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Simplesmente Vinho 2024 – Introduction and Georgia Day

I am back from another rewarding visit to Simplesmente Vinho in Porto. They call themselves an off-salon, an alternative event. But the fair has long since become important in itself. And needless to say, it’s always worth a visit. Simplesmente Vinho showcases smaller family businesses, and it’s a perfect opportunity to keep up with the wine trade of the country. Music and arts is a part of it. Every year they invite artisans from one specific wine producing country. This year Georgia was honoured with a whole day with an impressive program. This was the 12th edition of the fair, now held in the historic toll building Alfândega do Porto. Nowadays this is a convention center down by the Douro river, a comfortable and spacious site perfect for the event. Thanks to primus motor João Roseira and his staff, several of whom happen to be among his own family!

The twelfth edition presented 112 vignerons from Portugal and Spain, and a further 11 from Georgia. It started one day earlier, with a special program: a conference, the film “Our Blood is Wine” by Jeremy Quinn, and a tasting of wines from the Georgian guests to the fair. Attention was also drawn to the Portuguese talha wines, today kept alive in Alentejo. Choir singing is another cultural feature that Georgia shares with Alentejo, and the Georgian ensemble Shvidkatsa appeared during the charity art auction held during that day’s official dinner.

Here are just a few of the many wonderful Georgian wines from that first night.

Tamar and Zurab of Iberieli

Zurab Topuridze of winery Iberieli was one of the speakers. At the fair he presented several elegant wines. Among them was Saperavi 2022, in a light style not so often seen. The grapes were de-stemmed, and there was a careful ten days maceration. This resulted in a ruby red, raspberry fruity, fresh and appealing wine.

Iberieli operates both in Guria region of Western Georgia, where they manage 2 hectars of young vineyards, and in Kakheti in the east, where they have 5 ha of mixed ages. The name Iberieli refers to the ancient people in Caucasus, ancestors of Georgians, who are believed to be the first winemakers.

Archil and Patricia of Meskhishvili

Cousins Ilia and Archil represent the fourth generation of wine producers at Meskhishvili. In spite of this they started only in 2018 to produce wine commercially, with the construction of a small winery near Lake Lisi, in the outskirts of Tbilisi. They work vineyards with a minimum of 40 years in Kakheti, naturally with minimal intervention. The vinification process takes place in qvevri. While Ilia lives back home in Georgia, Archil didn’t have to travel far, as he now is running his own restaurant in Caldas da Rainha, on the Portuguese coast. Their Venero Rosé 2022 from saperavi was a real charmer; light ruby, with red fruits, completed with grape seed, and very fresh fruits in the mouth. Lisi Wine 2021 from the khikhvi grape was light amber in colour, rich, somewhat honeyed with apricot, careful tannins. It tended towards bitterness in the end, strengthening its gastronomic potential.

Ramaz Nikoladze

Ramaz Nikoladze is a pioneer of West-Georgian qvevri wines, and president of the Georgian slow food movement. The winery is built on the site of his great grandfather’s vineyard, in the village of Nakhshirgele, in Imereti. He manages 1.5 ha of vineyards of organically grown tsitska and tsolikouri grapes, ranging from four to 100 years old. Fermentation and aging is carried out naturally in qvevri, without skins for tsitska grapes, and with skins for tsolikouri grapes. His Tsitska 2022 was a superb light yellow coloured wine, with both flowery and mineral aromas, and with a fresh acidity to match. A bit more textured, and peach-scented, was Tsoulikouri 2022, a fabulous wine that carried with it a sense of Georgian history and tradition.

The tram in Ribeira, between the Alfândega and my hotel
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Wine of the Week

This is not a love song

This wine was offered in a private club tasting last Monday. It’s a low alcohol-high freshness wine. In fact the acidity is almost as insisting as the Public Image Ltd song of the same name. It should work well then, with risottos, rcreamy pastas or with tasty Austrian sausages.

It comes from 80 year old vines in Steiner Schreck, the steepest of all Kremstal sites, and is farmed biodynamically. We are around 320 meters above sea level, and the subsoil consists of gneiss and granite.

