Mario López is winemaker for Vinos López and Bodegas Frontonio. These wineries, both in the IG Valdejalón, can be regarded as the avant-garde of Aragón at the moment.
Mario runs the family winery Vinos López together with his brother. It was their grandfather who planted the vineyards in the 1960s.
Aragón is mostly noted for big companies and cooperatives, and DOs that have favoured international grape varieties. The region has a long tradition for the grape garnacha though (along with the white macabeo), and here is where López’ and his companions’ dedication lie.
This wine originates in the La Bodegaza vineyard, a planting carried out in the 1960s. Low yields from organic cultivation without irrigation. Directly pressed, spontaneously fermented with a proportion whole bunches, and matured in old demi-muids (600-liter barrels). Natural fining.
La Bodegaza 2021(Vinos López)
Ruby red. Aroma of black cherries and plums towards a background of herbs, earth and a hint of licorice. Medium-bodied with juicy berry fruit, delicate texture, fresh acidity and a firm finish. It’s a superbly balanced, drinkable wine.
Bernabeleva is located in San Martín de Valdeiglesias, in the community of Madrid. They work with a respect for balance with nature, though they don’t aim for certifications. Their wines express the characteristics of the vineyards and their surroundings.
This wine is made from 75 year old garnacha vines in a gently sloping south facing plot. This site has granitic soil, shallow at the top and deep at the lower part. The parcel covers 2.5 hectares.
Maceration lasts over 40 days, during which the wine is pigeaged in the oak tank. Malolactic fermentation takes place in French oak barriques, where the wine remains as long as necessary. It is neither stabilized nor filtrated.
The wine was selected for a private dinner and showed some maturity, but still has much life ahead. Maybe it’s at its peak now.
Carril del Rey 2016(Bernabeleva)
Very light red. Delicate and complex nose, with red fruits and aniseed. Some warmth, fine tannins, good acidity, good concentration and length. Superelegant wine, it’s individualistic yet a good representative for its origin.
I have participated in a tasting with some of Vinmonopolet’s suppliers, organized by the Norwegian state monopoly. The relatively new importer Swirl has a portfolio that focuses on Portugal. Øystein Solvang presented a veritable wave of individual vignerons from various corners of the country, all of whom demonstrated high quality and a large degree of sustainable production. Here I can only name a few. Among those I already have a close relationship with, and which you can read more about on the blog, were Aphros (Minho), Espera and Marinho (both Lisboa), Vitor Claro (Lisboa and Alentejo), Cebolal (Setúbal/Alentejo) and Muxagat (Douro).
Øystein Solvang, Swirl Wines
Among those who were new to me are Tabodella and Hugo Pinheiro, both from Penalva do Castelo in Dão, who represented two different approaches. Where Tabodella had a more classic cut, Pinheiro offered a distinctly fruit-driven, unfiltered style.
A strong impression was made by tasting wines from João Tavares de Pina, also from Penalva in Dão, with the following background. Tavares recently lost his house and 85% of his vineyards in the fire that has ravaged the interior of Portugal. He is a sociable and generous guy with many friends, and there is currently a large-scale campaign underway in Portugal and partly abroad for him to be able to replant the vineyards. João says that the best you and I can do to help is to buy his wines. I have myself bought a couple of cases recently.
Here I tasted a wonderfully developed wine, Terras de Tavares 2002, with a brick-red color, aromas of dried fruit, well-hung meat, prunes and a hint of smoke. This evoked memories of an evening at the home of João and his wife Luisa, with a fire on the fireplace in the cold winter, when we ate delicious food prepared by João himself and also had a similar wine (Terras de Tavares 1997, read about it here).
I said hello to 2 x Ole Martin. It was the first time I had met Ole Martin Alfsen, who is known in several disciplines of gastronomy and wine. -Now it’s mostly wine, he says. He has developed his own portfolio of wine made in collaboration with producers in several countries, often abbreviated to his initials OMA. He always hits the mark with quality at reasonable prices. The wine name XinOma probably says it all; it is made by him on the grape xinomavro. Ole Martin also tells how he works in collaboration with producer Oenops. This grape often produces light coloured wines. The wine is light, but also has a nice concentration, with good primary fruit and an aroma of flowers and herbs.
