Category: Wine of the Week

Saline white from Salina

Published 15. April 2022 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Here is a wine from a tasting in my local wine club, that showcased grapes from southern Italy. (See an entry from Campania here.)

Antonino Caravaglio is located at the foot of the Monte dei Porri volcano on the island of Salina, off the north coast of Sicily. Here the vineyards stretch from 10 to 650 meters above sea level, mainly malvasia. In total the firm comprises about 20 hectares, divided into many parcels, some of which are on the other islands of the Aeolian archipelago.

For centuries, the economically most important products here were wine and capers. And Nino makes not only wine, but also what literature claims to be the world’s best capers.

Salina seen from Lipari (Credit: Caravaglio)

This wine is made from malvasia di lipari grapes, relatively young vines (10-20 years) organically grown on volcanic sand and rock in a vineyard called Tricoli, that means triangle in Aeolian dialect. The vineyard is located on the northern side of the island of Salina, facing north-west and overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The grapes were hand-harvested and sorted in the fields, pressed in whole bunches and fermented with indigenous yeasts in steel, then aged in tanks on lees for three months. Low sulphur.

Infatata 2019 (Az. Agr. Caravaglio)

Light straw yellow. Aromas of litchis and jasmine over a layer of herbs (thyme). Glyceric in the mouth, integrated acidity, a touch of grapefruit and a saline finish. Clean and stylish.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Xinomavro excels

Published 8. April 2022 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

The wines of Greece have come a long way from the tourist spots’ retsina or the reds of the whitewashed tavernas in western Europe. Enter Apostolos Thymiopoulos, presenting this week’s wine Xinomavro Young Vines!

His contribution here is a red from the grape xinomavro (pronounced ks-) raised in the Naoussa appellation of Macedonia.

Nils-Are Økland, my colleague in Vinforum, put it this way in an article from 2019: “The rich ancient literature in Greece testifies to the importance of wine in early European culture. (…) Both Plato, Aristophanes and Hippocrates discuss the joys and challenges of wine in their writings. (…) Vines were also important in Greek cultural export and the colonization of Sicily and the coastal areas of southern Italy. In light of this proud history, it is striking how petty Greek wine industry has been in modern times. (…) But there are many indications now that Greek wine will have its well-deserved renaissance.”

Winemaker Apostolos Thymiopoulos is based in Trilofos, in the Naoussa region, one and a half hours south of Thessaloniki in northern Greece. Overlooking both the Aegean Sea and the Olymp he works organically and biodynamically in both own and contracted vineyards. He is maybe at his best with high-altitude xynomavro grapes. This week’s wine comes from vineyards at 400 and 600 meters above sea level, maybe not impressive, but higher than normal in Naoussa. This, together with a poor soil with schist, granite and limestone also contributes to a fresh fruit. Wild yeasts are used, and it’s aged 8 months in concrete.

Xinomavro Jeunes Vignes 2020 (Thymiopoulos)

Ruby red. Red fruits (raspberry), herbs and a stony minerality. Textured, yet juicy, with nice acidity and a mineral finish.

Price: Low

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Wine bars and restaurants and Wine of the Week

Duo at Barcelona’s Garage Bar

Published 1. April 2022 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

The rain in Spain falls… and falls. I’ve come to Barcelona to attend the Vella Terra fair. Walking from my hotel through the square outlined part of the Eixample district, when entering the quiet and pleasant Sant Antoni neighborhood, the sky is wide-open. What is then better than to take refuge in the Garage Bar, that opens right now after the daily break. In the bar I am welcomed by Stefano Fraternali, co-owner. Soon after Ale Delfino show up at my table. Ale is Stefano’s wife and chief organizer of the fair. The theme is thus set.

I let Stefano chose. He served four wines to the small, well-made dishes Pan amb tomate (the Catalan bread classic, here fermented dog 24 hours), marinated olives (own recipe marinade), vitello tonnato (veal with tuna-mayonnaise served cold) and their own burrata (mozzarella on toast, here with champignons, red onions and truffle oil), the two latter maybe a nod to Stefano’s Italian past.

These were Ephraim Mel 2021, a gentle skin-contact garnacha blanca (Sifer Wines, Catalunya), Le Glam Cab du Bled, a fruity, peppery carbonic maceration gamay/ cabernet franc (Laurent Lebled, Loire) and Aldo Viola’s light, raspberry-fresh Saignée Rosso 2019, made from nerello mascalese/ perricone/ syrah (Alcamo, Sicilia).

