Category: ESPAÑA

Yes, it’s another of our ‘we stole some Spanish wine’ stories. 

Just had another bottle of this and felt the need to retell the story…

We first ran across the Tahon de Tobelos Rioja Reserva 2009 at a tasting sponsored by a new importing entity that was establishing a beachhead here in SoCal with a new distributor.  This was one of the standouts in what was an intriguing lineup with a lot of labels we had not seen before, as well as a few we knew well that had been off the market for a while.  A short time later, the representative for the company came by to follow up after the tasting and, to our surprise, this label was already being discontinued.

Introductory closeout!

Hey, things can run a little hot in Spain.  We get that.  Apparently the breaking point was not related to this wine, but another one from the same ownership that was not ‘a fit’ for this importer.  Ties were broken and everyone went their own way.  We have always made a joke of such happenings as being ‘introductory closeouts’.  But, as silly as that sounds, this is exactly that.  Hey, whatever makes the deal possible, and this one’s a beauty.

So who are these guys?  We found a piece from the Wine Advocate’s Luis Gutierrez on Tahon de Tobelos that encapsulates the story nicely, “I was pleasantly surprised by the wines from Tobelos, which are sought after by savvy drinkers in the famous tapas street, Calle Laurel in Logrono, (the capital city of Rioja) as they represent very good value. The winery is a very young operation, only created in 2001, their goal being to blend tradition and modernity. Today they own 10 hectares of vineyards averaging 30 years of age in the villages of San Vicente de la Sonsierra and Brinas…This is a new name to follow.”

That piece was written in December 2013, along with an enthusiastic review of the Tahon de Tobelos Rioja Reserva 2009, “The 2009 Tahon de Tobelos is pure Tempranillo from vineyards averaging 60 years of age with malolactic and aging for 14 months in new oak barrels of different origin, which is racked every four months, and is clearly an ambitious wine with the intensity and depth of the old vines. It’s still very young, with a big imprint from the aging in oak with notes of smoke, vanilla and chocolate covering the aromas of ripe blackberries and plums, with a meaty palate and some gritty tannins that should resolve with a couple of years in bottle. A clean, powerful Rioja that requires a bit of patience. Drink 2015-2020. 92 points.”

As we dug some more, we found a more recent review from Wine Spectator, a web-only review from 2016.  They liked it, too, commenting, “This bold red delivers blackberry, currant, cola and chocolate flavors, with light leafy and licorice notes that add a savory element. This is round but not heavy, with well-integrated tannins and balsamic acidity. Drink now through 2019. “ They laid a 93-point score on it and showed a retail of $37.

It was one of the highest-scored Riojas of the vintage, going toe-to-toe with, as you can see, the region’s best wines and the wine had, at the time, one of the lowest prices at that $37 retail vis-à-vis its pricier peers.

Now? Wow…

It is clear from the heavy bottle, long cork and intense flavor that this juice was not intended to sell for this kind of price.  This is big Rioja, with mouthfilling, oak-infused fruit and richness, sort of a modern-styled Senorio de San Vincente meets Muga Reserva.  It has the size, weight, and flashy fruit to play to fans of New World reds but the polish and flair to keep Rioja fans quite happy.

You’ll note we’re in the prime drinking window of both reviews (and we suspect it will live past 2020), so the ‘market’ has done the hard work for you.  Most important, due to this aforementioned disagreement, we have it at a crazy good price.  Looks can be deceiving, and this wine looks and tastes more expensive.  It was supposed to be.  But nobody has to know it only cost you $19.98.  It’ll be our little secret.

The Eye of the Chicken

Now for something completely different.  This is one of those cases where we have to explain what it is before we get into the specifics.  But it is unique things like this are what make the wine business interesting.  There are a lot of folks in this industry that think they can ‘reinvent the wheel’.  But once in a great while, it happens.  This is one of those times.

This wine comes from Jerez, Sherry country, from one of the elite houses in Valdespino.  But it is a completely new concept for anyone from the region and one of the more intriguing offerings from that part of the world that isn’t Sherry.  This sees no oak, spends no time under flor and is not fortified, which immediately separates it from most everything else that comes from here.  A brisk, appealing white in a fresh, unfettered style.