Ole Martin Alfsen
We also tasted a rosé version of the same wine, a pét-nat and a blaufränkisch made in collaboration with Heinrich in Gols, Austria. Ole Martin also talked about his collaboration with Loimer in Austria, Quintas de Melgaço in Portugal, Giovanni Rosso in Italy and Au Bon Climat in the USA. Finally, we tasted a pinot noir, in which Ole Martin had collaborated with Broc Cellars in Santa Bárbara, California. It’s a fruity, mellow wine. It has a touch of oak, but Ole Martin Alfsen knows better than anyone that such wines also have a place on the table.
Ole Martin Brodvall, Vinarius
At importer Vinarius, Ole Martin Brodvall served wines from the prominent Fitapreta, where António Maçanita is the winemaker. First we tasted a phenomenal white wine from typical Alentejo and Portuguese grapes, mostly arinto. Palpite 2022 had a clean and beautiful fruit with hints of apricot and orange peel and good body, together with a significant acidity. Fitapreta Tinto 2022 was a relatively light and luscious wine with aromas of red berries with balsamic hints, from a typical Alentejo blend. Tinta Carvalha 2022 was also light in colour. Red berries, cherries and a hint of anise and other spices, good length. A good ambassador for the region..
I also met Henriette Batt, who has worked for importer Engelstad for many years. One of the producers she presented was Herdade do Rocim, which is known as one of the leading producers of vinho de talha, clay-aged wine, in Alentejo, Portugal. They also host a festival for clay-based wines. Fresh from Amphora 2023, which came in a 1L bottle, was a textured white. Discreet aroma, but with a mineral and spicy character, with a great and fruity middle part and a salty finish. The red in the 22 vintage has 40% moreto and has a fine touch of cherry and stone fruit, clean and lovely.
Henriette Batt, Engelstad
I was running out of time, so I indulged myself with just a few highlights from several importers. John Sonnichsen (VinJohn) served wine from his colleague Autentico. I tried MA Doña Blanca 2022 from producer Mufatto, who is Argentinian but operates in Bierzo, Spain. There doña blanca finds itself in the shadow of godello. But it stands out: Light in colour, rich with almonds, a bit of spice, good lees character, well-integrated barrel. A great wine, good for medium-term storage.
John Sonnichsen
It is always a pleasure to try wines from the Spanish producer Envínate. Ove Kvalheim at Unico had brought the white Benje 2023 from Tenerife, that is made of palomino fino and has been under a thin layer of flor, but without skin contact: Light in colour, rich, ripe citrus, nuts, fine texture. Superb. Lousas Viñas de Aldea 2022: Bright red, great berry fruit, with some pepper, a cool touch, nice concentration. I also tasted António Madeira‘s red Vinhas Velhas 2021, an elegant wine from a relatively cool vintage and two wines from Areanna Occhipinti. The normal SP68 in the 23 vintage lived up to the usual standard. Siccagno Nero d’Avola 2021 had a wonderful fruit, with flowers and discreet spice, young tannin, great acidity, juicy and concentrated at the same time and good length.
Bravo is located in the increasingly popular eastern district of Stavanger. We have visited a couple of times in the past. Bravo can be characterized as a wine bar, or informal restaurant, with small but elaborate plates at very affordable prices. They offer around 15 wines by the glass, all good and inspiring, as well as a full list of wines by the bottle. The profile is natural, sustainably produced wines with a terroir character.
From the small dishes and snacks menu, this time we chose (European) hake, yellow beetroot, pork rillettes and braised sirloin, and also a bowl of green olives.
The first wine was a sort of entry-level wine from Alberto Nanclares and Silvia Prieto, one of the leading producers in Galicia’s Rías Baixas. I didn’t take many notes, so the following is mostly based on memory. Dandelión 2022, a varietal albariño, appeared as grape-fresh as usual. Light golden in colour, aroma of yellow apple, lime and stone minerals. It has the typical glyceric full-bodied albariño character, good fruit in the mouth, great acidity and finishes dry.
Hake with sea buckthorn, quinoa, cucumber and spring onion – accompanied by the albariño
We had a superb German wine, Karl May’s Osthofen Pinot Noir 2020, with yellow beetroot and even the pork rillettes. The winery has been in the family since 1815. Today it’s Peter and Fritz from the 7th generation who manage the family winery in Rheinhessen. Ruby red, and what a lovely red fruits nose, dominated by raspberry. Just behind there is cherry and a slightly earthy note. Juicy in the mouth with delicate tannin and an inspiring acidity.