But first he served this week’s pick. This is born from a duo of grapes, each from their vineyard. The xarel.lo vineyard with the name Cal Tusac, that was planted in 1955, and a macabeu vineyard planted in 1974. We are in Santa Margarida i els Monjos in Penedès, Catalunya. The soil in the first one has marl and chalk, and is northeast-facing. The second, nearby, but over in Vilafranca del Penedès, is south facing, flat with clay and lots of sunshine. Two quite different vineyards, in other words. The viticulture is organic in both. The grapes were hand-picked early September, then very lightly pressed. Then spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts, before stainless steel for ten and a half months while doing battonage. After almost a year the two wines were brought together and finally bottled unfiltered.

Cal Tusac Vinyes 55+74 Xarel.lo i Macabeu 2016 (Cal Teixidor)

Light straw. Yellow apples, pears, a herbal touch (thyme). Good acidity, long, and also with a mineral note. A wonderful duo of grapes, fresh for a 16.

Price: Medium

Food: Grilled fish, tasty shellfish, rice dishes, pairing, soft and semi-cured cheeses, a variety of tapas

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Wine of the Week

Canlibero can

Published 25. March 2022 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Last Monday’s tasting in my private wine club was dedicated to wines from southern half of Italy, most of them from the grapes falanghina, fiano and greco di tufo. And it was the former, the only one without a DOCG, that excelled the most.

Ennio Romano Cecaro and his wife Mena cultivate four hectares in Benevento in the Campania region. The vines are between 60 and 90 years old, biodynamically farmed.

The cellar is built in an old tufo cave under the house where the couple lives, and the vinification is very simple. All the wines get a long skin-maceration in steel tanks, and no filtration or additions of any kind are carried out. The annual production is no more than 3.000 bottles.

This week’s wine fermented in open tubs, stayed five months on the skins and was bottled without addition of sulphites, clarification or filtration. I have tasted quite a few wines from the producer at natural wine fairs and bars. And once again convinced: Yes, Canlibero can!

Iastemma 2018 (Canlibero)

Amber, slightly turbid. Complex aroma of orange peel, white flowers, and a light volatility, over a layer of anise and honey. Sapid, lightly textured with integrated acidity, long.

Price: Medium

Food: Salads, light meat, fried fish, sushi, fermented food, Asian…

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Wine of the Week

Expressive Riojan garnacha

Published 18. March 2022 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

This is a Riojan garnacha with a strong varietal character, that takes me towards its relatives in the Gredos mountains on the other side of the capital. This can be because the producer’s collegues in Rioja don’t put enough focus on the grape and its qualities, – maybe because of its lack of reputation, or the producers’ tendency to oak everything in sight.

Sandra Bravo is not among them. She is one of the producers in the group Rioja’n’Roll, from a dynamic generation that wants to move forward from the stereotype of the blending eras. She was probably the first in Rioja to use amphorae for maturing wines, and she never lets the oak get in the way for the local typicity, be it Rivas de Tereso, at the foot of the Toloño) or over in Villabuena de Álava (Basque Country).

Sandra has also launched a wine called La Dula Garnachas de Altura (garnacha from the heights). This one is a single parcel wine from a vineyard in Rivas de Tereso, planted in 1944 at 700 meters altitude. It’s fermented and aged in a 300 liters amphora.

Edit: I realized that I had highlighted the same wine in the 2018 vintage three years ago, from the Simplemente Vinho fair. Read about it here.

La Dula 2018 (Sierra de Toloño)

Dark cherry red. Cool, concentrated aroma of wild berries (blackberry, elderberry), raspberry and a lovely flowery scent, with a stony, mineral touch. Rounded tannins, integrated, fresh natural acidity, expressive and long.

Price: Medium/high

Food: Game, other tasty meat, but also more delicate dishes like vitello tonnato, charcuterie

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Wine of the Week

Fumé on fire

Published 11. March 2022 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Here is a smoky, concentrated and vivid fumé – or sauvignon- blanc. Vintner Johannes Zillinger is located in the Austrian region Weinviertel in Niederösterreich, north of Wien. He farms biodynamic and has a natural approach, which means no chemicals in the vineyard, spontaneous fermentation, unfiltered wines, and so on.

The soil is loess and limestone, and for this wine the age of the vines is 30 years. It was fermented in amphora with whole berries for a few days, then just lightly pressed, then aged for a year on the lees, first in amphora, then in used oak. Bottling was done unfiltered and without sulphites added. Only 800 bottles made.

Numen Fumé Blanc 2027 (J. Zillinger)

Light golden, a bit cloudy. Orange peel, nectarine, peach, wild flowers and herbs. Concentrated, creamy, with a mineral finish. Tasty and elegant.

