JOE GO TO SPAIN: Part 1 - How does a food and wine trade mission work?

I pondered this very question in the time leading up to my recent trip to Spain. As well as several others: How many stateside colleagues would be present? How many producers would I be meeting with, and would any of them have decent product to sell? Who pays for all of this? Besides the round trip ticket and hotel accomodations for 4 nights, would the time spent be worthwhile?

As it turns out, we were 10 Americans, a few importer reps, a few distributor reps, and a few retailers, spanning the continental United States from Philadelphia to Seattle. I met with 6 producers a day for two days, inside a room at the Chamber of Commerce in Terrassa. Many of us met with the same producers, sort of what I imagine speed dating to be like except the participants are wine producers/export directors/brokers on one hand and importers/distributor reps and retailers on the other. And instead of 5 minutes we generally had an hour per appointment.

From what I understand, such missions are paid for by the local chamber with some significant subsidies from the regional (in this case the Catalunyan) government as well as the EU. If I heard correctly, each winery representative needs to pay 80 euros to participate, along with 50 euros for each meeting. So to schedule a full day's worth of meetings would run about 380 euros or approximately $500 US. Not exactly cheap, but I suppose worth the cost if a good importer is found and a lasting business relationship forged.

And the wines? If you're thinking to yourself, that if you need to go and spend money to find yourself an importer, your wines probably are not very good or interesting, then in most cases you would be correct. That having been said, there is always a need for commercial wines, available in commercial quantities, which are drinkable and relatively inexpensive. I came here seeking cava, and now I have at least a couple of possibilities to work with. Additionally, there were some hand made wines, produced in smaller quantities, which were quite good. One producer boasted some terrific pansal blanca (a variation of the xarel-lo grape grown in the Alella D.O, north of Barcelona.) Usually xarel-lo is picked green and way underripe for cava and even white wine production, though this wine was round, harmonious, mouthfilling and full of delicious fruit, with a silken texture. It reminded me of Chenin. This same producer made a red wine from an indigenous Catalunyan varietal called sumoll. It was intensely dark fruited and wild, while still retaining its acidity in the warm Mediterranean climate. Might be a good bet for production in California.

Also, a Priorat producer neighboring Clos Erasmus and Val Llach had wines to sell that were actually priced reasonably, not overoaked, and produced from organically cultivated grapes.

So yes, some new discoveries were made, and the time spent in Terrassa was worthwhile.

Next up: Cava history and cava production at Raventos i Blanc.

Challonge!

For some reason, I found myself referencing this classic scene from one of TV's most popular series last night.

Enjoy.

Your Boy is Back!

Sorry to be quoting M. Shawn Carter. But it's true. I'm back, ready to report on the big Spain adventure of Spring 2010. I was going to put together a hasty "Best of" list, but no time for even that this morning. You can look forward to todo el reportaje next week. Until then, que os paseis bien.

Un saludo,

Josep 'Pep' Manekin

Terrassa, Spain

Here I am, at the computer of the Hotel Vapor Gran, the "Great Vapor," the very best business hotel in Terrassa, Spain. As I may have mentioned earlier, La Cambra de Terrassa is generously supporting this business wine trip junket. Today, after a heartfelt, teleprompter style (just with typed remarks on paper subbing for the screen) heavily accented reading of opening remarks from one of the Chamber´s veeps, we were off to meet with many different wine producers representing the Penedes, Terra Alta and Costers del Segre regions. Filtered, heavily sulphured, correct yet anonymous, large (make that, HUGE) production wines were poured, one after the next. There were a few great values. Though I will yet again lose wine cool points for saying so, some of my favorites were the cheapest: wines made in very large quantities from primarily garnacha (for the reds) and garnacha blanca (white) grapes. Wines fermented with selected yeasts and lightly filtered prior to bottling. For just a few euros ex-cellar they are well worth the cost. Also, the young enologist who presented these wines was very well informed about the wine´s production process. No bullshit, just honest answers and explanations. Might see these in a K&L store or website at some point.