The folks at Valdespino decided they wanted to step out of their traditional realm to produce this dry white.  The winery  has been vinifying different parcels of the Macharnudo Vineyard to see which parcel would make the best unfortified still wine and they found it in the particular parcel named ‘Ojo de Gallo’, or ‘Eye of the Chicken’ literally translated.   This section is included in the top part of the vineyard, which is wholly owned by Valdespino.  The soil is pure chalk (albariza en Espanol) planted to 100% Palomino, the traditional grape of the region (along with the more dessert focused Pedor Ximenez).  The vinification is done with

The ‘sales sheet’ said ‘think Chablis from Cadiz’.  We’d actually lean a little more in the direction of super-Rueda with fine citrus, quince, and pear fruit, maybe a hint of roasted grain, sleek underlying chalky minerality, just the right pop of acidity, and a twinge of that sherry-like nuttiness without the corresponding oxidative note.  Bright, crisp, intriguing, there’s mid-palate volume and cut to the finish.  It’s cool and geeky, to be sure, but there’s plenty to appreciate on a hedonistic level as well with the Valdespino Palomino Fino Ojo de Gallo 2016.  As to what we would compare it to, there isn’t really anything quite like it though you probably figured that out from the back story.

 

 

 

VIDAL Y VIDAL VERDEJO 2015

The Vidal y Vidal Verdejo 2015 is a unique situation that presents this rather ubiquitous (in Spain) and often undistinguished varietal as a legitimate contender for your house white.  There are a lot of examples that are just plain and one-dimensional and others that, while they have fruit, can take on a rather ‘sweaty’ character.  Then there’s this one, which has fruit, complexity and vigor, a prototype Spanish white perfectly poised to sip along with a variety of foods.

What’s their secret?  How do they make something that stands above the crowd?  Well we’re going to take a wild guess that location has something to do with it.  The property is located in the area of Rueda in northern Spain called La Seca, outside the village of the same name.  ‘La Seca’, as a lot of Southern California natives who live among a lot of things with Spanish names, means ‘the dry’, an apt description for this high, arid plain next to Toro.

This particular spot is an old river bed strewn with the round stones similar to the gallet of the southern Rhone.  The underlying soils are sand and this 21-acre Finca El Alto sits at 2300 feet elevation.  The continental climate provides warm days and chilly nights, which helps maintain the brisk acidity that makes this wine ‘hum’.   So you’ve got the weather which proved long agoas uniquely suitable for this varietal and a very special, rocky spot within that micro-climate.  But then so do a lot of other bodegas.

It is our guess that what gives the Vidal y Vidal a couple of ‘extra gears’ over the rank and file, and kind of puts it in a class by itself relative to the genre, are the vines themselves.  These thick-trunked bush vines are over 80 years old and the yields are about 2-3 kilos per vine (that’s really low).  They are farmed sustainably and harvested by hand  in the early morning so the bunches get into the winery while they are still cool.  This provides the the opportunity for freshest flavors possible, brought forward by fermenting in small stainless steel tanks using only native yeasts.  The whole idea is to present a wine with soul and plenty of verve, and that they do like few others.

We liked last year’s version, a success given the general difficulty of the 2014 vintage.  But this 2015, from a ripe, very successful consecha for Spanish whites, has more flesh and evident fruit on top of its insistent verve.  Quince, apricot, maybe a little whiff of toasted grain, sleekly infused minerality and a brisk finish, this one can play alone but really comes alive with food.  A great warm weather choice and a deceptively attention-getting effort for this usually utilitarian genre….$16.98

SIERRA CANTABRIA RIOJA SELECCION 2014

SIERRA CANTABRIA RIOJA SELECCION 2014

Think of this as what we used to call a wine-of-the-month, though with the new ongoing format time is a lot less linear.  An amazing deal from Spain shouldn’t surprise us. We have been on our soapbox regarding the value of Spanish wines at a wide range of price points for, what, a couple of decades now? But this one certainly did! When the purveyor pulled the bottle out of the bag, the only thing we saw was Sierra Cantabria, one of the most trusted, go-to names for us in Rioja since we began selling their wines in the mid-90s.

The Eguren family have been one of the superstars of the region not only for their range of Sierra Cantabria wines, but also their Senorio de San Vicente project that focuses on an arcane variety of Tempranillo (called Tempranillo Peludo because the leaves have a unique ‘fuzzy’ surface) that typically works on the level of a Classified Growth Bordeaux. These same folks, along with importer Jorge Ordonez, sidled over to Toro and created Numanthia (which they later sold to LVMH) which helped redefine the region. They turned right around and started Teso la Monja essentially with the same concept as Numanthia as premium Toro red.

The Egurens, even though the family has been in Rioja since the 1870s, they are ‘movers and shakers’ in the region in the most modern way. Where do they fall stylistically? They do it all, making traditional Crianzas, Reservas and Gran Resevas, as well as wines reaching for a more modern sheen with the like of Finca Eel Bosco, Reserva Unica, El Puntido and Seleccion Privada outside the traditional ‘rules’. They make more than twenty different wines, including a more ‘mass market’ enterprise under the Dominio de Eguren label.

