SPAIN
CASTILLA Y LEON including Bierzo and
Ribera del Duero
REINO
DE LOS MALLOS (Aragon/Murillo del Gallego)
This winery is in the village of Murillo del Gallego and takes its
name from the huge jutting rock formations of Aguero and Riglos, the Ňkingdom
of the mountainsÓ, the foothills of the Pyrenees. A bold, slightly sweaty,
blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Garnacha.
PIQUER
(Carinena/Muel)
From
Carinena, a sub-section of Aragon with its own Official Denomination (D.O), in
the foothills of the Pyrenees, we bring you an excellent, characterful red by
Manuel Piquer in hot, dry Muel. This old-vine
Grenache is made without a hint of oak to let the fruit shine through. Our shop
was overrun when Manuel visited The Winery with a posse of 14 family members
recently.
CHAPILLON
(Carinena/Muel)
Christophe Chapillon is the (surprisingly) French man who, while
working at Vinicola Real in Rioja, introduced us to our phenomenally popular
Spanish red ŇLeliaÓ. He recently sourced some old vine Syrah and Merlot, and
asked Manuel Piquer, the wine-maker of Lelia, to make it for him. Something of
a maverick businessman, Christophe now lives in Zaragoza with his Spanish wife
and is very pleased to have named this wine after himself.
The
old kingdom of Castilla y Leon provided a fertile hunting ground on our recent
trip to Spain. From the green, rainswept hills of
Bierzo on the Pilgrims Trail to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia to the much
hotter, dustier landscape of Ribera del Duero, the Duero valley 150kms due
north of Madrid, made famous by Vega Sicilia and Pesquera and often held to be
the source of the finest wines in Spain.
ALVIDES
(Ribera del Duero/Villalba de Duero)
Alvides
is a family Bodega. ConchaŐs father founded the Co-op in Aranda del Duero in
1962. They have 15 ha of vines, some between 60-80 years old, others between
15-30. Enter 33 year-old Emmanuel Ivar who studied winemaking in the Loire and
moved to Ribera del Duero. Known locally as Manuel, he has been making wine for
10 large estates in the area. Concha has given him free reign at Alvides to do
his own thing. Picked in 20kg baskets, some destemming, 2 or 3 days cold
maceration, 30-40 days on the skins. Every level of wine from Joven through
Crianza up to the Reserva are treated to some time in oak. Crianza and above
are fermented in barrique and there is much stirring of the lees. The results
are excellent – we find a high dark fruit content in the nose (with a
touch of vanilla – from the oak) and a fabulous suppleness in the mouth.
Truly a modern expression of Ribera del Duero.
ARCO DE CURIEL (Ribera del Duero/Curiel)
If you ask the Spanish which region makes their finest wine you will
often be surprised to hear it's not Rioja but Ribera del Duero (unless you are
actually in La Rioja, of course). Around 150kms north of Madrid, in the old
kingdom of Castille y Leon, between Valladolid and Zaragoza, Ribera del Duero
combines the deep, gutsy, sweaty tones we associate with Spanish reds with
silky elegance. Tempranillo is the grape - known as Tinto del Pais here.
We were delighted to discover Arco de Curiel, made in the shadow of the
rather large gateway into the rather small village of Curiel outside Pe–afiel. When we visited in June we were given the full tour of every
vineyard and a nearby cliff populated by vultures. This beautiful Roble is
bold, deep and gutsy. Rich, oaky, plummy and yet elegant and makes the perfect
match with the localsŐ favourite food – grilled spring lamb with green
salad and a hunk of bread. Yum.
FINCA
CARDABA (Castilla y Leon/Valtiendas)
There is an excellent
Asador in Aranda del Duero called El Pastor (The Shepherd). ItŐs the classic local
grill restaurant, where they do just one thing, roast spring lamb with salad
and a hunk of bread. Xavier Sancha has two jobs, one as lamb-roaster in the
family restaurant, the other overseeing his spanking new winery in the
otherwise rustic, cattle village of Valtiendas to the south, where he makes
more-ish, fleshy reds from Tempranillo vines by the house he shares with his
girlfriend Nurio.
DEMENCIA (Bierzo/Ponferrada)
Mencia is the name of the grape. An
old, indigenous variety being brought back to life by young winemakers in
northwest Spain. A total contrast to many other heavy Spanish reds, Mencia is
usually a crisp, fresh red with low tannins (thatŐs the tea-like mouth coating
sensation you experience with heavy, young, red wines).
Three young(-ish) men, each with day
jobs, making just 1,924 bottles of this very arty red wine in a garage in the
lush, green, rain-soaked and very hilly region of Bierzo on the PilgrimsŐ Trail
to Santiago de Compostela. Usually a very light, breezy red, in the right hands
it is tipped (by us) to become the Pinot Noir of northern Spain. Demencia
– of Mencia - demented, get it? They know theyŐre crazy.
