It was another wine filled evening last night at Terroir with a few 31 Days of Natural Wine contributors, 31 Days planner Cory Cartwright, Spanish importer José Pastor and assorted other fans of the fermented grapes of the world all in the house. We enjoyed a good variety of wines, some of them humble and tasty, others of fancier pedigree and unmistakable quality. Here's a rundown:
Equipo Navazos La Bota de Fino No. 15
I've been meaning to try one of Equipo Navazos' sherries for a while now, and thanks to José Pastor I had the opportunity to do so last night. Likening it to the Jacques Selosse Cuvee Substance of the sherry world, José explained to me how this is a negociant selection of a few of the finest barrels (averaging 10 years of age) of Valdespino Fino. It is bottled unfiltered, a rarity in Jerez. Think of your favorite fino. Intensify and amplify the unmistakable sea salt, nuts and fruit aromas. Add a significant amount of weight, richness and texture to the palate, but do no subtract any of the grace and elegance which typify good Fino. There you have it, my new favorite fino sherry. Rare and tough to find, though I have every intention to track some down to have around home. It's that simple, I got to have it.
2007 Becker Landgraf Riesling Feinherb
Satiny texture, bright and clean stone fruits, well made Rheinhessen riesling. This is a great accompaniment to most (if not all) of the Chinese dishes at Heaven's Dog, where José and I loaded up on some tasty veges and a bit of pork prior to drinking.
2006 Les Cretes Petite Arvine 'Vigne Champorette'
Waxy textured, with plums, yellow fruit skins, and a ripe, plump, juicy yet still fresh flavor profile. Fun.
2006 Franck Peillot Bugey Mondeuse
Gritty cherry fruits, with some minerals, moderately assertive tannins and a bitter snap to the finish.
1978 Lopez de Heredia Viña Bosconia Rioja Gran Reserva
Soft, very savory, earthy, slightly smoky and reminiscent a bit of aged Cote Rotie. If this bottle is any indication (and given the variation, this is not necessarily any indication) then this wine should probably be drunk within the next several years. It's very good, for sure, though not nearly as wound up, high toned and high acid as the '81. While I really enjoyed this '78, it did not really remind me of Bosconia's typically Burgundy-like flavors and textures.
2000 Pierre Overnoy Arbois Pupillin Blanc
The unbelievably high acidity in this wine made up for what I perceived as an acid deficit in the Bosconia drunk before this. For a grape I love so much, I have such a tough time describing savagnin sometimes, especially when it's as piercing, cutting and chiseled as this. At this moment, the only thing I can liken the sensation to is listening carefully to how the high hat cymbals were mixed in many mid 70's Jamaican recordings.
Big thank you to Cory for organizing the party. It's always fun to see familiar faces while meeting some new folks as well.
Showing posts with label 31 Days. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 31 Days. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
In Search of Traditional and Natural Spanish Wines in Spain
This is part of Cory Cartwright's 31 Days of Natural Wine Series on his blog, Saignee. Follow it here.
Old fermentation vats at R. Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia, amongst the most successful producers and marketers of traditional Spanish wine
For a country that boasts more land under vine than any other, with a variety of terroirs, climates, winemaking traditions and styles that is only surpassed by France and Italy, Spain has a long way to go in the natural wine world.
The definition of natural wine has generally come to encompass organic or biodynamic vine cultivation in the vineyard, fermentation with native yeasts, minimal intervention in the cellar, and significantly lower doses of sulphur at all stages of the winemaking process. Another classification of this sort of farming and winemaking could be 'traditional.' In other words, the way that conscientous, quality oriented winemakers made their wine before the advent of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides in the second half of the 20th century, and prior to the emergence of the new French oak barrique, lab made yeasts and assorted heavy handed cellar methods.
If natural wine means wine made traditionally with the fruit of well tended vines, why would Spain - a country steeped in wine tradition and covered (to the tune of 1.16 million hectares) with vines - be lagging far behind Italy and France in the production of natural wines?
"The Spanish are very attracted by a modern attitude towards winemaking and keeping up with the trends as they perceive them in the world," says Spanish wine importer Andre Tamers of De Maison Imports, a company which focuses on small production, traditional, natural Spanish wines.
"They have been very influenced by wine critics and styles that are pervasive today as a way to differentiate themselves from their past."
That past, up until fifteen or so years ago, usually involved picking grapes that were not super-ripe, and aging for longer periods of time in larger vessels, often times made of American oak, or perhaps concrete. Some of the wines which resulted from this practice tasted oaky and dried out, lacking vibrancy and fruit. Often times they were also oxidized. Many of these wines, however, were distinctive and delicious, as Santo Domingo and New York based wine blogger Manuel Camblor recalls, "[the late 80's-early '90s] was a time when five bucks could still buy you a wonderful bottle, if you had your head on straight."
Of today's similarly value oriented bottles from Spain, Camblor is far less enthusiastic, decrying most of them as 'homogenized and globalist' with 'zero soul.'
'Zero soul' wines sure are popular with the vast majority of discerning Spanish wine critics in the US, abroad and even in Spain. There are countless examples which score 90-92 pts on a 100 pt scale, and cost a mere $15 or less. While those who value consumer reports may be elated, others with more drinking experience, or even those who are relatively new to Spanish wine and have tasted the real thing, tend to look for authenticity.
Bodegas R. Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia, in Rioja, is that rare Spanish wine that appeals to a cross section of new Spanish wine drinkers, seasoned Spanish wine afficionados and even the hypercritical, generally French leaning tastes of natural wine fans. They farm organically, harvest by hand, allow fermentation to take place naturally in huge, very old American oak vats, and in many respects make wine in a manner similar to how it was made in the early years of the bodega in the late 19th century. As staunchly traditional as the wines are, Maria José Lopez de Heredia is far from critical of more modern efforts being made elsewhere in Rioja and throughout Spain.
