THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS!
BODEGAS DOMINIO BUENAVISTA
“Bodegas Dominio Buenavista wines are exemplary, providing full flavour, power and yet elegance and subtlety and I’m quite sure that in the USA where there are burgeoning sales their wines are being lauded as much and perhaps more than they are here in their native Spain.”
Thus began my article about this Granada based winery just over two years ago. In the interim 2 years plus I’ve been fascinated to see how their wines have been garnering awards, medals and plaudits ever since, so I thought it time for a re-visit!
It’s true that added age and the specific conditions of the vintage make a contribution to the wines of Spain, mostly beneficial, but in the case of each year’s growing and harvesting weather, this can also be to the detriment of the resulting wine, wherever they are made. Generally, vintage differences such as these are of lesser significance the further south you go in the northern hemisphere. Notwithstanding climate change, the weather is usually better!
Also it’s true that the wines I tasted just over two years ago will have been made from grapes from ‘younger’ vines than those which I’ve tasted recently – but this extra longevity will be about negligible in the wider scheme of things. Ten years difference in age – well this would be significant, but not just a couple.
And yet, for me, there has been a subtle and impressive change in the wines coming out of Bodegas Dominio Buenavista. I’ve found all the wines a little richer recently than when I first tasted them, and I was impressed then!
So another look at the wines of www.dominiobuenavista.com) – beginning with the ‘gold from them thar hills!’.
My remit for the glossy (well, it’s actually a rather sophisticated matt-glossy) UK based, though Internationally available magazine, ‘Glass of Bubbly’ (www.glassofbubbly.com) is to write about the sparkling wines of Spain which, though made by the same method, are not Cavas. There is a wealth of such wines in Spain that, until my articles have remained largely undiscovered.
Two are from Dominio Buenavista and the ‘gold’ to which I refer is the first out of the hat and, incidentally, found on video here https://youtu.be/4X20DoRR_bY .
Valeta Sparkling wine is made from the indigenous, aromatic grape variety Vijiriega (fortunately usually referred to as ‘Viji’!) with a 20% contribution from Chardonnay. The grapes are grown at a high altitude where there is plenty of ripening sunshine as well as beneficial dramatic drops in night time temperature. This temperature change makes a major contribution to the aromatic profile of the resulting wine as well as to the raison d’etre of sparkling wine – it’s clean freshness!
There’s a delightful floral aromatic aspect (pink rose petals) to the stable-mate rosado Veleta, made from Tempranillo and Garnacha. On the nose you’ll also find typical rosé notes of raspberry and strawberry along with the usual panaderia notes, common to sparkling wines.
In the mouth, although the wine is subtle and delicate, it has a certain presence too. The overall result is that you have here a sparkling wine that can be enjoyed like so many as a celebratory fresh mouthful, but also with food. Try with wine with paella, for example – made a long way from Valencia, home of paella, and yet perfectly fitting the dish! Both sparklers are priced at 7€.
I love Dominio Buenavista’s ‘Viji’, white wine – it’s so different from anything else in Spain. Indeed I made a video about it on Youtube. Pale in colour but it’s certainly not timid in terms of its nose and flavour. It leads with a refreshing citric acidity, but there’s more to this wine too. You’ll soon smell white flowers and a touch of white peach, the latter of which follows through onto the palate, where you’ll also enjoy and oblique reference to passion fruit. 6·50€.
The still rosado also has a pronounced perfume (told you the altitude makes a difference!) – rose petal again, but also soft red berries. When held in the mouth for a few moments the wines demonstrates that it has some body too, making it a lovely wine for simply drinking and enjoying as well providing a foil for salmon, trout and gammon, as well as salads. 6€.
Valeta Cabernet Sauvignon Roble 2013 DO Vino de Calidad de Granada has had 3 months in oak. You can almost feel the mountainside in this wine – the Mediterranean winds, the Alpujarra earth in which Cabernet vines grow and a the hillside herbs and undergrowth! There’s juicy, bold blackcurrant fruit which delights the palate and it’s all underpinned with a very subtle complexity and depth, helped by the subtle presence of the oak. 7€.
Veleta Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 also has a little Merlot in the blend. It’s a wine that is attracting international recognition – with medals won at home in Spain as well as in the States. As you would expect, given the Cabernet Sauvignon, there is an endearing blackcurrant flavour to the wine, as well as a Merlot inspired mintiness. There are herbs again with minerality and an even great depth, following its 12 months in Amercian and French oak, which also give rise to a certain pleasing complexity.
I haven’t tried this wine with game – but I’d like to!
I believe the Gold Medal winning Noladós 2010 is about to come into its own very soon. At present it’s a little austere, a little restrained in its pleasure-giving fruit, perhaps just coming to the end of a dormant period? But taste it, and hold it on your palate and it will reveal something of the juicy fruit that will soon be prevalent.
Made with the other Cabernet (Franc) as well as Cab Sauv and Tempranillo it’s quite a big wine longing for dark meats: steaks and casseroles.
Finally, if looking for a fruit driven red wine made from Spain’s most commonly grown red wine variety, Tempranillo, that is drinking perfectly right now – then check out Veleta’s Tempranillo 2009. Everything about this wine is perfectly in balance – and like the whole range of Buenavista wines, it delivers!
Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com ; and through www.colinharknessonwine.com; and via Twitter @colinonwine.
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