Apart from the day´s meetings and the disappointing, lackluster performance that led to the Barça defeat at the hands of the Milanese, the clear highlight so far has been linking up with Gabriella Opaz of Catavino fame. She lives in Terrassa and told me all about it: the city´s construction boom over the last 4 years, the discovery of dinosaur bones and ensuing delay of the construction of the Metro station, and the annual jazz fest that is Spain´s best. Definitely owe a huge "gracias" to Gabriella for meeting me and adding such valuable local perspective my first night staying in Terrassa.

Tomorrow, more junket. Friday, Raventos i Blanc. Saturday, natural wines at Vega de Ribes and Mendall. Sunday, hanging out with the Peciñas in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, Rioja. Then more Rioja next week. Just so you know what to expect in the days ahead, or what to skip out on if you prefer when I write about non-Spanish stuff.

Hasta pronto, queridos lectores....

Lopez de Heredia Vertical

Last Thursday a colleague and I headed up from Redwood City to Heart, a new wine bar/art gallery/eatery in the Mission for what amounted to a very cool line-up of wines, some very old, from Lopez de Heredia. For those who are not wine inclined, or others who are and do not read Eric Asimov's excellent blog, then all you need to know about Lopez de Heredia is the following: It is an estate in Rioja, in the north of Spain about an hour's drive south of San Sebastian, making wines in an uber traditional way. That means that their fermenters are very old and made of wood, they do not add anything in the winemaking proces other than egg whites for fining, and they let the wines age in seasoned American oak, then in bottle, for a very, very long time. Their current release rosé in the US market is the 1998. Their current release "younger" white, the Viña Gravonia, is from the 2000 vintage. They own all their own vineyards (a rarity in Rioja) and continue to cultivate their vineyards carefully and as naturally as possible. In the words of British wine writer Julian Jeffs, "This is the home of really old, traditional Rioja."

There are very few wineries anywhere in the world which continue to produce wines in more or less the same fashion as each generation which preceded the current one. To me, this is part of the charm of Lopez de Heredia wines. One is tempted to imagine that their wines from the 1920's, whenever they were released, tasted very similar to how their modern day counterparts taste. How many other estates conjure up a taste of what likely came before in such a way?

While it was terrific to see the current releases (there are some beauties there), the real fascination of last week's tasting was tasting some older wines. 1957 Viña Tondonia Blanco Gran Reserva- still good? 1954 Viña Bosconia Gran Reserva? Read below for some quickly formed impressions on some very slowly elaborated, truly original wines.

WHITES FIRST

Great Bosconia and great Tondonia reds are, well, really good wines. It is the whites, however, that are truly unique and without comparison in the world of wine. Lopez de Heredia always took great pride in their whites, which historically was the favored wine of royalty, nobility and the like (save the red for the peasants!) The tradition continues to this day with one of the most unusual and stellar line-ups of white wines around.

2000 Lopez de Heredia Viña Gravonia Crianza Rioja

100% Viura grapes. From the Gravonia (gravelly) vineyard. Cooler micro-climate. This shows the tell-tale yellow stone fruit with gutsy acidity and subtle hints of spice and sweetness from American oak. This vintage is more generous than the 1999, richer, but still with good cut and acidity. I wonder why people drink white Graves when they can drink Gravonia.

1991 Lopez de Hereida Viña Tondonia Blanco Reserva Rioja

85% Viura, 15% Malvasia. There is more weight on the palate, as well as greater depth of flavor and hints of marzipan. This 19 year old white is still young and will age nicely.

1973 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Blanco Gran Reserva Rioja

Same blend as above. This shows the most mature of the line-up, with a certain savory, woodsy and slightly herbal quality. Still a really interesting white that happens to sacrifice a bit of the typical youthful quality of these wines for some bottle aged complexity.

1957 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Blanco Gran Reserva

Amazing, and unbelievably young tasting. These gran reserva wines are as much about youthful and bright flavors as they are about the velvety mouth feel and texture. This is one of the most singular wines of any type that I have ever tasted. 53 years old and so tasty! A treasure.

ROSADO

1998 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Rosado Gran Reserva

Unfortunately, this did not taste like the most representative bottle of this delicious wine, a gran reserva rosado and the only long aged rosé of its type produced in Rioja. I meant to mention something, but the allure of other LdH wines left to explore distracted me from doing so.