Price: Medium

Food: Light meat, grilled fish, tasty salads

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Wine of the Week

Backwards palomino orange

Published 4. March 2022 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Esteban Celemín is found in Castronuño, in the Valladolid province, close to Toro (Zamora). He works a lot with albillo real, that he names the emblematic variety of Castronuño and which the family has planted an experimental vineyard. All vineyards are cultivated organically.

Other varieties are also used, some of them posted under “minor white varieties from the ‘comarca’ of Toro”. At the bar named El Bar in the center of Valladolid I was offered one of these, an orange wine based on palomino, a variety not uncommon in the area. Here it’s often called jerez. Well orange, the maceration had been very gentle during its 16 ,days of skin-contact, and probably lightly filtered, so the wine showed transparent. Nothing was added to the wine, of which a “grand” total of 260 bottles were filled.

Palomino Orange Wine 2020 (Esteban Celemín Viticultor)

Light golden. Ginger, stonefruit, white flowers. Lightly textured, refreshing with a chalky mineral finish.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Essentially fresh

Published 25. February 2022 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

I am in Madrid, because I always start a trip to the central and northern areas of Spain with some days in its grand, magnificent capital that has everything to offer. This week’s pick is from the natural wine bar Bendito, that is located inside the multicultural San Fernando market, close to the two hotels where I most often stay when in Madrid.

Vinegrower Julian Ruíz-Villanueva is located in Castilla-La Mancha, in the village Quero (Toledo). His bodega Esencia Rural is named in honour to all those who spend their lives and dedication to the daily work at their farms.

This natural “ancestral” (sparkling) wine is made from the variety airén exclusively. It originates from 38 hectares in the hot inland landscape, with very old vineyards on sandy-calcareous soil. Here there is no irrigation, no chemical treatments, and everything is done by hand. After destemming a maceration is carried out without pressing, so only the virgin juice is used. Fermentation is obviously happening spontaneously with autochtonous yeasts, and bottled without filtration or addition of sulphur, early so it develops its bubbles in the bottle. As a side-step, one time I met Julián at the Fenavin fair in Ciudad Real he showed an airén must that had been fermenting for (…how long was it…?) 3 years. Finally it’s put no the market without dégorgement (removing the sediments).

Pampaneo Ancestral 2020 (Esencia Rural)

Light yellow colour, fine bubbles. Citrus (lemon) dominates the aroma, accompanied by pears and flowers. It’s a simple wine, lovely and fresh, with an ample lemony acidity and saline finish.

Price: Low

Food: Aperitif, white fish, shellfish, salads. At Bendito it was served with charcuterie.

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Wine of the Week

Intellego Halagasha 2020

Published 18. February 2022 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Jurgen Gouws and his Intellego label has been focused several times on this blog. You can search yourself, but why not first read about one of his light-touch delicacies here.

This time I want to draw your attention to what he does with the “national” grape pinotage. Instead of going for an “impressive” blockbuster (yes, we know several) if has the lightest touch you can ever imagine. Lammershoek, a notable winery with links to Gouws, has a nice take on this grape (read here). This one is even more delicate.

Jurgen was an assistant to Craig Hawkins of Testalonga at the time if worked at Lammershoek. And besides this he worked more and more on his own Intellego project, with wines from rented vineyards.

This one is from a dry farmed vineyard of bush vines on granite soils near Paardeberg, Swartland. Hand-harvested grapes, whole-bunch pressing with natural yeast fermentation in steel. The wine is matured 5 months in big, old barrels, back to steel for 1 month, and bottled unfiltered and without sulphur.

Halagasha 2020 (Intelligo Wine)

Ruby red. Aroma of red berries (strawberry, currant), an earthy note. Juicy and smooth, with light and delicate tannins, good acidity, long.

Price: Medium

Food: Light meat, salads, pasta

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Wine of the Week

Loimer’s happy glou-glou

Published 11. February 2022 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

The minimalist cube in Langenlois, Austria that is Fred Loimer’s winery, hides precious jewels. To be more precise, the wines made by close attention of vineyards and helped by biodynamic practises are found behind these walls. (Read about another of his many inspired/inspiring creations here.)

The grapes, zweigelt 70%, and the rest st. laurent and pinot noir, were grown in his leased vineyards in Gumpoldskirchen (Thermenregion) on the other side, the southern side of the river Donau – partly destemmed, partly whole cluster pressing. Then spontaneous fermentation, no fining and no filtering. Partially matured in wood, 6 month on lees. No sulphur added during maceration, 20 mg after the blend, before bottling.

Gluegglich Rosé (Weing. Loimer)

Light ruby. Fresh, young aroma of ptpawadpa, raspberry and plums. Medium-bodied, creamy, with a refreshing yet careful acidity, dry, with a fruity finish.

Price: Low

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