Frances Grimalt of 4 Kilos is one of the leading wine personalities on Mallorca, and a torchbearer for the revolution of the variety callet, maybe the most emblematic grape on the island. Here it’s the mantonegro (also spelled manto negro), that’s playing the key role, with a small percentage syrah. Mantonegro typically gives a light colour and high alcohol to a blend. Gallinas y Focas, here in the 2019 vintage is made in collaboration with an organisation for mentally handicapped. It’s a wine with some volume and enough power to go with the braised meat. Cherry red, warm and developed aroma of red and dark fruits, with some spice.
Braised sirloin with Gallinas y Focas
To round off we had two wines, the Stolpman Vineyards‘ white Uni and Schödl‘s skin contact wine called Bloody Muscat.
Stolpman is found in Ballard Canyon, California. The wine Uni 2021 is made from roussanne 70%, and chardonnay 30%. It’s light yellow with green hints, smells of ripe pear, citrus and white flowers. It’s a wine with good volume and adequate acidity.
Schödl is located in Loidesthal, Weinviertel, just norti of Wien. Their Bloody Muscat 2023 wonderfully rounded off our meal. It’s a wine from roter muskateller grapes, that gives it a.special colour to the wine. The grapes macerated about two weeks on the skins. After fermentation the wine went into big oak casks. Bottled without filtration and fining. Deep golden with a reddish hint, slightly turbid. Aroma of orange peel, white flowers, herbs and ethereal oils. Smooth tannins and good acidity, rounded. It’s in a way serious, but it’s also fresh and fun.
Ximénez-Spínola is a rare bird in the fauna jerezana, in that they are focusing on a single grape, the pedro ximénez, or simply PX.
This week’s wine is a dry take on what’s normally, in this region, elaborated as a sweet wine. It’s made from grapes that are overripe, the producer counts 21 additional days to the conventional harvest. The grapes are harvested by hand, then pressed softly,. The wine is placed with its skins in French oak barrels of between 225 and 300 liters, adding 30 liters to each barrel every day – hence the name, that means slow fermentation – so that the yeasts can finish off all the sugars daily and leave the wine completely dry. The musts are aged on lees with a gentle batonage for six months in the barrel.
Fermentación Lenta 2019(Ximénez-Spínola)
Light golden with greenish hint, high viscosity. Aroma of dried plums, wax, hint of caramel. Full in the mouth, glyceric, with figs, ripe fruit and a sweet touch like caramel, but rounds off dry. A unique wine with lots of personality.
This is the second article in a series of three, about unfortified wines from the sherry district. This white table wine is just brilliant. It’s a palomino without additions, not even any influence of flor. It’s a sublime expression of grape and place.
Alejandro Muchada and his partner David Léclapart make incredible terroir-driven wines full of saline minerality, and always with a lovely texture. From three plots of a total of 3.6 hectares in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Alejandro works according to biodynamic principles, and in the cellar he shows a hands-off philosophy..
The grapes for this wine is taken from Viña La Platera Vieja in Miraflores Baja, that is a 1.2 hectares plot. The soil is calcareous albariza, with a hard rock albariza type called “tosca cerrada”, under clayey limestone. The orientation is west and the vines are more than 60 years old.
The grapes were hand-harvested, directly pressed for 3-4 hours, spontaneously fermented and matured for 12 months on lees in used barrels. Bottled without filtering.
Lumière 2021(Muchada-Léclapart)
Yellow colour, slightly cloudy. Aroma of yellow apples, flowers, almonds, black olives and citrus and a touch of salt. Concentrated, medium-bodied, fruity in the mouth with almonds, smooth texture, mineral. Finishes very long. It has this extra nerve that is hard to define, but makes it a great wine. As the name might imply: Brilliant.
Vino de pasto is a table wine, here as opposed to a fortified sherry. The word is probably from the same root as pasture.
But first a brief history. The Pérez family have been winemakers for several generations. In 2002 Luis, a professor of oenology and former winemaker at Domecq, set up his bodega just outside Jerez, together with his children. Most significantly, his son Willy has made his name as a brilliant winemaker that takes the sherry trade in new and interesting directions.
