SPAIN

 

CASTILLE Y LEON

 

RIBERA DEL DUERO

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). Just over 100kms north of Madrid, around Valladolid, Ribera del Duero combines the deep, gutsy, sweaty tones we associate with Spanish reds with silky elegance.

 

ALVIDES

French winemaker Emmanuel Ivar, known locally as Manuel, went “native” almost 20 years ago and makes the wine at Alvides in Aranda del Duero. With plenty of old vines at his disposal, he makes modern, supple wines with dark fruit in the nose.

 

red
	Joven Robles	2006	9.99
	Crianza	2004	15.99
	Vendimia Seleccionada	2003	21.99

 

RUEDA

 

VIÑEDOS DE NIEVA

The high, flat plains north-west of Segovia are home to Viñedos de Nieva. Mother and her three sons run the gleaming Bodega making crisp, zingy Rueda whites - Sauvignon Blanc and the local speciality Verdejo (known as Verdelho elsewhere).

 

white
	Blanco Nieva Verdejo	2007	9.99
	Sauvignon Blanc	2007	10.99
	Blanco Nieva Pie Franco Verdejo	2007	14.99
	Blanco Nieva Fermentado en Barrica Verdejo	2006	17.99

 

 

LA RIOJA

 

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 mustn’t 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 Logroño. 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!

 

RIOJA ALTA

 

ABEICA - LONGRANDE

Coming across Isabel Fernandez’s Longrande in a restaurant in Rioja Alta 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 bio-dynamically, 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.

 

red
	Longrande Rioja Crianza	2004	10.99
	Longrande Rioja Reserva	2001	13.99

 

 

ARAGON

 

REINO DE LOS MALLOS

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 “kingdom of the mountains”, the foothills of the Pyrenees. A bold, slightly sweaty, blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Garnacha.

 

red
	Reino De Los Mallos Tinto	2004	13.99

 

CARIÑENA

A sub-section of Aragon with its own Official Denomination (D.O).

 

PIQUER

From 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 over-run when Manuel visited The Winery with a posse of 14 family members recently.

 

red
	Lelia Garnacha	2006	5.99

 

CHAPILLON

Christophe Chapillon is the (surprisingly) French man who, while working at 200 Monges in Rioja, introduced us to our phenomenally popular Spanish red “Lelia”. 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.

 

red
	Chapillon Syrah/Merlot	2005	7.99

 

 

GALICIA

VALDEORRAS

 

ALAN DE VAL

In the incredibly remote region of Valdeorras (“GoldenValley”) we found Joaquin Sanchez's tiny Alan de Val winery. Essentially a shed and a garage behind his house. It didn't look far from the motorway on the map, but our route took us on a long, twisting road through the wilderness before we came to the winery - we're glad we persevered. Godello is the fast up-and-coming grape in Galicia, keen to steal the limelight from better-known Albariño and Joaquin makes a nutty, briney wine with hints of melon and honey.

 

white
	Godello	2005	9.99

 

 

A note about the quality levels

These apply to most of the key regions in Spain and are policed vigorously by the Consejo Regulador (regulatory council) in each region who control the Denominacion de Origen (DO) or, in Rioja, the Denominacion de Origen Calificada (DOCa).

 

Red wines:

Joven are young wines released in the year after harvest.

Occasionally a producer may give a Joven some time in oak - these wines may be called Roble (oak) or (with a little longer still in oak) Semi-Crianza.

 

Crianza means “raising” or “rearing” and to qualify in Rioja and Ribera del Duero the wine must spend at least 12 months in oak (six months minimum elsewhere) and a further year ageing in tank or bottle.

 

Reserva are reserve wines that must be aged for three years before release. At least one year in barrel and one in bottle, the remainder in tank.

 

Gran Reserva is only made in the best years with the best grapes and has to spend a minimum of 2 years in barrel and 3 years in bottle.

 

White wines:

Whites appear mainly in Joven form, occasionally Crianza and, very rarely, Reserva.

A Crianza may be released with six months in oak and six in bottle, a Reserva with six in oak and twelve in bottle.