Showing posts with label Spanish grape varieties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spanish grape varieties. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

O Rosal! Rias Baixas Albariño!

The folks from the Spanish wine region Rias Baixas have a great product to push.  Albariño is not only a delicious white wine on its own, but it's one of the more food-friendly grapes you'll find in the world.  In fact, Albariño seems to crave a food pairing so it can show its best. 

Albariño wines tend to show up online a lot, in virtual tasting events where wine writers gather together with a sponsor to sample a few selections.  In a recent online tasting, writers commented on the great pairings they were having in real time.  A Spanish omelet, chicken and waffles, bouillabaisse, roasted fish with citrus and turkey are just a few of the inspired pairings that sprang from the tasting.

The various grapes in the 2017 Santiago Ruiz Albariño wine were grown in the O Rosal area of Rias Baixas.  The blend consists of 76% Albariño, 11% Loureiro, 5% Treixadura, 4% Godello and 4% Caiño Blanco.  Alcohol checks in at the customary 13% abv and the bottle retails for $20.

The charming map on this wine's label dates back several decades, when the winemaker’s daughter sketched it for the benefit of those attending her wedding at the estate.  I can't vouch that carrying the bottle on a journey to San Miguel de Tabagón will keep you from getting lost, so stick with the GPS. 

This wine - more than simply Albariño - offers the scents and flavors of the grapes that make up a quarter of it.  It offers a pretty nose of white flowers and apples.  The palate adds stone fruit to the green apple notes.  The acidity lags a bit, but is still zippy enough, while there's a nice finish that is genuinely refreshing.


Friday, March 15, 2019

Wine From Spain's Northwest Corner

If you want Albariño wines, look to Spain's Rias Baixas region of Galicia.  Albariño is a lovely white wine grape that is predominant in the Spanish northwest corner.  It's the reason they get out of bed every day in the Rias Baixas region.  I love Albariños for that reason - not because it's spring, or summer, or because I'm having a salad.  Although each of those reasons would have been enough of a convincer.

Wine writer Lyn Farmer notes that the Rias Baixas region has a sense of tradition, but is not bound by it.  He says half of the area's winemakers are women.  Wine writer Dezel Quillen says if your wine shop doesn't carry Rias Baixas Albarino, they need to.  He tweets, "These Spanish wines are quite versatile and extremely food-friendly—especially with #seafood dishes."

O Rosal is home to Paco & Lola Albariño.  It's a little piece of land butted up against the Miño River to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.  The grapes were estate-grown and vinified to 13% abv.  The 2017 vintage is selling for about $18.  In a nod to their labeling, the winery boasts that they are "the polka-dot wine."

An earthy nose masks the floral arrangement one expects.  There are some herbal elements there, but more along savory lines.  The palate shows apples, peaches and a shovel of the earth of Rías Baixas.  Nice acidity and a pleasantly earthy finish cap a wonderfully different style for the region.


Monday, January 28, 2019

The Pleasure Of Garnacha Blanca

Wine regions that go back centuries always make me wonder what the wine tasted like back then.  I can't imagine that it was anything like today's wine, but who knows?

The Corona D'Aragon folks say that the Corona de Aragón - Crown of Aragon - spanned territories from the east of Spain to the south of Greece between the 12th and 18th centuries.  Winemaking may not have been tops on their list of things to do, but they did enough of it to earn a reputation, especially in Cariñena.

Cariñena is known for its distinct stone soils and its old-vine Garnacha and Cariñena.  It's right in the heart of the Ebro Valley in Spain's northeast region of Aragon, bordered by the Pyrenees and France to the north, and Catalunya to the east.

Today, the grapes that grow in the vineyards' stony soil are mostly Garnacha and Tempranillo, but there is some space allotted to the mineral-laden white version of Garnacha and a bit of Chardonnay.  This wine is 87% Garnacha Blanca - enough to get top billing on the label - and 13% Chardonnay.  Alcohol clocks in at 12.5% abv.  The wine is bottled by Grandes Vinas y Viñedos and shipped right out the door, with no aging.

This beautiful Spanish white wine - the 2017 Corona D'Aragon Garnacha Blanca - features a golden tint with a nose of apricots, oranges, limes and a wet driveway.  Most of that probably comes from the Garnacha Blanca, but on the palate there's a hint of tropical fruit from the 13% Chardonnay.  Minerals are in play from start to finish and the acidity rips at about a medium.  You may want some oysters or octopus with this.


Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Lopez De Haro Rioja Reserva

The Bodega Classica vineyards grow along the river Ebro in the Rioja village of San Vicente de La Sonsierra.  They are not endless stretches of green, but hard-scrabble, rocky soil which forces the plants to dig deep for their survival.  Along with the century-old vines are archeological remnants of winemaking which took place two-thousand years ago.  The property is topped off by a castle on a hill. 