Given our knowledge of this winery’s broad lineup, we had no idea what to expect of this label that we couldn’t remember seeing before. We tasted it with no particular expectations in mind since these folks worked on many levels. Plenty of dark fruit (strawberry, plum, currant), vanilla highlights from what appeared to be some time in oak, fine purity of fruit, and the classic chocolate/earthy notes that are a part of Rioja terroir. ‘Pretty good stuff’, we thought, ‘a fine tipple in the upper teens.’

As it turned out, this was only the second release of this wine, and the price was under $10! Our shock was legitimate. Sourced from proprietary vineyards located in San Vicente de la Sonsierra and Laguardia, this wine was 100% de-stemmed and saw 6 months in tank and 6 months in a combination of 1-3 year old American and French Bordelaise barrels.

For the price point, it was a revelation! We have been complaining for quite a while that ‘value-priced’ wines have been tasting more and more homogenized and ‘messed with’. Far too many have the prevalent flavor of wood stays or oak chip ‘teabags’ meant to give the wine the ‘impression’ of more expensive winemaking, or leave residual sweetness in the wine to fill in some of the ‘cracks’. The flavors often lean more towards industrial chocolate cake frosting and candied fruit.

This one tastes like wine! Good wine! We can’t think of a more exciting thing to say than that in a wine world that seems to be intent on using wine-making tricks to gussy up marginal, ordinary juice (the ‘lipstick on a pig’ analogy comes to mind). The Egurens are giving you delightful, honest Rioja for the same kind of price.

Not only is this a $10 wine we would happily drink ourselves, it caught the attention of the usually-not-particularly-generous Josh Raynolds of Vinous, who remarked, “…Dark ruby. Ripe dark berries, candied flowers and a suggestion of woodsmoke on the perfumed nose. Pliant and expansive in the mouth, offering bitter cherry, cassis and peppery spice flavors that become sweeter on the back half. Finishes on a juicy dark berry note, showing very good persistence, gentle tannins and lingering spice and floral notes…90 Points.”  A 90 from Josh on a wine in this price range is a rare occurence.

The Egurens know their business, but something tasty, honest, and inexpensive is the hardest thing to do in wine. Bravo. House red, party red, something that delivers in a way few $10 wines can (and, sadly, a whole lot of $15-20 wines as well), this is one to buy by the case…$9.98

PAGO DE LOS CAPELLANES RIBERA DEL DUERO JOVEN 2015

PAGO DE LOS CAPELLANES RIBERA DEL DUERO JOVEN 2015

Darned if a couple of days before the Jan 31-Feb 28 Wine Spectator showed up, the latest version of the Tinto Joven from Pago de los Capellanes (2015) hit the floor.  What was interesting was that, in an article titled “Editor’s Picks: 30 Wineries to Trust”, one of the 30 was Capellanes.  Actually we, and you, learned to ‘trust’ these guys a long time ago.  If memory serves we started what has been a long relationship with this bodega with the 1998 Joven, and sold their wines for years before Spectator, or anybody else, talked about them at all.

There have been some grand versions over the years, particularly at the Crianza and Reserva levels.  But we can’t wait to see what those are like in 2015 because this Joven is more exciting than any of this Joven series that we have tasted since the beginning.  It’s that darned 2015 vintage again we suspect.  The gushing fruit, telltale juiciness, and gregarious flavors really put this rendition on another level.

The ‘jovens’, for those not familiar with the nomenclature, are a wineries entry level bottling, usually the first to market with a minimum of barrel time  (or in some cases ‘none’).  This one is 100% Tempranillo from the winery’s proerty in the Pederosa del Duero subsection.  The soils here are chalk and clay which infuses all of their wines with a distinctive underpinning of minerality.  The fruit component usually ranges from dark cherry to plum and, only in very special vintages, reaches into the blue fruit profiles.  Sometimes these can be a little reticent out of the gate, typical of Tempranillo in its youth.  But this one already has a juicy demeanor and shows off a surprisingly lush fruit core.  It’s only going to get better.

They polish this one in new French oak for five months to smooth the edges and infuse a little vanilla highlight.  This is way too easy to drink and one heck of an all-purpose mouthful for this kind of tab.  This Joven will be a real eye-opener for those that are trying Capellanes for the first time, like that ’98 was for us so many years ago, only better.  A lot of you already know the house, and the 2015 is mas delicioso. . . $16.98