E Is For España

Great wine is all about location.  The location of the vineyard makes all the difference in the end product.  Locations is an experiment of place for winemaker Dave Phinney, of Orin Swift fame, in which he makes wines from all over the world.  These wines are labeled only with a big letter or two, depicting the place of origin - F for France, P for Portugal, I for Italy, and E is for Espana, much like those European bumper stickers.

Phinney sold the Locations brand this past summer to Modesto's E and J Gallo, two years after selling off the Orin Swift brand.  A price wasn't announced, but Phinney will reportedly stay on as the winemaker "indefinitely."

E5, the fifth vintage for his Spanish red blend, combines Garnacha, Tempranillo, Monastrell and Cariñena.  Those last two you might know better as Mourvèdre and Carignan.  Phinney says unabashedly that E5 is all about the "interplay of provenance, artistry, freedom, and creativity" with the Iberian peninsula as a backdrop.  Five regions are represented by the grapes in this wine, Priorat, Jumilla, Toro, Rioja, and Ribera del Duero.

That guy Parker loved a previous vintage, throwing around adjectives like full-bodied, opulent and voluptuous in his wine-porn style.  The wine was aged in barrels for ten months and hits 14.5% abv for alcohol and retails for about $20.

For starters, this is an aromatic wine.  The nose blasts dark fruit and a drawer full of savory aromas.  There are cigars, trod-upon leaves, tar and an old catcher's mitt in that dark liquid.  Herbs abound, with thyme, sage, nutmeg and peppers leading the way.  On the palate it's blackberryland, with a heapin' helpin' of currant and licorice.  The flavors are rough-cut and rustic, as is the tannic structure.  This wine needs a big, fatty steak to give it something useful to do. 


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E Is For España

Locations is an experiment of place for winemaker Dave Phinney, of Orin Swift fame. It's his attempt at making wine a country-wide effort. At first, I wasn’t on board with the philosophy. Specific locations are important because of what they are, where they are, why they are. After sampling through a few "letters," I'm on board.

Yes, the letters. These wines are labeled only with a big letter or two, depicting the place of origin - F for France, P for Portugal, I for Italy, TX for Texas. Yes, he sources grapes from Texas. The wines are bottled at the Locations headquarters in Spain. Or, in this case, España.

E is the fourth release of the Locations wine from the Iberian locale. Phinney uses Garnacha, Tempranillo, Monastrell (Mourvèdre) and Cariñena (Carignane) grapes grown all over the Peninsula. The locations for this wine include Priorat, Jumilla, Toro, Rioja and Ribera Del Duero. Grapes from low-yielding, old vines, assure that the aromas and flavors are concentrated.

Carrying alcohol at 14.5% abv, the wine was aged in barrels for ten months. It retails for around 20 bucks.

Aromas of currant produce an elegant first whiff of this incredibly dark wine. Layer in some tobacco, pepper and sweet oak and you have a nose worth remembering. It brings to mind great wines I’ve had from the varied regions, er, locations of Spain. The sip is lush with black fruit, and spiced with white pepper, mocha and a hint of vanilla. There is enough tannic grip here to tame a steak right off the grill.


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Wines Of Spain: Gil Family Portfolio Vertical Tasting

Gil Family Estates is celebrating their 100th birthday this year. The bodega was founded in 1916 by Juan Gil Jiménez in Spain’s Jumilla region, in the southeast, close enough to the sea to get a Mediterranean influence. Four generations have made wine there, and they keep getting better at it.

They actually have vineyards in eight of Spain’s appellations, so they can show off as much terroir as you like, maybe more.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a special winemaker's portfolio tasting in Los Angeles in a private room at The Bazaar by José Andrés. Members of the family and winemaking team were on hand and presented two of their lines, Clio and El Nido, in a vertical tasting. I think I was supposed to be at "the press table," but I got there late and was directed to the meeting of sommeliers. It was lucky day for me. I also got a great parking spot.

Clio is 70% Monastrell - Mourvédre, if you prefer - and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. El Nido is the reverse, with Cab taking top honors. Both wines get about two years aging, in French oak for the Cab and American for the Monastrell. El Nido is aged in smaller barrels than Clio, and they recommend aging in your cellar for 15 to 20 years.

