Some Interesting Spanish Treasures

Hey Everybody,

I apologise for the long gap spanning between the last two posts; a fortnight in the world of blogging is kind of an eternity, I know.  I thought I'd fill you in on what I've been doing, aside from spending large parts of this weekend immensely humbled by a smacking from the dueling glove of inconvenient illness.  Having now triumphed I can reflect on the past week of wonder.  In my last post I was remarking on the unbearable generosity of Champagne Bollinger in their thorough hospitality during our visit to Paris and Ay.  Today I must say the same for a champagne house to which I have long been beholden.

Pol Roger, of Epernay is a producer of Champagne which taught me for the first time that I actually enjoyed fizzy wine.  Without the sex-appeal of Bollinger (being of course the fizz of James Bond), Pol often slips comparatively under the radar, yet, it is truly a great champagne.  I am definitely looking forward to the 2002 with massive anticipation!  So before I get on with this post, I must give a hearty thanks to Pol Roger for their hospitality and their encouragement over the years in the competition they've hosted.  They are the company which has stoked my passion for wine, and the reason I have devoted much time over the past year along with my colleagues on the tasting team.  The end result was a well-earned victory against our friends (and usual victors) at Edinburgh.  Thank you Pol!

Now, onto my topic of the day.  I am often banging on about my passion for the wines of the south of France and from the lesser-known regions of places like Bergerac, Jura and the Languedoc-Rousillon.  I believe that they offer the drinker an affordable, unrestrained and classic example of French wine that is delightfully unaware of itself, and is just simply good wine to drink.  I thought to myself this past week, if this principle applies to France, with Bordeaux and Burgundy being the prohibitively expensive regions for wine, why then could it not apply to other countries?  The most famous wine-producing regions in countries like Australia and South Africa (I.E. Barossa and Stellenbosch) produce not only the finest examples of their nations wine, but also the cheapest bin-enders.  What I am looking for is a European equivalent... A country with a famous heartland, or two, and a patchwork of under-appreciated regional gems.

I found it in Spain.  With a region bearing so sonorous a name as Rioja, inseparable as it is from wine, many drinkers barely think of Spanish wine as being anything but Rioja.  Granted, there are emerging regions and wines from Catalunya and Galicia are being recognised for their own unique qualities, but there are so many small regions to look to for interesting, exciting wines.  

Jumilla, with it's old fashioned approach to the grape Monastrell (pron. monastrey) produces a deep inky black and tannic expression which is somewhat reminiscent of Bandol in Provence.  True enough, in this country of misleading grape synonyms, Monastrell and Mourvedre, of Bandol fame is one and the same grape.  Some believe that the grape originated in this region of Spain, where it has been widely planted for over 400 years.  Two wins in particular have frequently crossed my radar form this region, the popular 'Las Hermanas' with it's 70-30 blend of Monastrell and Syrah is incredibly easy to enjoy, and more recently the Luzon Verde Organic varietal Monastrell.  The latter is more interesting for me, to see a quality example of Monastrell acting on it's own outside of France.  Both, as a regional wine should be, are pretty darn cheap for the quality of the wine.

Further north, in the uplands around the towns of Zamora and Toro, is the wine region named for the latter.  A rapidly expanding wine town, Toro is to Rioja what Bergerac is to Bordeaux.  Perhaps less restrained, less elegant, but it's full-blooded wines are instantly appealing, bold expressions of the Tinto de Toro grape (local Tempranillo).  Though slightly more expensive than some of the cheaper Rioja wines, the delights of Toro wine are tough to match if you're looking for a big, warming red to go with some northern Spanish dishes like Wild Boar or mutton.

There are countless wine regions dotted around Spain, and to list them all and do them justice would require a well thought-out and carefully planned book or series of books.  Just to name a few, there is always Navarra, Somontano, Valencia and so many more which offer great wines that have not yet found their way in quantity onto our shelves.  I can only hope that they do.  What I see is that eventually the regional wines of Spain will follow the regional French wines in becoming interesting, carefully made alternatives to the big names we already know.

Much Love,

G

Taste of the Place

Hey Everyone,

My favourite thing about wine is always its ability to express a region.  My favourite advertising campaign, for sheer irony's sake, is Anakena saying that their wine is an expression of the people.  If so, it does not bode well for the people of Chile.  Fortunately, there are better wines from the narrow stretch of land between the Andes and the sea.  That said, they are right that a wine should be an expression of people, but it should also be an expression of the place.  Though I usually disregard the notion of "Old World/ New World" distinctions, there is one consistency which I find appealing and that is the expression of soil found in Old World wines.

Chateau Palmer 1998 Margaux

This all came on me as I am trying to revisit those classic regions which I tend to neglect in my pursuit of finding new wines from interesting parts of the world.  I recently had a beautiful bottle of Mercurey (Red Burgundy) which tickled my fancy as being a true classic of it's appellation.  Big juicy raspberry fruits, plenty of bracing acidity and a hint of tannin all made for a complete wine which I feel truly expresses the character of this very specific region of Burgundy.

While I was in Champagne last weekend, visiting the premises of Bollinger in Ay, I was allowed to try some truly beautiful wines made to express the soil and the atmosphere around the vines.  The environment which sustains and gives life to the vines should be present in the final bottle of wine and no country more so than France shows this in the glass.  The house's own wines, in particular the more recent vintage, the Grande Année 2002, showed a beautiful character of chalky texture and aroma which is just so definitive of the Champagne region alongside the hints of green pepper and bright green fruit which makes young vintage champagne just so quaffable.

During the competition we were once charged with the identification of three red wines.  We were provided with the context that one wine was French and the others should be identified with their appropriate regions.  Upon smelling these wines, the three presented very different styles, but the first and the third wines gave themselves away.  The third, clearly a jammy Australian Shiraz, told no lies.  It was open with it's fruit and it's deep blueberry body.  The first one, smelling of a bit of cracked black pepper and a lot of a maritime breeze jumped forward as a classic Syrah form the Northern Rhone.  Though we guessed Crozes-Hermitage and it turned out to be the appellation down the road at Saint Joseph, we knew exactly why we selected France as it's country of origin.

St. Andrew's Tasting Team at Bollinger

In the Northern Rhone Valley, the most striking character of the wines, which sets them apart from 'New World' Shiraz/ Syrah is that lovely elegant aroma and texture given by the dusty, rocky soil.  The effect of this so-called 'minerality is the sensation of tasting a smooth river-stone in your mouth.  While that may not sound great in writing, it is genuinely a pleasing characteristic in a quality red wine.  In this particular wine, it was a thing of beauty.

In the tie breaking final round, the red which was presented to us, a Chateau Palmer 1998 from Margaux in Bordeaux, leapt forward as a bottle of minerality.  Though I personally thought it to be a Cabernet Franc/ Merlot blend from Saint-Emilion on the other side of the Gironde, it's stoney texture and smoothly slate-like tannins were definitely a mark made upon the wine by the soil.  While this is a supremely expensive bottle of wine, you can f course get ahold of some lovely wines with the expression of the soil in the glass.  Check out my earlier post on a nice affordable Crozes-Hermitage form Paul Jaboulet-Aîné.  Similarly, Chablis is a good place to start for picking out the chalky wonders possible in a good Chardonnay.

Basically I love the idea of being able to experience a place in the wine.  When you are unable to go to taste a wine in the region of it's production and smell all the aromas of the vineyard, the next best thing is to taste it in the glass.  I hope you all get the chance to try out something unique, which celebrates it's place of origin.

Much Love,

G