The grapes were pressed very slowly for two days in a self-made tree press. The pressing process itself is reductive, but afterwards the juice was deliberately exposed to oxidation. The juice was fermented spontaneously and aged for two and a half years on the lees in an amphora made in Bordeaux. During fermentation, a tiny percentage destemmed grapes were added, to restart the fermentationvim in an intercellular way, like in carbonic maceration. The wine was lightly sulphured.

This is not a Love Song 2020 (Heidelinde & Markus Lang)


Light golden yellow. Concentrated aromas of gooseberry, green apples, flowers, lemon and a touch of herbs. On the palate it’s structured from the acidity, and a fine-grained texture from the terracotta. It’s got a touch of price and saltiness. It’s a wine with tension and electricity.

Price: High

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Wine of the Week

An albillo with personality

La Chanin was presented by the sommelier of La Gracia bar in Murcia as a super cool orange wine. And it sure was. Orange wines can lack interest if they just have some extra skin-contact and miss the acidity to match. This one had the underlying concentration and excelled in electricity and vividness.

Silvia and Kike Srados started their Cható Gañán project in 2014. It was born out of the need to take care of and restore the respect for the old garnacha and albillo vines of Cebreros, where the whole family lives. This is a way to honour all those farmers and peasants -gañanes- who have preserved the exceptional old vineyards that the bodega can now enjoy and work with.

The wine is made of albillo real grapes from a century-old vineyard, at about 780 meters of altitude, with granite soil and a large presence of quartz. It is completely destemmed and left with skins for approximately three weeks. Spontaneous fermentation starts with native yeasts. It is made in stainless steel and lees are stirred for five months. It is also aged for five months in French barrels of various uses. Natural stabilization was secured by the cold. The wine is not clarified or filtered. Just a minimal dose of added sulfur. Bottled, labeled and sealed by hand.

La Chanin 2020 (Cható Gañán)

Deep golden colour, almost amber. Mature apples, apricots, yeast, iodine and a touch of honey. Full on the palate, good concentration, slight tannin, and the acidity contributes to an electric, vivid sensation. A slight bitterness towards the end. It hints to an amontillado too, and surely has a great personality

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Back to Bullas

Here is a Bullas wine once introduced te me by La Gracia, a fabulous natural wine bar in the centre of Murcia. It does not bear the official seal though. I’ll investigate on that one day.

María José Fernández Llamas and Patri Morillo are its makers. It comes from monastrell and garnacha tintorera, with ages ranging between 8 and 50 years. The clusters are trodden with intact stems. Alcoholic fermentation is controlled below 25º. The soils consist of clay and calcareous clay textures, deep and rich.

Negrete 2021 (Negre-T Blue Wines)

Deep purple. Attractive and seductive aromas of mature fruits, herbs. Full and juicy in the mouth, with gentle tannins and a pleasant acidity. Easy fruit-driven drinking.

Price: Low

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Articles and Wine bars and restaurants

More from Murcia

Back in Murcia for Christmas celebrations, I never miss an opportunity to visit La Gracia natural wine bar near the cathedral (and the bull ring). Sommelier Esperanza tells that they will organize a natural wine fair on the 21st of January, called #vinosinresaca (that means wine without hangover), where some 25 of the most prestigious microbodegas from all over the country will participate. I really appreciate and support the initiative, though I can’t participate this first time. You should if you are near.

This evening I chose a plain Italian focaccia to go with all three wines, that were excellent. I opened with an aperitif, the sparkler Malaherba 2019 from Finca Parera, Penedès. It’s a rich and tasty wine with lots of body based on the xarel.lo vermell (red) grape, with yellow fruits aroma with wax and iodine.

The invitation to the upcoming fair and the Duarte bobal

Next was Duarte 2022, a young bobal-tempranillo with fresh and dark berries and herbs, quite simple, but tasty. Good fruit throughout, and the tannins were quite firm and seemed young. Its maker Verónica Romero from Utiel-Requena, València is a comet in today’s natural wine sky. The wine is made with whole bunches in a variant of the carbonic maceration.