REDS

2004 Lopez de Heredia Viña Cubillo Crianza Rioja

65% Tempranillo, 25% Garnacha, 5% mazuelo, 5% graciano. Shows the muscle and structure of the vintage. This is the best young Cubillo (make that Cubillo of any age, as I have yet to lay down any for aging purposes) I have ever tasted. Intense, mineral, structured fruit with a stern edge and some years of improvement ahead of it.

2002 Lopez de Heredia Viña Bosconia Reserva Rioja

80% Tempranillo, 15% garnacha, 3% mazuelo, 2% graciano. A lighter vintage in Rioja, and it reflects in this particular wine. Very direct, with pretty red fruits that are not particularly intense, expansive, or long lasting in the mouth. Not a Bosconia to forget about for too long in the cellar.

2000 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Reserva Rioja

75% tempranillo, 15% garnacha, 5% mazuelo, 5% graciano. María José Lopez de Heredia has a saying: When it comes to her wines, either you're a Bosconian or a Tondonian. I generally prefer, ever so slightly, the nervier, more high toned and mineral Bosconia wines. That having been said, this 2000 Tondonia is a stunner. It's showing great right now, with amazing depth and intensity to the darker fruit flavors. Minerality, check. Balanced, but still youthful tannins that don't bite back, check. This is a wine to keep for a while, to be sure. It's delicious now, though I suspect that it will be wonderful at 20 years old.

1991 Lopez de Heredia Viña Bosconia Gran Reserva Rioja
1991 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva Rioja

What a great contrast between these two current release Gran Reserva wines, and a classic Bosconia vs Tondonia comparison at that. The Bosconia, more mineral, Burgundian and hauntingly beautiful. Tondonia, deeper and more intense on the mid-palate. Tondonia like this one brings to mind traditional claret, subtle yet authoritative, elegant and balanced. It makes me attempt to write like an English wine critic.

1978 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva Rioja

This bottle lacked focus and seemed to be getting a bit tired. Perhaps not a great bottle, though I had a similarly underwhelming experience a couple years back, now that I think of it.

1954 Lopez de Heredia Viña Bosconia Gran Reserva Rioja

Not the killer wine I was hoping for, but still alive and quite interesting. The fruit was still hanging in there and there was a bit of a dank, musty cellar quality. Not TCA, just damp, dank cellar. It's worth clarifying the difference. Anyway, not my favorite but fun to try.

Thank you to María José, as well as to Hiram Simon and Brian Greenwood of Winewise, Lopez de Heredia's California distributor, for offering such an incredible opportunity to taste so many Lopez de Heredia wines at once.

Jay Miller and I will both be in Rioja the same week

One of my favorite wine traditionalists from anywhere, María José Lopez de Heredia, recently informed me at a tasting of her family's wines at Heart in La Mission, San Francisco, that The Wine Advocate's own Jay Miller will be in Rioja around the same time I will be. Might our paths cross? Is there a Baltimore wine reunion in the works here? I'm not sure what to make of this other than the fact that the wine industry is so fucking small, a fact proven to me over and over again the past six and a half years I have been involved in selling wine. In fact, there was a time when I used to sell wine to Jay Miller when he was part owner of a Baltimore wine shop.

It's a small world.

Three recent purchases I'm excited about

2005 G.D. Vajra Barolo Albe

I don't remember this being particularly mind blowing, wine world view altering or anything like that. Just effortlessly balanced, ripe yet delicious, representative young Barolo. One for now, 6 for later.

2001 Bodegas Casa Juan Señor de Lesmos Crianza Rioja

I've said it before and I'll likely say it again, dozens (if not hundreds) of times. I do tend to repeat myself. Good traditional crianza style Rioja is 10 year (from vintage) wine and in this case longer than that. Not bad for $15. In fact, very good wine, without price qualifiers. I really am looking forward to visiting this estate in May.

Jolly Pumpkin (4 assorted bottlings straight outta Dexter, Michigan)

Without the aid of the internet, is there anyone out there with some Michigan experience who can talk to me about what's going on in and around Dexter? Besides the best spontaneously fermented beer in America, that is? More on these beers later, likely later this week.