"Spanish palates have evolved with the progressive integration in the European Union," says Lopez de Heredia, "and have become more international in the acceptance of styles and flavors. Also all palates get adapted to the products that exist on offer."
So are Spanish palates becoming more international, appreciating the same sorts of richer, heavier, higher alcohol wines which have sold so well in the US? Not necessarily so, according to Andre Tamers:
"Spain is still a very classic wine drinking nation and many of the wines that show up on our shores are expressly for a foreign market very similar to the way Sherry was sold two hundred years ago to the British (sweetened)."
Another importer who has been seeking out authentic, traditional Spanish wines is Jose Pastor, who imports properties such as Señorio de P. Pecina in Rioja and the unusual, but rewarding Monastrell based wines of Primitivo Quiles outside of Alicante.
"I would say that it is getting harder to find honest [Spanish] producers," says Pastor.
Neatly summing up the current lack of conviction plaguing Spanish winemakers, as well as importers and retailers, Pastor observes:
"The problem that I see here, is that we are trying too hard to please other people when we should first learn how to please ourselves."
Old fermentation vats at R. Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia, amongst the most successful producers and marketers of traditional Spanish wineFor a country that boasts more land under vine than any other, with a variety of terroirs, climates, winemaking traditions and styles that is only surpassed by France and Italy, Spain has a long way to go in the natural wine world.
The definition of natural wine has generally come to encompass organic or biodynamic vine cultivation in the vineyard, fermentation with native yeasts, minimal intervention in the cellar, and significantly lower doses of sulphur at all stages of the winemaking process. Another classification of this sort of farming and winemaking could be 'traditional.' In other words, the way that conscientous, quality oriented winemakers made their wine before the advent of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides in the second half of the 20th century, and prior to the emergence of the new French oak barrique, lab made yeasts and assorted heavy handed cellar methods.
If natural wine means wine made traditionally with the fruit of well tended vines, why would Spain - a country steeped in wine tradition and covered (to the tune of 1.16 million hectares) with vines - be lagging far behind Italy and France in the production of natural wines?
"The Spanish are very attracted by a modern attitude towards winemaking and keeping up with the trends as they perceive them in the world," says Spanish wine importer Andre Tamers of De Maison Imports, a company which focuses on small production, traditional, natural Spanish wines.
"They have been very influenced by wine critics and styles that are pervasive today as a way to differentiate themselves from their past."
That past, up until fifteen or so years ago, usually involved picking grapes that were not super-ripe, and aging for longer periods of time in larger vessels, often times made of American oak, or perhaps concrete. Some of the wines which resulted from this practice tasted oaky and dried out, lacking vibrancy and fruit. Often times they were also oxidized. Many of these wines, however, were distinctive and delicious, as Santo Domingo and New York based wine blogger Manuel Camblor recalls, "[the late 80's-early '90s] was a time when five bucks could still buy you a wonderful bottle, if you had your head on straight."
Of today's similarly value oriented bottles from Spain, Camblor is far less enthusiastic, decrying most of them as 'homogenized and globalist' with 'zero soul.'
'Zero soul' wines sure are popular with the vast majority of discerning Spanish wine critics in the US, abroad and even in Spain. There are countless examples which score 90-92 pts on a 100 pt scale, and cost a mere $15 or less. While those who value consumer reports may be elated, others with more drinking experience, or even those who are relatively new to Spanish wine and have tasted the real thing, tend to look for authenticity.
Bodegas R. Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia, in Rioja, is that rare Spanish wine that appeals to a cross section of new Spanish wine drinkers, seasoned Spanish wine afficionados and even the hypercritical, generally French leaning tastes of natural wine fans. They farm organically, harvest by hand, allow fermentation to take place naturally in huge, very old American oak vats, and in many respects make wine in a manner similar to how it was made in the early years of the bodega in the late 19th century. As staunchly traditional as the wines are, Maria José Lopez de Heredia is far from critical of more modern efforts being made elsewhere in Rioja and throughout Spain.
"Spanish palates have evolved with the progressive integration in the European Union," says Lopez de Heredia, "and have become more international in the acceptance of styles and flavors. Also all palates get adapted to the products that exist on offer."
So are Spanish palates becoming more international, appreciating the same sorts of richer, heavier, higher alcohol wines which have sold so well in the US? Not necessarily so, according to Andre Tamers:
"Spain is still a very classic wine drinking nation and many of the wines that show up on our shores are expressly for a foreign market very similar to the way Sherry was sold two hundred years ago to the British (sweetened)."
Another importer who has been seeking out authentic, traditional Spanish wines is Jose Pastor, who imports properties such as Señorio de P. Pecina in Rioja and the unusual, but rewarding Monastrell based wines of Primitivo Quiles outside of Alicante.
"I would say that it is getting harder to find honest [Spanish] producers," says Pastor.
Neatly summing up the current lack of conviction plaguing Spanish winemakers, as well as importers and retailers, Pastor observes:
"The problem that I see here, is that we are trying too hard to please other people when we should first learn how to please ourselves."
Friday, June 19, 2009
Read this gentleman's blog for the Next 30 Days
In the absence of any current inspiration to put fingers to keyboard and blog, I figured that I would urge you, if you are not doing so already, to follow Cory Cartwright's 31 Days of Natural Wine series on his blog, Saignée. He has assembled a terrific list of contributors, as well as some acceptable B listers such as myself - I'll be posting about tradition, modernism, and whether there is any momentum in the Spanish natural wine community. For which I need to prepare and interview a few folks, so it's back to work for me.
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