This Rioja red is made from three grape varieties: 90% Tempranillo, 5% Garnacha and 5% Graciano.  The aging took place over a year in French and American oak with additional time in the bottle.  Alcohol sits at 13.5% abv.

The 2013 Bodega Classica Lopez de Haro Reserva is medium dark in the glass.  The nose is aromatic with violets, cigars, ripe plums and earth.  On the palate, we find big, dark fruit, oak spice and a meaty black olive note.  Tannins are firm and the acidity is lively, so it's great to sip as well as to have it with some steak.


Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Spanish White Wine Shows Plenty Of Complexity

It was Spanish wine that started my own interest in the broad spectrum of vino.  It dragged a self-described "beer-only" guy into the wide world of wine after attending a tasting of Spanish wine on a lark.  I think about that tasting every time I have a glass of Verdejo.

Under the umbrella of Bodegas González Byass, Beronia Rueda operates sustainably in the Rueda region, using two different vineyards for its Verdejo wine.  The 100% Verdejo grapes were taken in two passes, one early and another later, the former for aromas and the latter for flavor.  The two lots were vinified separately and blended together.  Their website indicates plans to start using a huge oak vat in the vinification process.  This wine offers alcohol at 13% abv and an easy price point of about $13.

An early frost, late heat and hardly any rain made for a tough 2017 vintage in Rueda.  Beronia explains that the stony soil soaks up daytime heat and releases it at night, which they credit for the complexity of the wine. 

The wine shows green-gold in the glass and looks clean.  It smells crisp, with a big grapefruit play up front and other citrus notes joining apple and anise. On the palate, there's a brisk acidity to accompany the nectarine, citrus and minerals which produce the clean mouthfeel. 


Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Albariño: Bodega Fillaboa

There's a Snooth virtual wine tasting coming up today that features Albariño wines from Spain's Rias Baixas region of Galicia.  I'm tasting nearly a dozen different Albariños for that reason - not because it's spring, or because it's almost summer, or because I love Albariño.  Although those are all reason enough.

The Fillaboa website leads with, "Creating is not an easy task when surrounded by so much noise."  That's how Bodega Fillaboa's owner decided to go for the peace and quiet of the Rias Baixas land where the 70-hectare estate is located in Salvatierra de Miño.  The "good daughter" referred to in the Galician name sits set off from its surroundings by an ancient stone bridge and stands as one of the oldest and biggest estates in Pontevedra.  The bodega is only 150 feet from the Portuguese border and 22 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.  They also make three spirits, or aguardientes, from their Albariño grapes.

The 2016 spring was rainy and the summer was the hottest and driest in the previous 50 years.  Alcohol in this wine is restrained, as is customary in the region, at 12.5% abv.  If this Albariño is an indication, the creating is very good at Fillaboa.

The Fillaboa Albariño 2016 has a bit more golden tint than usual, and bit more earthiness on the nose.  There’s still a bouquet of flowers to smell, along with apples and citrus.  On the palate there's a soft salinity that goes along with an almost racy acidity.  Green apples and limes come forth and linger on the finish. 


Monday, May 14, 2018

Albariño: Pazo Señorans

There's a Snooth virtual wine tasting coming up on Wednesday that involves Albariño wines from Spain's Rias Baixas region of Galicia.  I'm tasting nearly a dozen different Albariños for that reason - not because it's spring, or because it’s almost summer, or because I love Albariño.  Although each of those reasons would have been enough to convince me.

The Rias Baixas Denomination of Origin was established in 1980, specifically for the Albariño grape.  Of course they had been making wine in the region for centuries before.  The winery credits 12th-century monks for providing inspiration to this day.  About a dozen grapes are permitted for making wine.

The winery is a former Galician ancestral country home (pazo) in the village of Señoráns, but it's not known which was named for which.  The vineyard's soil is largely broken down granite, which lends a strong mineral sensibility to the vines.  In addition to its line of Albariño wines, the bodega also features a distillery where they make a sort of Albariño brandy called aguardientes.  One variety is brilliantly golden while the other is clear.  Both are 100% Albariño, the golden one is made with skin contact, anise and cilantro seeds.  I did not taste them, but they sound quite interesting.

The wine is made in stainless steel tanks and alcohol hits the usual 12.5% abv. It sits on its lees during vinification, and that imparts a bit fuller mouth while maintaining that amazingly fresh acidity.

This Albariño shows lemon, lime and lanolin on the nose, with a whiff of apricot.  The pale color is golden straw, and the palate comes forth with a mighty acidity and a mouthful of green apples, on the tart side.  Minerality makes a big play, and the finish is medium-long with a citrus zestiness.


