Tag: Hacienda Señorio de Nevada; Bodegas Señorio de Nevada; Granada; DO Granada

BODEGAS SEÑORIO DE NEVADA

VISITED!

It’s over a year since I first wrote about the impressive and slowly expanding portfolio of wines at Bodegas Señorio de Nevada, DO Granada. Head Winemaker, Chema Concustell, is charged with fashioning a range of wines that will delight consumers and gain awards and medals on the way.

Our e-mail exchanges over the months leading up to my article and subsequently have always ended with an invitation from Chema to visit the bodega and stay overnight in their hotel which is surrounded by the vines from which come the grapes that make their wines. Recently I decided to take him up on his kind offer, and bring some friends along too!

At the end of March twenty-five of us turned up at the superior 4* Hacienda Señorio de Nevada and having checked into our luxurious rooms we assembled in the foyer where we met our guide, plus General Manager, Antonio Gimeno, who was also keen to meet such a large group of wine enthusiasts.

To say that the Señorio de Nevada bodega and hotel is an impressive project, doesn’t really do it justice. The group of five businessmen, who have made their money from construction in nearby Granada, and who started the business in 1996, have spared no expense in terms of  building and interior design. Plus, their attention to the detail that is required if fine wine is to be made, no doubt with a huge input from Chema and Antonio, is second to none.

It’s a long-term project that is relatively in its infancy (note, for example, that the 2013 white wine we tasted is their first white wine vintage – a new product), and yet already the plaudits are rolling in. Indeed, after our tour of the bodega, we started our tasting with the wine that has most recently garnered a Gold Medal, at the prestigious Bacchus wine competition, held in Madrid the week before our arrival.

I will be very surprised if I taste a better rosé this year than Bodegas Señorio de Nevada’s 2013 Rosado – it is a beautifully coloured, delicate, fragranced, elegant wine whose pink rose-petal and raspberry aromas begin the graceful charm offensive in considerable style. The flavour on the palate is beguiling, you swallow, and suddenly all is right with the world! Yes – it’s that good!

Starting with rosado (under8€) instead of the new kid on the block, their white mono-varietal Viognier, was wholly understandable when we tried the Viognier 2013 (just over 8€). It’s a bigger wine than the delicate rosado, and one with some time on its hands for developing further. Jassy (my kindred spirit re white wines on this trip) and I agreed that, although drinking well, with as yet only a passing reference to varietal characteristics, there’s a richness to the wine that will evolve over the next 12 months.

It will become a wine to partner some SE Asian dishes, as well as seafood paella, fish, chicken and light meats. Serve it chilled, but not too cold, and right now, wait a while for the aromas to escape.

The next wine we tasted was their red 2009 Oro, aptly named as it is a golden wine, the flagship of the bodega, from what Chema describes as an excellent vintage. It’s clear here that Chema’s philosophy of ensuring that it is the fruit that is to the fore in his wines, with the oak adding depth, complexity and subtle flavours, are not wasted words. On the nose there is glorious damson, blackberry fruit, with some herbal additions, earthy bay leaf and maybe some rosemary or thyme, but also with integrated coconut and an illusive dark chocolate finish from the exclusively French oak in which the wine is aged.

Priced at the bodega at 18·50€, it actually merits a steeper price, and is a wine that will keep for several years yet. (all wines are available from http://www.senoriodenevada.es/ where you’ll also see details and photos of the hotel).

We thoroughly enjoyed a sumptuous dinner in the hotel’s gastronomic restaurant on both nights of our stay, where we were also served two further red wines: Plata and Bronze, which were both very well received, with the latter a medal hopeful at the International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC), where I’ll be completing my final day of judging on Friday 11^th April – when this article is scheduled for publication!

NB We have some space left for our Thai Cuisine/Spanish Wine Tasting evening on Tuesday 20^th May at Javea’s excellent Thia Restaurant, Monsoon. Five different Thai dishes will each be partnered with a different wine, designed to make the perfect match! Should be a sensational evening – to reserve please call me 629 388 159 or e-mail; or call into Monsoon, Javea.

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