The wines come from the partnership between the Gil family and Australian winemaker Chris Ringland. Grapes are grown at the highest spot in the area, at an elevation of about 2400 feet. Further north in Spain, that might not be possible, but the sea’s influence in Jumilla tempers the cold at that height. They dry-farm at Juan Gil, not that they have much choice. Southern California, even in a drought, is a tropical rain forest compared to the precipitation the weather reports allow for in Jumilla.

The roots of the old vines have to dig through three feet of solid limestone to get a drink. That’s terroir. Loren Gil said that just 20 years ago "it was not possible to think of wines of this quality from Jumilla." Things have really changed.

Gil mentioned that the biggest market for their wines is the U.S. Second is Canada, third is Switzerland. Spain, he was proud to say, has just moved up to become their fourth biggest market.

I’ll go through the wines they way they poured them, younger to older.

Clio 2011 - Big red and black fruit is layered with a floral aspect that is quite pronounced. The tannins are a little toothy yet, but not to distraction. And that will change.

Clio 2009 - Beautiful nose, fruity and floral., with blackberry, lavender and a savory edge. Very concentrated aroma and flavor. Great structure with enough tannin, but not too much.

Clio 2007 - A more earthy nose. More savory, too. Extremely smooth. Black fruit is more pronounced. They say the vintage was not a favorite, with rain at the close of harvest. It did not hurt the wine at all, though.

Clio 2005 - Very savory nose, with bramble, black fruit and a vanilla note coming out. Savory palate, even smoother. Bacon fat appears, the most savory of the lot.

Clio 2003 - Savory aromas of meat are really coming on, but there is still much dark fruit showing. Lots more vanilla here. Structure holding just fine. Palate is tasting very fruity but the dark, savory notes are becoming more vocal.


El Nido 2011 - Very dark color. Nose showing oak spice. Great acidity, extremely smooth with fantastic structure.

El Nido 2009 - Very dark again. Nose has black and blue berries and a floral aspect, rather perfumed. Very savory edge to the dark fruit flavors and quite smooth again, with great acidity.

El Nido 2007 - Beautiful smokey nose with very dark color and fruit. Very savory palate with nice tannins and juicy fruit.

El Nido 2005 - Smoke is giving way to bacon fat on the nose. The palate is blue and black fruit. Structure is very defined. Aromas and flavors show age, structure does not.

El Nido 2003 - Color is dark. Nose shows a tad of smoke, very savory. Palate strong with dark fruit, oak is nice, less savory than earlier vintages. Great structure, still with very firm tannins.


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Spanish Wines At Whole Foods Market

The wines of Spain loom large in my love of the grape.  It was a tasting event featuring Spanish wines which first made me want to pursue wine as something more than just a beverage.  To paraphrase the Hoyt Axton song made famous by Three Dog Night, “I’ve never been to Spain, but I kinda like the vino.”  I kinda like it a lot.

Whole Foods Market has their springtime spotlight on Spain’s wine heritage, and they are featuring a dozen Spanish wines that are each priced at less than $20.

When the grocery chain invited me to participate in a pair of Twitter tastings featuring some of these Spanish wines, I didn’t even think about saying no.  Due to scheduling difficulties, I was unable to participate in the first round of tasting and tweeting.  The second round - April 19th, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. CDT - will see me tasting and tweeting.  Since my local Whole Foods was kind enough to supply me with all six of the wines in the tastings, allow me to taste and type about the first three now.

Hermanos Lurton Rueda Verdejo 2010
In addition to Spain, Francois Lurton also makes wine in his French homeland, as well as in Portugal, Argentina and Chile.  This wine comes under a screwcap and carries an alcohol number of 12.5% abv.

