Filed under: Spain

Having a little something special with dinner tonight

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Petalos 2008 tasted at home (with some beef stronganoff from Cook! if you need to know)

Pétalos Del Bierzo 2008
produced by Descendientes de J. Palacios in Bierzo,
Note: A wine of its own. I don't know of many I could compare in terms not only of the taste and experience, but the story and the history.

You can research the history, with the internationally renowned Alvaro Palacios "rediscovering" a regional grape in a forgotten region, and turning it into a destination for wine lovers. You should in fact.

As for the taste, I love the savouryness of the wine. This is a wine that shows real herbal notes on top of the fruit. The name is Petalos, or petals, and there is certainly a petal-like floral hint there, but really the wine is a balance between red fruit (raspberry and cherry) and herbs (thyme and savoury). The nose is meaty, almost like bloody steak (that musky aroma you get from really fresh steak - apologies to any vegetarians), but also with the red fruit and herbs, and all wrapped up in something quite spirity. It can almost remind you of those herbal "digestive" drinks you find in Italy, except the red fruit aromas give it away. In the mouth it never threatens to be a fruit bomb. On the contrary, as you taste it the immediate impressions are of the fresh, bright acidity and tannin and a strong mineral tang. But as it rests in your mouth, and as you swallow, the darker fruit aromas suddenly emerge and waft around your mouth and nose for such a long time. Not a wine for the faint-hearted, but delicious and unique. Try it!


Rating: 4,5 (in 5)
(Tasted on May 24, 2011)

Spanish Wine on the High Street

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Spanish wines have been on the UK shopping lists for some years, so you might expect that a tasting of 60 Spanish wines, selected by the buyers from the UK's 10 main supermarket and high street retailers, would be a good indication of the state of the category. Well, maybe.

First, a statistic. Of the 60 wines at the tasting, there were 23 from Rioja. That's almost 40%. Interestingly, 10% came from a small region called Campo de Borja, but more on that later.
First, the highlights:

Asda: not very much I'm afraid. The 'benchmark' Viña Sol was good as always, but we already know that. The 2009 Mitico Old Vines Garnacha was interesting, if a little alcoholic.

Coop: The Sauvignon Blanc/ Verdejo blend from Rueda, the Casa de Sol, was decent at £5.29, and they too stock a decent, known, Torres wine, the Gran Sangre de Toro - spicy, not too heavy and a decent drop at £7.99

Majestic: I was a bit disappointed here. Majestic have a broad Spanish range, but I found some of these rather uninspiring. Chief among which were the 2008 El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa Old Vines Garnacha. I've had previous vintages and really liked it, but I found this leafy and acidic without the 'old vines' concentration it promised (and had before). 
So too the 1982 Bodegas Muriel Rioja Gran Reserva. Hats off to them for showing such an old wine. I think it was Hugh Johnson who said: "There are no good wines, there are only good bottles" (or words to that effect). At this age, tiny differences in bottles and how they aged will be very marked. We tasted two bottles. One was simply past it, lots of volatile acidity and no fruit, the other more mushroomy and earthy and a hint of fruit - not unpleasant, but the kind of character few consumers are actually looking for. Worth it for the experience, but a bit of a risk.

Morrisons: Here they obviously decided that their Spanish wine drinkers like 'classic' styles. The Riojas had a bit of that dusty tannin, slightly musty old oak and dark fruit character of old. Generally not that encouraging, though the youthful 2009 Caño Verdejo (white) was fresh and crisp, though a touch expensive.

Marks & Spencer: One of the stars of the tasting ... was a white wine. The 2009 Val do Salnes Albariño was not cheap at £10.99, but I really liked the lemon curd, honey and grapefruit character which lasted for ages. I admit I know the family who make this wine, so call me biased, but I was not alone in picking out that wine for distinction.
The 2005 Campo Aldea Graciano seemed promising, but I must admit that despite having a decent aged character for such a young wine, I found it a little unbalanced (too much tannin & acidity and lots of alcohol) which masked the purple fruit which was only apparent on the finish. Maybe worth trying in a few more years?

