JOSÉ LUIS BLASCO – TEULADA’S NEW WINE SHOP
Many readers living in the Teulada/Moraira area will know of the wholesale beer and wine business, José Luis Blasco. They’ve been successfully supplying the catering trade for many years – it’s almost certain that if you’ve eaten out in the area, you’ve enjoyed their beers and wines.
There will also be several of you who have, cheekily, like me, been to the warehouse and asked if you could buy the odd bottle of wine, which perhaps you’d enjoyed in one of their clients’ establishments. José was always happy to oblige.
A few months ago he started to think that maybe there was a call for a more visible, retail arm to the business. Simple, knock through his warehouse at the back of the Teulada Industrial Industrial Estate and come out into another warehouse sized building, this time on the front, easily seen by all those entering Teulada from the N332.
Unfortunately, though invited, I couldn’t go along to the inauguration as I was recovering from my knee op, but when I did visit and sampled some wines I was asked to present a tasting after the Summer. I jumped at the chance with alacrity. Although I was well aware that José already has a good selection of wines, it was clear to me that he had upped the ante in terms of quantity, variety and quality. Choosing just five wines for the tasting was going to prove difficult.
So we chose six!
I often like to start a tasting with a Cava and as José and I had agreed that we would also like to showcase some local wines in this tasting, so we chose a Cava from Valencia. As Cork Talk readers will know, Cava is an unusual DO in that it is not restricted to just one geographical area – it can be made in a part of Valencia too.
Nodus Brut is such a Cava. Not content with the minimum 9 months ‘en rima’ the Nodus wine maker left his Cava in contact with the lees, the dead yeast after the 2nd fermentation, for 22 months, qualifying it for Reserva status. The Macabeo and Chardonnay in the blend add apple fruit acidity and a touch of peach flavoured body and depth. Super start.
I apologised to fellow tasters, not for the choice of the white wine that followed, but for the fact that I haven’t ever written about the wines of DO Monterrei! Located in the deep south of Galicia, where Spain is divided from Portugal by the Rio Minho. This mention now, is the first of more, I assure you – if Minius 2014 is anything to go by! What an inspired choice by José! If you ever want an introduction to the Godello grape variety – which has been praised several times in this column – then this is it!
It has such a fruit filled delivery with the usual white flower fragrance plus a touch of fennel on the nose too! Drink this wine for aperitifs and with salads and fish. Seriously, you need to buy this wine now!
As Spain has such a wealth of rosé wines, we couldn’t let pass the opportunity to show one at least. There’s an excellent choice at Blasco’s, all the different variations on a pink theme, so many grape varieties, but not a lot of difference in price – they are all, like the whole Blasco selection, very good value for money.
We decided on Pireneos 2014 (remember, 99% of Spanish rosé wine should be drunk young) whose label has the photo of a beautiful horse. At first the wine was a little shy to reveal itself, a red rose bud about to break into flower, but initially timid, demure!
The onion skin colour of this wine would have been called ‘classical’ in years gone by, and on the palate it appears to be a rosado that would prefer to the a red! There is a certain meatiness and for a rosado quite a mouthfeel. I really enjoyed this wine with Jamón Serrano and some semi and curado cheese, though I’m sure it will become a go-to rosado for Paellas and other rice dishes.
Our first red, Monteabellón, was from Ribera del Duero, and typically it was big in fruit. For me, a little unbalanced as yet, its semi-crianza five months in oak have yet to mellow some tannic notes, though with food, it’s drinking nicely. Buy it now and sit on it for six months to a year and then it will show its best.
It was an unfair comparison, but I wanted tasters to experience a Ribera del Duero and taste it against a Rioja. Pacto was chosen, a crianza Rioja, whose extra time in oak and in bottle made it an easy winner. There is an elegance to this wine. It doesn’t have a huge fruit delivery on the first hit, but hold it in the mouth and you should find those strawberry notes common to Tempranillo based wines from la Rioja.
It’s had 16 months in oak (the minimum for a Crianza from Rioja is 12 months) and there are pleasant smoky vanilla notes to complement the fruit. It’s light enough to be enjoyed simply, with friends, but there is also sufficient weight and richness for it to accompany meat dishes, though I’d avoid gamy foods.
Our final red was another acknowledgement of the wines of DO Alicante, another ‘local’ wine therefore. Again I must thank José for introducing this wine to me! It’s made with a favourite variety of mine, Monastrell, plus a little Cabernet to add extra ageing capability as well as colour and a slight blackcurrant flavour to go with the baked dark plum of the Monastrell.
It’s juicy, with a good acidic lift and a touch of tannin, to ensure long life.
Some dark chocolate blending with the blackcurrant (typical Mon and Cab) creating a slight dark chocolate liqueur sensation. The French 500 litre barrels in which the Monastrell has been aged for 16 months adds depth and complexity.
I’ll be coming back to this wine and more from the same stable, and indeed, I’ll be going back to José Luis Blasco’s Wine Shop!
Plus – there’s a super wine tasting/gourmet tapas evening coming soon at D enia’s excellent Republic Restaurant, on Thursday 10th December. It’s the final Telitec Tasting Tour venue and promises to be one of the best! Please contact me for the remaining few seats!
colin@colinharknessonwine.com or please call 629 388 159 to reserve for the above!