Today, Spain has the largest vineyard surface area in the world with almost 2.35 million acres. Italy and France rank second and third. Given all that acreage, Spanish wines in the last century have suffered from a lack of recognition and for good reasons -- political and economic chaos in the 20th century led to a rise in mass cooperatives that dominated the country’s wine industry, prioritizing volume over quality.
Forced to reinvent itself, Spain has emerged as one of the most dynamic, compelling, best bang for your buck (la mejor relacion calidad-precio!) wine producing countries in the world. Spain’s indigenous varieties represent one its greatest assets. Many varieties that were abandoned in the 19th century are making a strong comeback thanks to Spain’s other great asset -- a new generation of winemakers and growers eager to reclaim their regional identity and authenticity.
So join us this Friday, October 16th at The Local from 4:30-6:30 and Saturday, October 17th at the outpost inside 5th Quarter from 10:30-2:30 when we celebrate the innovation, diversity, and value of Spain’s new era in viticulture!
Dandelion is a collection of plots made up of 25-45 year old Albariño vines located around the village of Cambodia in the Rias Baixas. Alberto Nanclares and Silvia Prieto have different backgrounds and personalities but are always looking to improve the quality and diversity of Albariño’s potential.
Many other producers add potassium to Albariño to drop the acidity and soften their wine but Dandelion is devoted to expressing razor sharp acidity, vinifying a variety of different parcels separately on the lees for 7 months along with a weekly battonage in the first month.
You get all of that brisk ocean acidity along with a creamy texture and flavors of lemon zest, green apple, and salty peach. This is Albariño made the way it ought to be!
The 200 acres of vineyards of Vinedos y Bodegas Munoz are located in the village of Nobleja, 60 kilometers from Madrid, and run by agricultural engineer Bienvenido Munoz, the 6th generation of Munoz winemakers.
The grapes are sourced from 30 year old vines from the Las Canteras Vineyard and their yields are kept significantly lower than traditional yields from other wineries in this region. The family recently acquired a former 17th century subterranean cellar excavated in the rock. This facility will be used to age the top wines of the Munoz Estate.
There are concentrated aromatics of cherries, raspberries, and vanilla mingling either subtle tobacco notes. Juicy, exuberant, smoky, and smooth -- a superb example of Spain’s most popular red wine!
Pied de Cuve roughly translates to foot of the tank. It is a technique that Jordy Miro employs in the vineyard where 50kg of grapes (Grenache) are broken up and left in a stainless steel jar in the vineyard until spontaneous fermentation starts. This “sourdough starter” is taken to the winery and starts multiplying the native yeast until there’s enough volume to start the fermentation. Five days after this process, the grapes are harvested and exposed to the pied de cuve overnight for a short maceration. After this quick process, a saignee (bleeding of the juice) is done and part of the juice goes to vat for their Serendipity Rose, and the rest, which has more skins than juice (double Mass) goes into the production of Serendipity Double Mass.
During fermentation the skins are worked over by a short and light pumping over every day to avoid extracting too much tannin. When the fermentation is finished, the wine is left on fine lees for 4 months, then lightly filtered before bottling.
Whew! Quite a process but totally worth it. Sweet juicy red fruit takes the lead on the palate with notes of strawberry, raspberry, cherries, and rose petals. Light tannins, light bodied, and so very easy to drink!
Bodegas Muga is a family business founded in 1932 by Isaac Muga and Aurora Cano and is one of Rioja Alta’s premier producers. The winery has legendary status due to their philosophy revolving around an adherence to both traditional and dynamic winemaking techniques. All facets of the winemaking process are handled in house -- even all of the barrels and vats are made at the winery using French oak which they inspect and purchase the raw materials in France every season after the harvest. Racking is inspected by candlelight to ensure that there are no impurities, and all of their red wine is fined and filtered using egg whites.
The wine is primarily Tempranillo which brings depth and structure and all of the red and black fruit flavors and aromas. Garnacha, Mazuelo, and a touch of Graciano are added to expand on the expressive fruit character. On the palate the wine is generous and full bodied with finely textured tannins and a freshness that carries through the lingering finish!
Raul Perez is considered one of the world’s most visionary winemakers is the considered the pioneer of winemaking for “the New Spain”. His family has tended to vines in the village of Valtuillo in Bierzo for over 300 years. In an area where a one hectare vineyard is considered big, there may be many different owners of that plot but the synergy that Raul has with his neighbors and respect for the area’s indigenous grapes have produced wines that are perfumed,powerful, elegant and structured.
The wine is composed primarily of Mencia with dollops of Bastardo (Trousseau), Garnacha Tintorera, Palomino, and Dona Blanca all cultivated from many parcels planted between the 1890’s and 1940’s and judiciously blended separately. There may be upwards of 17 different wines chosen from different parcels but only the best make the cut for the final blend.
Cassis, pomegranate, espresso, dark soil tones, and a smoky top note simmer throughout this complex and full bodied wine. This wine is super approachable now but will be even better if the tannins are allowed a few years to soften up further!
