’ll find far more flavour and aroma pleasure than in the Spanish dross above.

 It’s true that the profit in wine is minimal, measured in cents at this lower end, and bodegas have to make a profit to survive. But if the reputation of Spanish wine isn’t going to be sullied for ever, I think that producers have to bite the bullet and lower their prices in the slightly higher level, up to about the mid-range (or why not across the board to stimulate sales throughout?) and accept less profit per bottle, but at least compete on flavour and price with other wine producing countries.

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 21st 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 NOV.2010

LA VINOTECA’S BACK-TO-FRONT TASTING

LEAVES THE BEST TO THE LAST!

 Most wine books and experts agree that wine tasting should be in the order of white to red and dry to sweet. The first wine tasted at La Vinoteca, Calpe recently was Bodegas Sierra Cantabria Crianza 2006, their most economically priced red wine, followed by three further red wines, two of them weighty fellows, but ending with their Organza 2008 white wine. Unusual!

 The crianza was 98% Tempranillo with a tiny amount of Graciano blended in too. I found the wine only palatable at first, largely due to it being a little too chilled – a comment my fellow tasters also made. However as the wine both breathed and warmed there was a slight coconut aroma, coming from the French oak barrels, in which, along with American oak barrels too, it had aged for 14 months.

Sierra Cantabria Cuvee 2005, 22€, is made from vines of more than 30 years old which have been treated in an organic way in as much as no artificial fertilizers have been used in the vineyard. It was bottled without filtration and with only gravity to clarify the wine.

 It has a darker, more intense colour than the crianza, and is just showing some faint browning at the edges, indicating that it is ageing in bottle. On the nose there are earthy, undergrowth notes underpinning the dark fruit quality.

 Colección Privada 2007 retails at 40€. The vines for this wine are over 50 years of age, that’s old in La Rioja where vines are often grubbed up at 40! Harvesting was strictly by hand ensuring good quality bunches which were then subjected to the selection table test where any damaged or below par grapes were discarded. It enjoyed 18 months in oak, followed by further time in bottle in the cellars.

 This wine has the tannin and structure to age and indeed it will be better with more time under its belt, but for me it needed greater fruit content for it to age for much more than 5 -7 years. There are notes of herbs a touch of coffee and some spice as well as some floral perfume, but not a lot of fruit on the nose. A mineral, slatey element complemented the wine which will be super with food.

 El Puntido 2006 is five Euros more expensive. Opaque and very dark coloured this is a big wine made from old vines whose grapes have been examined on two sorting tables. It’s had 16months in French oak from which coffee tones mix with excellent dark and juicy blueberry and blackberry fruits. It was my favourite of the evening with a long finish helping to justify its price-tag and a wine to grace any dining table.

 So to the final wine, a Rioja white! This wine has been both fermented and aged in oak. The medium-high toasted French oak adds significantly, but not unfavourably, to the overall taste. When in barrel the wine was stirred with its lees twice a week adding a creaminess to the final taste. A pleasing fresh acidity cleaned the palate after the onslaught of the big reds.

 However freshening up the palate is not the aim of fine white wine and I’m afraid that in my opinion the reason why the white wine was enjoyed at the end of the tasting rather than at the beginning has more to do with the fact it was the best in terms of readiness to drink than it being the best order to serve it.

FIRST PUBLISHED IN COSTA NEWS GROUP SEPT. 2010

BODEGAS RIBAS PROVES THAT

MALLORCA IS NOT JUST ABOUT TOURISM!

 Not a lot of people know this but . . .  I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael Caine has uttered his immortal words about the wines of Mallorca, which in some senses have been a quite closely guarded secret. That is until your correspondent tasted some wonderful wines from this, the largest of the Balearic Islands. It’s just not fair that the locals keep these super wines to themselves!

 Yes it’s true that Mallorca is, quite rightly, known for it’s tourism industry – wonderful, secluded beaches as well as the highly populated sands of the tourist hot-spots; stunning hotels; millionaire-riddled harbours; and A List Celeb-filled restaurants etc. But also take the time to look at the wines, largely made from indigenous grape varieties not grown elsewhere – better still take a taste!