This Verdejo comes from from low-yielding vines.  When a grapevine yields a small amount of fruit, that fruit tends to be much more concentrated in aroma and flavor.  The Lurton holds true to that rule, showing a medium golden tint and an extremely aromatic nose.  Tropical fruit aromas, cantaloupe and the peel of lemons and oranges fill my nostrils immediately.  It’s the kind of bouquet I want from a slightly chilled white wine on a warm afternoon outside.  Not to plagiarize Evan Dawson, but it has the olfactory sense of summer in it.

The wine is fairly full in the mouth, too, with a razor-sharp acidity.  The citrus zest comes across the palate first with pineapple next - not the sweet heart, but the part very close to the rind.  Melon lingers on the very long finish.  This is what I want a white wine to be - anytime.


Castillo de Monséran Cariñena Garnacha 2009

The grapes for this wine - called Grenache elsewhere - are grown in Spain’s northeastern Aragon region.  The cool-climate vineyards are located up in the Sierra de la Virgen mountains.  The DO status for Cariñena was created in 1932, and the area is where the French Carignane grape originated.  It’s known as Mazuelo in Cariñena and is still widely planted, although Garnacha Tinta is king.

The back label, after a brief and none-too-descriptive summary of the vinification, ends up with one of those great blanket recommendations: “To be drunk with all meat dishes or slightly chilled with any starter.”  That doesn’t narrow it down much, but it does leave my options wide open.  Again, a moderate alcohol level of 12.5% abv.

The medium dark hue tips off a nose of very intense black cherry and blackberry with a bit of earth peeking through.  The taste is a mix of cherry and raspberry, with a tartness and earthy quality about it.   A great level of acidity makes the mouth water.  Nice tannins would support that rather all-encompassing pairing suggestion..


Castaño Yecla Monastrell 2011

Yecla is a DO in the Murcia region of southeastern Spain.  The area is known for its Monastrell - elsewhere called mourvédre.  Under the Castaño screwcap is a wine made from organic grapes and bearing a robust 14% alcohol number.

It’s a very dark wine, not inky but getting close to it.  The nose displays dark blackberry and plums with a layer of clove.  On the palate there is dark fruit and spice as well.  Some oak steps forward but doesn’t try to steal the show.  That act is handled by the brilliant acidity and forceful tannins.  The Castaño Monastrell would pair quite well with a smoky grilled steak.

If these three Spanish beauties are an indication, the second round of the Whole Foods Twitter Tasting should be a gem.  Join in, if you can.  Follow my tweets, or those of @WFMWineGuys.  The hashtag #WFMWine should make it easy to channel all that Spanish wine chatter into a single column.  You can also go to http://www.twitter.com/#!/search/wfmwine to see all the tweets.

Spanish Wines Twitter Tasting 2 – Apr. 19 at 7 p.m. CST

Castell de Raimat Albariño

Faustino Rioja

Más de Leda Tempranillo

Whole Foods Market featured Spanish wines include:

Hermanos Lurton Verdejo from Rueda

Castell de Raimat Albariño from Costers del Segre in Catalan

Spartico Organic Tempranillo from Valencia 

Protos Tinto Fino from Ribera del Duero 

Faustino Rioja from Rioja

Maximo Tempranillo from La Mancha 

Más de Leda Tempranillo from Castilla y León 

La Vendimia Granacha Tempranillo from Rioja 

Cellars Can Blau Blau Cariñena Garnacha-Syrah from Priorat 

Monte Oton Garnacha from Campo de Borja

Castillo de Monséran Garnacha from Cariñena

Castaño Organic Monastrell from Yecla 

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Tasting Event: Great Match 2010 Los Angeles

I went expecting nothing more than a smorgasbord of Spanish wines.  I came away with a greater understanding of some grape varieties that had been a mystery to me, and a lesson on terroir, or in this case, terruño that surprised and informed me.

Great Match 2010 - Vivacious Varietals, Tantalizing Tastes - was held on May 12 in Los Angeles at The Bazaar/SLS by José Andrés.  It's a big room for a big event.  Just off to the left after entering the restaurant, the large space is elegant, with huge mirrors on both ends of the room.  Twenty-three tables were arranged throughout to accommodate all the wineries and importers who were pouring.  There were so many wines represented there, I didn't get a chance to sample at every table.  Nevertheless, I stayed busy.

