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Tag: Spain

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

Arizcuren’s Garnacha

Garnacha was once the main variety in the historic vineyards of the lower Rioja. This wine is a nod to this tradition. We are in the northern slopes of the Sierra de Yerga. Javier Arizcuren here works with some of the few old vineyards, in the Gobelet conduction system.

The wine seeks to be an expression of the both the variety and of the place where it grows, therefore no foreign products are used in the process (except a small amount of sulfur). The wood is used exclusively for thewine stabilization process, without being excessively marked.

The grapes were manually harvested, with grape selection in the field. De-stemming. Alcoholic fermentation with wild yeasts at around 25ºC. Daily stirring and pumping over, then only stirring. Malolactic fermentation in steel. 8 months in 225-litre American oak barrels (6th year) and an additional 2 months in new French oak barrels.Total SO2 is 50 mg/litre.

Solo Garnacha 2016 (Javier Arizcuren)

Dark cherry red. Youthful aroma of blackberry and cherry, a touch of coffee and sweet spice. Full in the mouth, rich with good weight and concentration, fine tannins, balanced acidity. Still young, and will improve.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Carefully crafted Caíño

Zarate is Eulogio Pomares‘ family winery in Meaño, Rías Baixas. Eulogio still makes the wines here, as he has done since the 2000 vintage. But in recent years he has also put a lot of effort into making wines under his own name.

This wine originates from a vineyard close to the sea, with alluvial granite and river stones and almost 80 year old vines. It was fermented in large traditional chestnut fudres with a further eight months on lees.

Carralcoba Caíño Tinto 2016 (Eulogio Pomares)

Cherry red. Cool red fruits (raspberry, cherry), spice (nutmeg). Juicy and delicate, but also with crunch, salinity and a savoury acidity. Maybe optimal drinking at the moment.

Price: Medium-high

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Wine of the Week

Picaresque Toro

El Pícaro is a young red wine from the D.O. Toro made with tinta de toro (tempranillo) grapes from vines between 50 and 70 years old. It’s made by Bodega Matsu that work by minimal intervention, in the field according to organic and biodynamic principles. Matsu, meaning to wait in Japanese, is a project originated by the Riojan company Vintae.

The harvest was carried out manually during the first half of October. Fermentation happened in concrete tanks at temperatures not exceeding 24ºC. Malolactic fermentation was done in French oak barrels. Then came a 3 month period in wood. Not filtered nor clarified.

The winemaking is done in the facilities that Matsu rents from the Covitoro cooperative.

El Pícaro 2022 (Matsu)

Deep red with blue hint. Aroma of mature fruits, dark (blackberry, blueberry), eucalyptus and coffee. Medium-bodied, young tannins, mineral, powerful but also with a nice acidity.

Price: Low

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Wine of the Week

Raro rufete

I have tasted two varietal rufete wines from Sierra de Salamanca, both from producer La Zorra (meaning: the fox) and both in the 2018 vintage. Ituero is an ambitious, well-made paraje wine from a paraje (single site) called Itu. Here I chose Raro as this week’s pick, a very fresh fruit-driven wine.

Owner Agustín Maíllo is one of several that is currently recovering the winemaking traditions in the area and its indigenous red grape rufete.

The name La Zorra is inspired by the fable The Fox and the Grapes, written by Félix María de Samaniego,. At first, Agustín planned to make wine just for the family restaurant, but the current production is 50,000 bottles. They grow 20 hectares of vines, seven are their own and located in and around Mogarraz. Bunches are destemmed and fermentation takes place with indigenous yeasts.

Raro 2018 (La Zorra)

Cherry red. Fresh, fruit-driven, smells of cherry, raspberry, herbs, some licorice, there is also an earthy note. Fruity in the mouth, with fine tannins, decent concentration and a fresh acidity.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Brilliant bobal

This brilliant varietal bobal from Manchuela is one of the finest that exists. The producer Bodegas Ponce is described in several posts, such as this one.

The grapes for Ponce‘s Pino come from a one hectare farm with 35 years old vines, planted at an altitude of 900 metres above sea level, cultivated organically. After a careful maceration and treading of the grapes, fermentation spontaneously in oak vats. Then it spends 11 months in used French oak barrels of 600 litres.

Pino 2021 (Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce)

Dark cherry red. Cool fruits, red and dark, herbs, a mineral component. Medium-bodied with concentrated flavours,, good acidity, expressive and energetic.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Goyo’s Valdeolmos 16

This is one of three single vineyard wines that Goyo García Viadero makes from centenarian vines. The three fincas are premium examples of the concept of terroir, that in many ways has been neglected in Ribera del Duero.

In the cellar all grapes are destemmed by hand, pressed gently, and fermentations are slow. in cold, ancient cellar. He uses very finely grained barrels from Bordeaux, most often taken over from Bodegas Valduero, where his sister is winemaker. Sulfur and other additives are never used. This results in honest and elegant wines with a strong sense of place that also fit any definition of natural wine.

Finco Valdeolmos has always dark fruits (blackberry), a touch of licorice; gentle tannins and some minerality.

Finca Valdeolmos 2016 (Goyo García Viadero)

Dark cherry. Ripe wild and red fruits (blackberry, cherry), sun-dried tomatoes, a touch of licorice. Compact fruit on the palate, fine tannins, integrated acidity. A youthful natural wine with many years ahead.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Ribera Rosé

This is a Ribera rosé with lots of character, from a classic winery that is steadily improving, or should we say: modernizing. This wine however has an inspiration from the rosés from earlier times. This can also be seen in the name and the label, porrón being the traditional drinking vessel.

It’s made from predominantly tempranillo (a small part is a historic field-blend). The grapes grow in east-facing plots at an altitude of 800-900 metres. The climate is continental with mediterranean features.

The cultivation is organic with biodynamic methods (Demeter certified). The grapes for this wine are harvested twice, the first one for freshness and the second -also relatively early- for more body. The first harvest undergoes a pre-fermentation maceration for 5 days, the second for 8 days. After a separate malolactic fermentation, the two wines are blended in February and continue their journey together in old barrels and concrete vats where they rest for 11 months. The wine is bottled without filtering, clarification nor addition of sulphur.

El Porrón de Lara 2021 (Peñalba López)

Garnet red. Fresh aroma, ripe red fruits (blueberry, cherry), flowers, earth, a balsamic note. Medium-bodied, juicy and savoury, silky tannins, red berries fruit, good concentration, mineral. Improves with air.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Great Garnacha from Rioja

Carlos Sánchez has a background from Sierra de Gredos (4 Monos). But he had early on fallen in love with the Sonsierra area of Rioja. And here he is. Since 2019 he has used the facilities of the former cooperative in Labastida.  

This is a wine from a single plot (0,3 ha.) in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, on 100% garnacha. It’s spontaneously fermented with a high percentage of whole bunches, and kept in large oak barrels. Not clarified nor filtered. A modest production of 1.700 bottles.

Buradón Las Plegarias 2020 (Carlos Sánchez)

Cherry red. Good ripe fruit, red plums, cherry, some strawberry, and a layer of dried herbs and lavender. Good volume, soft and fleshy, fine tannins, integrated acidity. It’s rooted in its landscape, yet has a noble air to it. Really good.

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