Oddbins: I missed their main tasting, so was hoping to see the results of the rebuilding of this business. Can't say I picked out much from here. Many wines were decent, but unexciting, including wines like the Burgans Albariño I have liked in the past  (shame they didn't have their Mencia I've been meaning to try for ages). The stand out was probably the 2009 Carchelo from Jumilla - a big, butch wine with rich, jammy flavours that tastes great, but packs a bit of an alcoholic punch.

Sainsburys: The 2009 Luis Cañas Barrel Fermented (White) Rioja seemed to be popular. I found the yeasty-ness a little over the top (but then I really don't like cheese and it reminded me of a cheesy character). Maybe it will settle down and it is worth trying.
Once again, one of the classics was on show - the Marques de Riscal 2005, with its refined and mature American oak character (with a hint of soapiness to me - what's that from?), but still spicy, ripe fruit and simply elegant

Spar: I kicked off the tasting with the only Cava on show (surprisingly) which was the Spar Donacella Cava Brut. This is simple, straightforward sparkling wine, for sale at £6.79, and as such it still has that rubbery character I get from cheaper Cavas, but it did have a hint of sweetness on the finish to freshen the palate. At that price it'll probably do reasonably well.
However, it also included the 2009 Viña Albali Airen - a real stinker (on the nose), which may well best be avoided - or maybe our bottle was faulty?

Tesco: Not a bad range on show actually. The best wine was probably the 2004 Baron de Ley 7 Viñas Reserva - with a salad-sounding smell of balsamic, tomato leaf, white pepper and lots of fruit, but then it was £16.14 (if you bought 6 bottles) so it deserved to have this much character.
More popularly, it had a decent "Tesco Finest" Old Vines Garnacha from Campo de Borja for only £4.98 (if buying 6) which had an unusual "all spice" nose but was quite drinkable.
Waitrose: Similarly, Waitrose also had a Rioja / Campo de Borja pair worth trying. The Gran Lopez Tinto (£4.79) had quite a floral character, with a hint of boiled cherry sweetie too, which might be a touch alcoholic, but was quite good. The Rioja was another Baron de Ley, the Club Privado 2006, which was quite 'classic' in style, more focused on the ageing characters rather than fruit flavours, but nonetheless a decent wine for £8.29

So, Rioja (at the top) and Campo de Borja (at the VERY low end of the price spectrum) do well, and maybe the other regions, except for Rias Baixas and its Albariños, not exciting the buyers enough to show them. Hopefully the next vintage will encourage them more.
How have you found the Spanish wines you have tried recently? Anything exciting on the high street, or do we need to head to the independents and mail-order merchants to find retailers doing something more exciting?

Tasting: Barbazul 2008

I bought this wine as part of a mixed case from Flagship Wines. I asked them to send me "something different" and this was one of their interesting choices - right on the money.

It cost just over £10, so a fair amount for proper experimentation, and its main grape is Tintilla de Rota which I gather is a local variant of Rioja's Graciano grape, so again a little unusual but relevant to me in particular.

Do check this wine out!

Barbazul 2008
produced by Huerta de Albalá in Cadiz, Spain
Note: Dark fruit (is it cassis?) but also a hint of something vegetal & animal on the nose, and a noticeable spirity quality - it shows its alcohol! The wine is bright and medium bodied, combining that blackcurrant with some sharper red currant and later opened up to show some rose petal/flowery notes, but again the alcohol seems to show up like a noisy guest in an otherwise very civilized party.

It's a party that finishes with a pleasant, warm glow but also slightly haunting memories of those vegetal notes and even a hint of menthol.

A good wine, something different to explore, but probably needs to age a bit and be drunk in the right circumstances, slightly cooler than I had it.
(Tasted on September 6, 2010)