Galician (and one oaky Bierzo) Tasting with The Group

Last night it was my turn to host our PM Dub tasting group and it will probably not come as a surprise that I chose to feature Spanish wines. As with many other tasting groups, we usually taste double blind, i.e. brown bagging each bottle, so that we do not know the region(s) or producers.

I chose to feature wines from Albariño and Mencia grapes, mainly because I do not believe that the group has had such a tasting, at least not during my tenure. The idea was to remind the group, with its typically Francophilian and occasionally italophilian wine geek tendencies, that Spanish wines are not all about fruity values to entice new world palates, or overoaked, over-priced wines from Ribera del Duero, Rioja and Priorat. And that there is more Spanish wine of interest to the well–informed, long tested wine palate than Lopez de Heredia, sherry and the occasional txakoli. That being said, there are more obscure wines from folks like Can Rafols (Penedes) I could have included, but the great northwest seemed to be calling, so Rias Baixas and Ribera Sacra it would be.

The Whites (in reverse order of group preference):

2006 Quinta do Couselo Turonia Albariño

Unusual for the O Rosal subzone, this is a 100% Albariño (usually Treixadura and Loureiro are in the mix). The wine was corked.

2005 Bodegas Pablo Padin Granbazar 'Ambar' Albariño

This relatively large producer (40,000 cases) located in the largest production zone of of Rias Baixas, Val do Salnes, generally makes good stuff. Their 'ambar' bottling is the nicest one they produce. People at first were put off by the funky aromas, but then warmed up a little to this wine. It echoes my experience with this wine a few months ago - at first I found it to be an over the hill, partially maderized bottle of albariño, going a little bit sweet and without any vibrancy. Over a period of several days in the fridge the wine opened up to show bright yellow stone fruit flavors with a streak of mineral. Same thing last night as the wine improved markedly in the glass.

2005 Lusco do Miño Pazo Pineiro Albariño
At first I really enjoyed this wine. The intensity and dripping ripe character were speaking to me. Almost like apricot preserves and tinned mandarins, but fully dry and with good balancing acidity. You can tell that this is from well situated, very old vines. While tasty, it was definitely a show wine, more front to mid-palate flavors, not much mineral, and a bit over the top for casual drinking. And at over $40, there is a whole lot in Rias Baixas that I think would show more typicity and work much better with a meal.

2006 Do Ferreiro Albariño
From the same subzone (Condado do Tea) as Lusco, this was the group favorite and mine as well. I'm not surprised. Small production, organic farming, indigenous yeasts. Not that they are the only ones in Rias Baixas doing this, but somehow they consistently produce some of the best albariño out there, year after year. It is always the albariño that, with its floral/herbal aromatic streak, smoky minerality and overall sense of poise, most brings to mind certain characteristics of German Riesling.

Overall, people thought these wines ok but were not particularly enthused. One taster commented on a green vegetal component he caught in three of the four wines. A few others thought that we were tasting a flight of sauvignon blanc. Clearly, however, only one wine seemed to truly pass muster with this discriminating group of palates.

Better luck, perhaps, with the reds (least favored to most favored):

2004 Dominio de Tares 'Exaltos' Bierzo
Oak juice, courtesy of aging in Missouri, Allier and Nevers oak. I went back to this wine the day after the tasting, and it still showed meaty, but muddled. There was a not entirely unappealing bloody, iron, meat like quality here that definitely brought to mind the arid Castilla y Leon countryside (as well as the region's meat and potatoes inspired cookery).

2006 D. Ventura 'Pena do Lobo' Ribeira Sacra
Red fruited and fairly one-dimensional. This could have just as easily been a Cotes du Rhone Village. Similarly put together, with a disappointing lack of acidity.

2006 D. Ventura 'Viña Caneiro' Ribeira Sacra
More dark fruit and spice on this offering, from higher elevated vineyards composed largely of 'pizzarra' or slate. While it shows more complexity, there is still a liveliness that is just lacking in this as well as the other Ventura wine.

2005 Algueira Ribeira Sacra
Ahh, now this is what I'm talking about. This must be why so many experts are hyping Ribeira Sacra as the next big thing in spanish wine producing regions. Very pretty blue fruits on the nose, with a tense interplay between fruit and acidity, subtle oak spice and slate minerality, on the palate. More finessed, higher toned, and classier wine. A unanimous (I think) wine of the flight.

Mostly everyone enjoyed the red flight more than the whites. Someone mentioned an appealing bloody quality (yes, 'bloody,' can be appealing in the realm of wine descriptors) that showed in all of them. Another taster mentioned a granite inflected mineral stamp - keen tasting on her part as all of these wines came from either granite or slate.

So did these wines truly impress? Will Albariño and Mencia make occasional appearances alongside cru beaujolais, Bourgueil, Menetou Salon Rouge and Langhe Nebbiolo on the tables of my fellow group members? Perhaps. The fact remains, however, that even I have far fewer Spanish wines in my cellar relative to Muscadet, Chinon, German Riesling, and others. My most recent splurge was for two bottles of '05 Edmund Vatan Sancerre, not '05 Pazo Pineiro albariño. So I need to be convinced as well. Four years ago, Spanish wines used to be the bee's knees for my younger palate. Now, not so much. The good news, however, is that Spain is diverse, dynamic and still learning. Given some time, I'm confident that there will still be plenty of wine for the masses, as well as more intriguing stuff for the geeks who demand a bit more authenticity and challenging, regionally specific flavors.