SILVANO GARCIA
(Murcia/Jumilla)
Final
part of our previous trip was through the lunar landscape of Murcia (bottom
right of the Iberian Peninsula) to sniff out some Monastrell. Monastrell may or
may not be Mourvedre, expert opinion is divided. At its best it has exactly
what we were hoping for - recognisably sweaty overtones, like Bandol in
Provence.
The
small town of Jumilla was where we found it. 36 year-old Silvano Garcia bought
an old Co-op six years ago, knocked down everything beyond the concrete tanks
just behind the front wall and now he and his three employees rattle around in
an oversized Bodega. He makes exciting, deep, blackcurranty reds, with the
slightly sweaty thrill of the chase, and the unexpected bonus of two
outstanding sweet wines. Moscatel which bowled us over with its complexity and
a Monastrell Dulce, monstrous enough to beat any chocolate dessert into
submission!
World famous Rioja is 100km south of Bilbao and protected by
mountains on either side; the Sierra Cantabria to the East and the Sierra de la
Demanda to the West. It is divided into three subzones: Riojas Alta, Alavesa
and Baja. Most commercial Rioja is a blend from all three. Rioja Baja, with its
hotter continental climate was considered a bit rougher than Alta and Alavesa
with their maritime influence, relying more on Garnacha (Grenache) than
Tempranillo which was more prevalant in the Alta and Alavesa. This is no longer
the case. Many growers in Baja replanted to Tempranillo and the best are making
wines to equal their more rarified neighbours to the North West. We also
mustnŐt forget the other authorised grapes which also have a part to play in
the classic Rioja blend: Mazuelo (Carignan) for guts and body, and Graciano for
colour and elegance.
Rioja
has always been a political hothouse. It was the first region to establish its
own Denominacion de Origen, rigorously policed by the Consejo Regulador in
Logro–o. The current controversy is that the Basques are claiming the Rioja
Alavesa for themselves. Such is the power of the Consejo Regulador that they
have stated, yes, secede by all means, but you will no longer be able to call
your Alavesa wines Rioja. This leaves the Basques in a bit of a quandary!
BODEGAS ABEICA – LONGRANDE (Rioja Alta/Abalos)
Coming across Isabel FernandezŐs Longrande in the brilliant Casa
Toni restaurant in San Vicente de la Sonsierra was a revelation. We had to beg
to see her, largely to overcome her fear of export.
She is as full of personality as her wines. Fiery, energetic,
40-something Isabel started full time in the family bodega at the age of 25.
Both sides of her family had vineyards and she now has 35ha around the village
of Abalos in Rioja Alta over the road from the Alavesa. The small bodega, built
by her parents, is on three levels to make the best use of gravity. Grapes
(always picked by family members) are sorted in the vineyards, arrive in
baskets at the top level and placed directly into the tanks where they ferment
in whole clusters. Although they have owned three pneumatic presses in the last
13 years, Isabel says they almost invariably end up treading the fermenting
must by foot. A cool malolactic fermentation then takes place in tank and is
generally over by December. Isabel is at pains to keep the whole process as
natural as possible. No filtering, sometimes a little natural fining. She even
hermetically seals her subterranean barrel room with masking tape. She uses
only American oak, which she thinks suits her wines better, giving them a
little longer in barrel to compensate for the lighter effect of American rather
than French oak. Finally, she determines the bottling date biodynamically,
according to the cycles of the moon. Her wines are fascinating: perfumed, with
a beautiful purity of fruit and surprising body and structure. All her wines
benefit from an hour in a decanter.
HEREDAD PANGUA SODUPE (Rioja Alta/San Asensio)
When
we visited cigar-chomping,
Che Guevara look-alike Roberto Pangua Sodupe in
San Asensio, in the Rioja Alta last summer, we said yes to lunch after our
tasting. Little did we know it was going to involve the entire contents of the
local butcher's barbequed
over vine cuttings and would make us 4 hours late for
our next meeting. You only live once. It almost ended there and then. His family has worked the vines for as long as
anyone can remember, but it was time to go it alone – so he started the
Bodega in 1998. He uses mainly American oak, but has been experimenting with
Spanish, French, Hungarian oak, Acacia and Cherry. He told us that Cherry and
Chestnut were widely used in the area in the past. This is his young Rioja, the
Joven, made from 100% Tempranillo.
BODEGAS VINICOLA REAL (Rioja
Alta/Albelda de Iregua)
Rioja, SpainŐs most famous wine.
Made in a surprising range of styles. Some light and breezy, many oaky, some
deep and almost tobacco-like.
Miguel Angel is the energetic, moustachioed
owner and winemaker of this brilliant estate in the Rioja Alta. His 200 Monges
is an excellent balance of old and new. New, clean, winemaking techniques with
old values. The slightly sweaty nose of the Tempranillo grape with a saturated
core of dark, red fruit. When we visited him in June, he took us into the hills
above the village and showed us his gnarly, old windswept vines. Old vines make
good juice.