While I am a fan of Spanish wines - it was a Spanish wine tasting that initially piqued my interest in learning more about wine - I do not have an encyclopedic knowledge base on the subject.  I was looking forward to a tasty learning experience, and that's what I got.  I was able to experience wines from the Priorat region, grape varieties like Maturana, Bobal and Monastrell, an unbelievably intense dessert wine along with a Viognier that could have - and did - pass for a Sauvignon Blanc.  It was a great afternoon.

Things I took away from this tasting:

1. The reds have lots of tannins.

2. The whites have a lot of grapefruit.

3. Albariño actually starts to get old after tasting about 20 of them.

Seriously, if you have never delved into the wines of Spain, you owe it to yourself to do so.  The indigenous grapes of Spain are a wonder to taste, and even grapes you thought you knew can deliver a terruño-driven surprise.  

I strolled up to one table where a gentleman was already tasting a white wine.  "Smell this," he said, holding the glass right under my nose.  I did, and unflinchingly said, "Sauvignon Blanc."  I know my face must have registered shock when he replied, "Viognier."  That Vallegarcía Viognier from Castilla was the wine of the day for me.  But picking one for second place would be nearly impossible.

I should point out that the printed program for the event was not laid out well for note-takers.  The font in the four-page foldout was tiny, the lines were single-spaced and there was not enough margin for proper note taking.  I had to cobble together my information as best I could on the program while grabbing a brochure here, a business card there and a shelf talker wherever they were offered so I'd remember details.  Mine was not the only complaint, either.  Other tasters had similar gripes and the wine representatives didn't like it too much because it resulted in tasters scrunching down in their limited table space to scribble tiny little notes in between samples.  I was told the show used to offer a more standard-sized book, and in my opinion they should go back to that format.

The following are my notes from Great Match 2010 Los Angeles.  The wines in bold type were particular favorites of mine.

Bodegas Ramón Bilbao
Volteo Tempranillo 2007, VT de Castilla - luscious berries, very dry $10
Volteo Viura 2009, VT de Castilla - blend of Viura, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc; subdued grapefruit with almond paste $10
Ramón Bilbao Tempranillo Crianza 2005, Rioja - juicy, fruity, young $13
Cruz de Alba Tempranillo 2006, Ribera del Duero - bright yet deep; intriguing minty characteristic $25

Classical Wines
Martinsancho Verdejo 2008, Rueda - huge grapefruit $20
Dehasa La Granja 2003, Castilla y León - cedar notes and an almost citrusy edge
*Casta Diva Cosecha Miel 2008, Alicante - powerful dessert wine; deep, rich, golden color; intense honey and apricots give way to 'flowers meet nuts' finish $19 half bottle

Collección Internacional del Vino
Antaño Tempranillo 2008, Rioja - very tannic $6
*Inspiracion Collección Varietales 2005, Rioja - vanilla on the nose, bright fruit on palate; muscular; 100% Maturana $50 (?)

Cuatro Rayas-El Verdejo de Rueda
Cuatro Rayas Viñedos Centenarios 2009, Rueda - 100+ year-old vines; concentrated grapefruit; very smooth and delicious $20
Cuatro Rayas Verdejo 2009, Rueda - refreshing and not too heavy on the grapefruit $18
Palacio de Vivero 2009, Ruea - Verdejo/Viura blend $12
*Vacceos Tempranillo Roble 2008, Rueda - nose really jumps out; bright and brambly taste with cedar notes $11
Dama del lago 2009, Rueda - deep, rich Tempranillo; brambly $10

Faustino/Campillo/Condesa de Leganza
Faustino V Blanco 2007, Rioja - a Verdejo with a delightfully funky nose and a nutty taste $12
*Campillo Gran Reserva 1994, Rioja - A very elegant Tempranillo; smooth yet forceful $50
Condesa de Leganza Crianza 2005, La Mancha - A rosado with wood spices $10
Condesa de Leganza Rosado 2008, La Mancha - a funky, dry Tempranillo rosado $9