Spain Pt. IV - Leon and Pilgrimmagers, Mencia and Ribeira Sacra; Lost in Galicia

Pilgrimmagers. Say it, it's fun. It is one of the few instances where I prefer an english word to its Spanish counterpart, peregrinos. Leon is a major hub along the most popular route of the Camino de Santiago, or the pilgrimmage which tens of thousands make (mainly by foot) every year from the French side of the Pyrenees through Spain's northern interior and all the way to Santiago de Compostela. A lot of walking, to be sure. Most of the people I saw trudging along above the national road leading out of Leon, young and old, often times of Germanic descent, usually with a large pack and a walking stick, seemed to hold a steady, deliberate pace. They were getting there, but their gait and expressions spoke of significantly more work ahead.

I hope that these pilgrimmagers spent at least a day, and ideally a couple of days, to rest up, refuel and take in the beautiful city of Leon. There is the famous cathedral, whose walls are adorned by so many beautiful windows of stained glass that it's easy to forget the other beautiful facets of this gothic cathedral. I'm not an architecture buff, and extensive gothic cathedral visits in Spain have left me slightly jaded, but this one is a stunner. There is the Casa Botines, an early Gaudi apartment building. The old city, its plazas, narrow stone roads (far more enjoyably explored by foot, not by car) and bars are where the action lies. There were delicious potatoes. One night cubed, fried, and served with a creamy, garlicky aioli (free when ordering a drink!). The next morning, sliced thinly (slightly thicker than thick cut potato chips) and fried to perfection, served with a caña of beer (or even more typical, with a 'corta,' a short 6oz pour - don't knock it America, sometimes you're better off with a smaller amount of beer). The pimientos de padron here, my first experience with the famous eponymously named Galician peppers from the village of Padron, were the best I would have the entire trip. They lived up to the great Calvin Trillin's billing of providing serious heat, but only 1-2% of the time. My hot one, though, was plenty hot. It gave me hiccoughs; to combat them I drank some beer and nibbled on more tortilla as well as some jamon iberico. The photo of me wagging a finger is immediately after consuming a blazing hot pimiento.

I give the pilgrimmagers lots of respect, because getting an 8am start on Saturday morning was not easy, and I had the benefit of a car, fresh, dry clothes, clean shoes, a smart, pretty lady friend navigator, and a destination just a few hours away: the beautiful Ribera Sacra.

We passed through the incredibly green, slatey, steep countryside of Bierzo, through Valdeorras (land of Godello) to the even more incredibly green, steeper countryside of Ribeira Sacra. Here we stopped at Adegas Algueira for a quick tasting. They were nice to squeeze in this meeting, as they were preparing for an on-site wedding that night (they also run a restaurant next to the winery). All the wines, white and red, oaked and unoaked, are fermented with indigenous yeasts and made from fruit on their own 8 hectares of vineyards. The '06 Algueira Blanco is a crisp, delicious blend of Godello, albariño and treixadura. Nothing to cerebral, just a dry white wine with good fruit intensity nice mineral accents and a clean finish. Their '06 Blanco Roble, produced from the same blend of grapes, is fermented and aged in new french oak. While proprietor Fernando Gonzalez Riveiro says it needs a few years in bottle, I say once it's this oaky it will never be al estilo mio. Now to the main event here, the reds from Mencia. The '07 Ribeira Sacra was vibrant bitter cherry Mencia fruit, tasty. The '06 Algueira Roble is a gorgeous wine. Aged for 12 months in new French oak, but with a suppleness of body, liveliness of acidity and fruit intensity that were all in terrific balance. Spanish red wines grown in slate and aged in new oak don't always have to be 14.5%, oaky, new wave gold plated trophy wines. This was 12.5% and a real steal, part of the building body of evidence that Ribeira Sacra has a lot ahead for lovers of lively mid weight reds; even the staunchest of francophile wine geeks who try these wines would have to agree.

We thanked Ana and Fernando and headed west towards Rias Baixas. Unfortunately, an afternoon visit with Do Ferreiro was not meant to be. We ended up in Vigo, a beautiful city with San Francisco style hills, a gorgeous harbor, and what appeared to be lots of cool stuff going on, but alas it was very far away from where we needed to be. Do Ferreiro's hometown of Meaño was nowhere to be seen on the map, and attempts to get more specific directions over the phone yielded no results. I felt terrible to have missed the appointment, which coupled with the poor cell phone reception made me reluctant to call and explain that we were unable to make it. Oh well, when on the wine route these things sometimes happen; hopefully I will one day get to Do Ferreiro and when I do it will be with a good bottle of California wine in hand as a make good for my prior no-show.

As we headed back east towards Leon, I noticed that the sunset was coming to a lazy close at 10:15pm. It was a long day, with the usual frustrations of road trips in a foreign country. But we had also seen and accomplished much: we saw one of Spain's most beautiful vine growing areas, tasted terrific Ribeira Sacra, ate caldo gallego and tasty round Galican bread, observed the typical gardens with their large, collard like greens, potatoes and vines trellised high above the ground. We even witnessed a huge bike rally in Moaña. All on a surprisingly sunny, warm Galician day, the only full day of sunshine for the twelve days we would be in Spain.