One of their main objective is exploring the historic pagos (vineyards) of Jerez. This wine La Escribana is made of palomino fino grapes grown on Cerro de Obispo, a hill in the pago Macharnudo, on albariza (limestone) soil. This south-east facing plot, approximately 100 metres above sea level, is pruned in the local vara y pulgar pruning method (means stick and thumb, and has some similarity to Guyot). Picking is done twice; early for acidity, then later for more maturity. After a 5-6 hours asoleo (drying) and cold fermentation in steel, it undergoes 12 months of ageing on the lees with a little flor, in 80 years old sherry butts.
This review is the first of a “triangle” of unfortified wines from the sherry area.
La Escribana2022(Luis Pérez)
Light yellow. Notes of citrus (lemon peel), green apples, flowers, chalk, and a light yeast character. Full in the mouth, fresh, good acidity, some grapefruity bitterness and a marked saltiness.
Price: Medium
Food: We had it with bacalao, but should go to a variety of tasty fish and light meat dishes, as well as various tapas.
This wine was served in a panel tasting of dry sherries for Vinforum magazine.
Bodegas Ximénez-Spínola has since 1729 built its reputation on a single grape variety, namely pedro ximénez, that has always found itself in the shadow of palomino. The current proprietor is José Antonio Zarzana.
Their vineyards between the towns of Jerez, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María have chalky chalky albariza soils and are worked organically.
The wine is put together from single vintage casks from 2009, ’13, ’15 and ’19, blended together in 9 new barrels, matured for a year and then bottled. Fermentation was in French oak with wild yeasts, followed by ageing in American oak with some casks developing flor, whilst some not, giving complexity from both biological and oxidative ageing. There has been no fortification. Still it carries the DO Jerez-Xérès-Sherry, thanks to the new regulations from 2022. Alcoholic fermentation brought it up to15%, then an oxidative ageing and evaporation, resulted in a final 17%.
Palo Cortado Jerez Seco Serie 2(Ximénez-Spínola)
Beautiful amber colour. Smells of apricot, candied fruits, and lightly fried onions. It’s full and glyceric, in a way fruity, with a saline touch, grapey, long with a nutty finish, and with perfectly integrated alcohol. A complex and generous wine, with lots of personality. Truly memorable.
I visited Luis Anxo Rodríguez Vázquez back 15 years ago or so, and tasted the whole range. I remember well some impressive aged wines. From time to time one stumbles over his wines. This one I found in a shop in Murcia.
Luis concentrates on indigenous grape varieties like treixadura, brancellao and caiño. Today he works 6 hectares in Arnoia, in the DO Ribeiro, comprised of nearly 180 micro-parcels, located on southwestfacing, granitic hillsides. He utilizes native yeasts, low SO2, and practices élevage in steel tank, foudre and mostly used, larger French oak barrels.
The grapes varieties are treixadura, albariño, lado and torrontés. The soils are decomposit granite (called sábrego) with silicium, and the vines up to 25 years old. The grapes were hand-harvested, destemmed and fermented with native yeasts in steel vats, and raised for 10-12 months on lees before bottling with a light clarification (bentonite) and filtration.
Viña de Martín Os Pasás 2021 (Luis Anxo Rodríguez Vázquez)
Light straw-coloured. Fresh aroma of citrus, herbs, quince and balsamic. Medium-bodied with fresh acidity and good power, and a salty mineral finish. The wine just is there, always, without hitting the headlines. But it’s just remarkable.
The last few days have been bakingly hot in Central Spain. So some freshness was needed. I finally got the opportunity to visit my friend Samuel Cano in Mota del Cuervo, Cuenta province. You can read about several of his wines elsewhere on the blog, such as here and here.
We visited La Tarancona vineyard. It sits on clay-calcareous soil at 800 meters elevation, and the vines have an average age of 70 years. The harvest was done at the end of September, after a rainy spring and a very long and hot summer. The grapes were destemmed and placed in a stainless steel tank, where it macerated for 5 days and began the alcoholic fermentation. It was then passed to a cement tank to finish fermenting and aged on the lees until bottling in March without filtration or stabilization.
Aire en el Patio La Tarancona 2023(Vinos Patio)
Light golden colour. Yellow apples, mature lime, wax. Juicy with a light dryness, tasty, with a fresh acidity and a saline finish.