 Two years ago I waxed lyrical about a wine I had been given to taste, Sió, from Bodegas Ribas, Mallorca, established as long ago as 1711! It contained one of the Island’s own grape varieties – Mantonegro, along with globetrotters Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. As I recall it was a super-juicy mouth-filling wine with blackcurrant jam notes and a pleasing touch of spice on the finish. I’ve tasted it once or twice since and it remains in the forefront of my mind.

 At the beginning of this summer I was invited to present a tasting of wines at an Indonesian restaurant in Javea, one of the wines chosen, Ribas, was the from the same stable – using the same varieties, but in different proportions and with 10 months oak ageing. Again a super wine, with a touch of backbone to it and yet finesse as well as excellent fruit presence.

 Clearly, thought I, this is a bodega that needs some investigation! Their informative website put me in touch with the charming Araceli who arranged for some sample wines to arrive the following week. Such is the power of the Costa News Group!

 Bodegas Ribas makes wines under the auspices of Vi de la Terra Mallorca and Vi de la Terra Illes Balears and if any readers are looking for further proof that VdlT wines can be far superior to some DO wines – then simply sample those from Mallorca’s beacon of vinous excellence. For excellent, is the best description of these wines. Indeed their Soma Sioneta Oliver 2008 Blanc Viognier will certainly be in the Costa News Top Ten and is in fact vying for 1st place amongst the white wines I have tasted in 2010!

 I started though with Ribas Blanc 2009 – a wine that combines Prensal Blanc the island’s own variety with the internationally renowned Chardonnay. Grapes were harvested by hand to ensure their quality when arriving at the bodega and then the selection table was used choosing only the best bunches. It’s a good joven wine the floral Prensa Blanca is complemented by the depth of Chardonnay flavour. A very good start.

 Next their Sió Blanc 2007 made with the indigenous Prensal Blanc variety (aka Moll) but also with an eclectic mix of Chardonnay, Viognier and Chenin Blanc. It was partially fermented in oak and then matured for longer in wood with its lees. There is a super creaminess to the wine which adds depth of flavour to pronounced floral and fruit notes. It’s a wine that will be fine as an aperitif but that will also match food, particularly fish and shellfish. I imagine it is de rigeur in the fine seaside restaurants on the island.

 The Viognier (as above) is a splendid wine – the best example of Viognier (a favourite variety of mine) I’ve tasted in Spain, surpassing the New World Viogniers and being more in the style, and equal to, the wonderful Condrieu of its native France. On the nose, when well chilled, it initially has a touch of exotic fruit about it, which, as the wine slowly develops in the glass, becomes redolent of apricots, a typical characteristic of this noble variety.

 But this is not a flippant, frivolous fruit-salad style wine, designed to momentarily titillate before passing into obscurity. Not at all, this is a serious and subtle wine, a wine of depth and complexity. Half of the wine enjoyed 6 months oak ageing whilst the other half was kept in tank with its lees. There’s a slight nutty element, perhaps some blanched almonds or hazelnuts and floral notes too, but always with that apricot, particularly dried apricot, running through it like a seam of gold found in fine granite. You have to try this wine!

 The fourth white wine (how pleasant to find a bodega that pays as much credence to its white wine production as to its reds) is one I should use in the vanguard of my crusade to re-instate dessert wines as an integral part of any special dinner. Sioneta Contrast Blanc Dolç comes in a slightly chunky 50cc bottle . It’s made exclusively from late harvested (and therefore high in sugar content) Moscatel which is then fermented and matured in oak.

 It is one of those classic dessert wines that has the sweetness required for it to be paired with postres but with that crucial lick of acidity too. There are honeyed citrus notes, orange peel particularly, as well as the expected grape/sultana/raison aromas characteristic to Moscatel which makes such super wines in Spain.

 The final wine (following a further tasting of Sió Tinto and Ribas Tinto, above) was their flagship Ribas Cabrera 2006. This is a wine to grace any dinner table. It is rich, deep and complex with aromas that change as the wine develops in glass over dinner – dark forest fruits, combine with an Autumnal, earthy minerality with a touch of liquorice. Made from very old Mantonegro vines which have never been irrigated, whose roots stretch several metres below the vineyard in search of the limited nutrients available, the wine demonstrates all that can be achieved on this island in the sun.

 I’ll be returning to these wines for sure and hope to visit in the future. In the meantime why don’t you hassle your local wine merchants to get some in – he can’t go wrong!