Fine Estates From Spain
Botani 2009, Sierras de Málaga - a dry Muscatel with a very floral nose $19
Shaya 2009 Rueda - Verdejo with very slight grapefruit and other cutrus notes $15
La Cana 2009, Rias Baixas - floral/tropical Albariño $16
Volver 2008, La Mancha - Tempranillo with big blackberry flavor with a wonderfully smokey nose $16
*Tritón 2008, Castilla y León - a dark, powerful, brambly Tempranillo $20
Sierra Cantabria Crianza 2006, Rioja - Tempranillo with a slight nose and lush berries $19
Emilio Moro 2006, Ribera del Duero - amazing Tempranillo; loaded with spice notes; great grip $25

Folio Fine Wine Partners
Embruix 2006, Priorat - Garnacha/Cariñena with Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot; full-bodied, dark berries, coffee $25
Más de Leda 2007, Castilla y León - nice Tempranillo with a slightly minty aspect $20
*Sirsell 2006,  Priorat - Garnacha, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Mazuelo and Syrah; very robust, earthy $30

Freixenet USA
Freixenet Cordón Negro Brut, Cava - toasty, yeasty, nutty $12

Marqués de Riscal/Vallegarcía
Marqués de Riscal Gran Reserva 2001, Rioja - Tempranillo with a spicy, sherry-like flavor $35
*Vallegarcía Viognier 2006, Castilla - quite a tangy nose, like Sauvignon Blanc, very nutty taste $40
Vallegarcía Syrah 2005,  Castilla - very unusual spiciness $40

Martin Códax
Martin Códax Albariño 2008, Rias Baixas - beautiful, tropical nose with a soft, nutty taste $17
Martin Códax Tempranillo 2008, Rioja - some Garnacha; cedar notes on the nose; medium-full mouthfeel with lush berries $12

Pacific Estates
Mont Ferrant Gran Cuvée 2005 Brut, Cava - refreshing with yeasty, nutty flavors  $16
Mont Ferrant Rosé Brut , Cava - 60/40 blend of Monastrell and Garnacha; nice strawberry flavors - $17
*Mont Ferrant Blanes Nature 2004 Brut Extra, Cava - huge nose; very yeasty and rich  $19
Montal Collection Red Garnacha 2007, Castilla - very soft and delicious $13
*Montal Collection Red Monastrell 2008, Castilla - funky nose; dark and husky on the palate $13 
Abadía de Acón Red Tempranillo Joven 2008, Ribera del Duero - stainless steel; bright nose, lean mouthfeel and taste $17

Pernod Ricard USA
Campo Viejo Crianza 2005, Rioja - very lovely nose; slight mintiness on the palate $10
Campo Viejo Gran Reserva 2005, Rioja - beautiful nose and a mouthful of rich, dark berries $20

Rias Baixas Albariño
Mar de Frades Albariño 2009, Rias Baixas - extremely aromatic; huge floral nose, pears on palate $25
Laxas Albariño 2009, Rias Baixas - floral notes with a nutty finish $18
*Brandal Barrica Albariño 2006, Rias Braixas - 6 months in oak really makes a huge difference; very nutty; a substantial wine $17

Secret Sherry Society
Barbadillo Solear Manzanilla, Manzanilla Sanlúcar de Barrameda - very dry; salty flavor; I can taste the ocean $10
González Byass Tio Pepe Fino Sherry, DO Jerez-Xéres-Sherry - slightly less dry; yeastier $17

UCI/Castelnoble
Castelnoble Shiraz 2009, Castilla - 100% steel; very bright and full of berries $8
Castelnoble Bobal Rosado 2009, Castilla - 100% Bobal; all steel 18 months; an offbeat strawberry taste $8
Castelnoble Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Castilla - all steel, tropical notes $8
Castelnoble Tinto Roble 2009, Castilla - fermented in steel, then 6 months French and America oak; tangy edge to a palate of currants and blackberries $10
Castelnoble Realce Crianza 2005, Manchuela - Tempranillo with spicy licorice tones $13
*Castelnoble Reserva 2003, Manchuela - 100% Bobal; bone dry and muscular; a fave; $15