One of the more established natural wine producers in the Gredos mountains is Cható Gañán, where Kike Prados holds the reins. Navaciegos is a quite complex garnacha wine, purple coloured, aromas of red and dark fruits, also some dried herbs, and a layer of coffee. In the mouth it is full, quite dense and concentrated, with rounded tannins and good fruit. It’s made in Navahondilla, in a 0.35 hectares vineyard of 60 year old vines, at about 785 meters of altitude, with very degraded granite soil. A small part of the grapes are foottrodden and vatted with stems. The rest is destemmed. It was aged in French barrels of 500 liters at various ages.

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Articles

Mallorcan countdown

Looking forward to spend the new year weekend in Mallorca I have begun to count down with a few wines.

Ca’n Verdura is located in Binissalem, the most historic wine town in modern times, giving name to that DO in 1991. They grow mainly native varieties such as mantonegro, callet and moll.

Supernova 2022 (Ca’n Verdura)

This wine is made from the moll variety, from a vineyard planted in 1958 on clay, limestone and gravel. The farming is organic (though not certified), and it was fermented with ingenious yeasts in stainless steel and barrel.

Light yellow with a green hint. Yellow apples, melon, white flowers and a stony minerality. Medium full, lightly creamy lees character, adequate acidity, salty, and a green touch in the finish.

Negre 2021 (Ca’n Verdura)

This is some kind of entry-level, unpretentious red, made primarily from mantonegro (60%), complemented with merlot, cabernet sauvignon, monastrell and the local callet. The mantonegro is old-vine and the rest is from different vineyards of variable age and a diversity of soils (red clay, gravel, white clay).

Dark cherry. Red fruits (cherry), ink, herbs. Medium-bodied, fruity all the way, a touch menthol and coffee. Energetic and appealing.

Francesc Grimalt is a leading figure in the restoration of the callet grape variety. In 2006 he teamed up with musician Sergi Caballero and founded the 4 Kilos winery, based in Felanitx, not far from the city of Manacor. The name is an expression for 4 million pesetas, which was their initial investment to launch the company. They practice an environmentally-friendly agriculture with minimal intervention.

Motor Callet 2021 

One of the wines tried was Motor Callet. The vintage was the same as in a previous post. I include it in the picture, and you can read more of the company and the wine here.

The Island Syndicate 2019

While the MC is dominated by red fruits, this one is darker, in colour and fruit quality, a mix between dark and red fruits. It’s a callet 60%, and also mantonegro 30% and fogoneu 10%. With this, Francesc Grimalt wanted to make a wine that smelt “like his childhood”. The wine is made with natural yeasts he found from the now-defunct co-operative winery in Felanitx ‘Es Sindicat’.

Dark cherry colour. Aroma of dark and red fruits (blackberry, cranberry, redcurrant), Mediterranean herbs, plums. Medium-bodied, a good acidity, traces of almond, some coffee. The overall feeling is though the one of a light and appealing wine.

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Wine of the Week

Phaunus Loureiro

Vasco Croft has been featured several times on these pages such as here, in a write-up from 2018. He is a pioneer in biodynamic wine farming since he established his Aphros wine series in 2003. He disposes of some 20 hectares in the Lima valley, in mostly granitic soil.

The loureiro vines are exposed to the south. Harvest between 10 and 15 September 2021 is followed by crushing of the grapes, destemming and pressing in an antique basket press. Fermentation of the must then takes place spontaneously in clay amphoras, that are sealed with beeswax to regulate oxidation. Ageing on lees went on for 6 months.

Oenologues are Miguel Viseu and Tiago Sampaio (read about his own Folias de Baco wines several places on this blog).

Phaunus Loureiro 2021 (Aphros)

Light golden, slightly cloudy. Aroma of citrus (lemon), orange peel, white flowers, on a background of tea and bergamot. Fresh on the palate, fine tannins, with abundant fruit, a touch of spice and grapefruit in the end. There is a very appealing lightness to the wine.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Unrivalled rioja

Here is a prime example of the “new” Rioja, made by Pedro Balda, one of the younger authorities in the field.

