We had this wine at the Pura Cepa restaurant in Murcia. It was chosen from a quite extensive by the glass menu to go with a savoury turbot dish.
The Pura Cepa restaurant in Murcia
The Lagar de Sabaríz winery is located in San Amaro in Ourense, Galicia, that is just outside the boundaries of the DO Ribeiro. The founder Pilar Higuero works her vineyards biodynamically, though the climate is heavily influenced by the Atlantic and has high yearly rainfall.
The vineyard covers four hectares, at 400 metres above sea level, high for Ribeiro. The soil is granitic, which is typical for the area.
A Pita Cega is the Galician name for a children’s game. The varieties are mainly treixadura and albariño, with a collection of other grapes.
Grape bunches are pressed with stems and the must ferments with natural yeasts. The wine doesn’t undergo malolactic fermentation and there is no bâtonnage. It ages for 1 year in stainless steel, and a little sulphur dioxide is added before bottling.
The bottles weigh less than 400 g. And they bear no labels, as Pilar herself paints every bottle by hand. The corks come from protected forests.
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A Pita Cega 2015 (Lagar de Sabariz)
Pale cold yellow colour. Fresh aroma of apricot, citrus (baked lemon), pears and white flowers, towards a flinty background. In the mouth it’s fresh with a granitic minerality, with a lot of nerve, and with a slightly bitter and pleasant, long aftertaste. This is outstanding quality, The freshness is impressive for a wine of this age, and it should have many years ahead.
It’s always a pleasure to come back to La Gracia natural wine bar in the centre of Murcia. They have a small but carefully crafted selection of wines. And I know I can trust sommelier Esperanza Pérez and let her just chose something.
This Christmas and New Year I visited twice. Though the temperature was quite low we chose to sit outside, so the descriptions might suffer a bit. I had two wines that I have described before. You can read about the local Negrete 2021 (Negre- T Blue) here and Navaciegos (Cható Gañán), Gredos here. Sorry, I didn’t get the vintage of the latter, but it was probably 2019.
Here follow two wines that both were perfect for a cold winter’s afternoon, with 15 and 14,5% alcohol respectively.
Ninja de las Uvas 2022 is made by Julia Casado, or La del Terreno, as she calls her project. It’s located in the Sierra de Lavia regional park in Murcia, and the wine comes under the designation DO Bullas. We are in monastrell country, but this wine is in fact made of garnacha tinta. It’s made with grapes from 20 year old vines planted in clay and calcareous gravel soil at 750 metres above sea level and tended organically. The grapes are 90% destemmed and macerated for 15 days, with malolactic fermentation in used barrels. Bottled without being filtered, clarified or adding sulphur. It’s a unique wine with some warmth, but with a lovely fruit quality (morello, plums), complemented by aromatic herbs and coffee. It fills the mouth with its roundness and is perfect in the cold Murcian winter.
Ars Nova 2016 is from Navarra, made by Bodega Tandem, that is José Maria Fraile and Alicia Eyaralar. They are committed to little intervention. The grapes are cultivated in the Yerri valley, in western Navarra, that is, as sommelier Esperanza points out, close to Rioja Alavesa.
It’s made of Navarra’s trilogy of grapes, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and tempranillo. Fermentation took place at controlled temperatures of 28°C, with a careful extraction. Pumps were not used, instead, the wine was racked by gravity into concrete vats. The wine was not cold stabilised or fined. It spent 24 months in concrete vats, followed by nine months in French oak. Super black fruit, with olive and spice. It’s full in the mouth, with nice concentration. Perfect for this kind of setting.
Raventós i Blanc is one of the leading producers of sparkling wine in Catalunya. Pepe Raventós has family links to the creator of the drink that came to be called cava. Still he was one of the first to leave the DO Cava, to establish his own appellation Conca del Riu Anoia. It is located in the Penedés comarca (area), in a valley between the Prelitoral and Litoral mountain ranges.
Raventós i Blanc makes mineral and saline wines, at a quality that is incredibly stable. I have never been disappointed.
De la Finca comes from a vineyard known as Vinya dels Fòssils. The old bush-trained vines were planted in 1964 on the highest terraces of the Anoia, on a soil covered with marine fossils. The orientation is predominantly northern, and there is spontaneous plant covers, that contribute to bring freshness to the wine. Viticulture is biodynamic. The grapes are the traditional blend xarel.lo, macabeu and parellada. Each variety and soil is vinified separately before settling together.
De La Finca 2021 (Raventós i Blanc)
Light straw yellow with fine bubbles. Aromas of lemon, yeast, lime and brioche, over a layer of smoke and herbs. Mineral in the mouth, a little austere, with a fresh acidity, completely dry. It’s Mediterranean in its ripeness, but it also shows a fresh side. Wonderfully balanced.
El Tiempo que nos une is one of the entry-level reds from Bodega Cerrón. They regard it as a tribute to family viticultural work. In fact it’s a Jumilla wine that don’t come from Murcia, as the winegrowing area also comprises a part of Albacete (Castilla-La Mancha).
Bodega Cerrón is a family project located in Fuente-Álamo, in Albacete. They are dedicated to recovering abandoned vineyards through organic and biodynamic practices and producing wines with a good balance between acidity, alcohol and fruit.
El Tiempo que nos une comes from pre-phylloxera vineyards with an average age of 70 years. They are old vines planted in mostly calcareous soils at an altitude of about 900 meters above sea level. Organic farming is carried out, and harvest is manual.
In the winery it undergoes spontaneous fermentation with 50% whole grapes in cement tanks, and after gentle pressing, the wine ages in foudres for 6 months.
El Tiempo Que Nos Une 2023(Bodega Cerrón)
Dark cherry red. Aromas of ripe black fruit, spice and white flowers. Decent concentration. Fresh and juicy in the mouth, balsamic, medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins. Typically Mediterranean and a good representative of its origin.
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 enjoyed 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.