Pedro Balda is director of the research department of Vintae, a group that started in La Rioja, but has expanded to many Spanish areas. Pedro is himself from Sonsierra, and after workingr with many wineries of the world, such as Chile’s Viña Santa Cruz, the United States’ Marimar Estate, and New Zealand’s Dry River, he has brought his experience home to Spain.

He is also an academic, earning his doctorate in enology with a thesis discovering two minority varieties which had been recovered in Rioja and triumphing with the wines le makes from his family’s vineyards. He is the youngest doctor of enology in Spain, currently professor at the university of Logroño.

He started his personal project in 2008, in his native San Vicente de la Sonsierra. There Pedro works without the addition of sulphites in any of the points of the process. Nor are yeasts, bacteria or any other agent that can accelerate fermentations added. His way of working is simply to let everything happen naturally.

Pedro makes two wines. The most expensive one is Vendimia Seleccionada. This one is called Cosecha, a varietal tempranillo. In the selection priority is given to the smallest clusters with the most intense aromas. The grapes are always hand-harvested, but in the Cosecha they were mechanically destemmed. The extraction is light. He works in the most natural way possible, and no sulfites are added at any stage.

The label is a tribute to the land and his ancestors.

Cosecha 2016 (Pedro Balda)

Dark cherry red. Ripe aromas of black and red fruits (blackberry, cranberry), plums, flowers, ink and a mineral touch. Good volume and concentration, smooth tannins, light cocoa, and a long aftertaste.

Price: High

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Wine of the Week

Waxy xarel.lo

Clos Lentiscus is located inside the national park in the Garraf mountains. We are outside Sant Pere de Ribes in Catalunya. The winery was established in 2001 by Manel and Joan Aviñó. Here they cultivate 22 hectares of vineyards biodynamically, of which 95 percent are planted with local grape types from the Garraf area. The soils are calcareous with marine fossils.

No pesticides or herbicides are used in the vineyard. There we also find sheep, that ensure that the grass is kept down, and also contributing to the compost.

The grapes for this wine are xarel.lo from a vineyard planted around 1940. Harvested and selected by hand. Spontaneous fermentation. Aged in amphora.

Perill Blanc Amfora 2020 (Clos Lentiscus)

Golden colour, slightly turbid. Aroma of lemon peel, wax, and a volatile touch. Full in the mouth, saline, vibrant and vivid, with good acidity, and a touch of grapefruity bitterness in the end.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Nouveau novelty

Yesterday was that day again. The third Thursday of November I always await with excitement. I feel that nowadays the craze is gone, the hype is silenced, it’s not that many people who talk about it as before. But the wines are better than ever. Well, the best wines might not be equally “sensational” as in the past few years (that means, the ones I have tasted, a few favourite producers and some wines I think I ought to try), but the overall quality is superb. Even if the wines are lovely now, there are a few that will drink well throughout the whole of next year.

Credit: the producer

A novelty for me is the no sulfur added nouveau from Laurent Perrachon. I read that the producer is based outside Juliénas and harvests six appellations, among them Chénas, Fleurie and Saint Amour. Martine and Laurent are fifth generation, and the sixth is also involved in the family business. They claim to be the independant winemaker in Beaujolais with the most comprehensive list of crus. 

This nouveau originates from 3 hectares with gamay with an average age of 45 years, pruned in Gobelet (bush vines) in crystalline soils. The grapes were picked manually, before a semi-carbonic maceration for 4 days. Always in stainless steel vats. Total production is 8.000 bottles.

Beaujolais Nouveau Sans Sufre 2023 (Laurent Perrachon)

Dark red colour. The aromatics consist mainly of dark and wild fruits like blackberry, but also has some cherry and a component of strawberries, sweet flowers, and a balsamic note behind. It’s moderate on acidity, but compensates with a dense and generous fruit quality. It’s lightly structured with fine tannins, quite full on the palate, and good length with a fruity finish. A possible crowdpleaser.

Price: Medium

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