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Wednesday, May 2, 2018

A Rosé From Rioja

The Vivanco dream began, says their website, 100 years ago when Pedro Vivanco González started a four-generation - and counting - business. Today Santiago Vivanco leads the business side and and Rafael Vivanco Sáenz makes the wine. The winery is where it has always been, in the La Rioja Alta town of Briones.

This beautiful rosé wine is made from sustainably-farmed estate grapes, 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha.  The wine is produced in the Sangrado method, which means the juice was captured free-run from the grapes.  The 2016 vintage was a hot one in Briones, with high temperature readings every day and very little rain.  This led to a harvest of concentrated grapes.  The wine has an alcohol level of 13.5% abv and retails for about $15.  The label indicates that the bottle design was inspired by one that's on display at the Vivanco Museum of the Culture of Wine.

The Vivanco Tempranillo Garnacha Rosé Rioja 2016 has a lovely rosado color, a deep and rich pink.  The nose is big and bright, full of beautiful red fruit - cherries, strawberries, raspberries - just as fresh as can be.  A hint of herbs drifts over but can't diminish the ripeness.  The palate is just as fruity, and the mouthfeel is zippy and tingly.  The acidity is refreshing and ready for a tuna salad or even something off the grill.


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Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Spanish Bubbles - Vilarnau Cava Rosé

Cava house Vilarnau is located outside Barcelona.  I understand they date back to the 1940s, although their parent company goes back much further.  Manuel María González Ángel founded his sherry winery in 1835, then joined up with his English agent Robert Blake Byass.  Gonzalez Byass continues today under the descendents of Señor González.  They sell a large variety of wines, like the cavas of Vilarnau.  The bottles are wrapped in the avant-garde design of Antoni Gaudi.

Vilarnau Brut Reserva Rosé NV

Vilarnau Brut Reserva Rosé is a Catalonian, non-vintage DO Cava that provides bubbles and substance at a very fair price.  Alcohol sits at only 12% abv, and the sticker price is only $16.

The wine is made from 85% Trepat grapes and 15% Pinot Noir.  The Pinot was grown in the Penédes region of Catalonia, while the Trepat grapes came from Conca de Barberà in Tarragona. That red grape is probably indigenous to northeast Spain, and used mostly for making rosé wines.  The color is extracted from the grape skins for 18 hours, and fermentation takes place in steel tanks, while the secondary fermentation - from whence the bubbles come - happens in the bottle.

This fun bubbly brings the brut.  It's Sahara dry, with a strong earthy and yeasty streak running through it.  The unusual grape - Trepat - comes on with some of the earthiness of a North American variety, and provides a nice counterpoint to the Pinot Noir.  It's my first time to taste Trepat, by the way, and I would do it again.  Minerals all over the strawberry aromas and flavors hit very well, and provide food friendliness. 


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Monday, August 14, 2017

Unique Spanish White Wine Blend

The Vivanco dream began, according to the website, 100 years ago when Pedro Vivanco González started a four-generation - and counting - business. Today Santiago Vivanco leads the business side and and Rafael Vivanco Sáenz makes the wine. The winery is where it has always been, in the La Rioja town of Briones.

This Rioja white wine is made from 50% Viura grapes, 35% Tempranillo Blanco and 15% Maturana Blanca, and they claim it's the first wine in the world made from those varieties. The grapes were grown in estate vineyards located "in different Rioja terroirs."

Thé Vivanco family describes the two grapes in this mix with which you may not be familiar. The Tempranillo Blanco comes from "a natural genetic mutation found in a single cane of a red Tempranillo vine, discovered in an old vineyard in Murillo de Río Leza (La Rioja) in 1988. It does not exist anywhere else in the world." The Maturana Blanca "is the oldest grape variety to have a written record in Rioja, being mentioned in a text dating to 1622. It does not exist anywhere else in the world." So, you're getting a real treat here.

The wine is alcohol-restrained at 13% abv and sells for around ten bucks online. Looking for value? Right here.

The Vivanco Rioja Viura Blend 2016 is pale in the glass and offers up a nose of citrus and wet rock minerals. It's a gentle set of aromas, and the palate follows suit, with easy acidity - still quite fresh, though - and flavors of lemon pie with a spray of green apples. It should pair very well with white fish, risotto or pasta with butter and pepper.


Monday, August 7, 2017

Spain's White Refresher

Spanish white wines are special, especially during summer. Their refreshing acidity, buoyant fruit and steely minerality just beg to be taken outside with you for a picnic or just to the porch.

Maetierra says they are the only winery in Rioja that makes only white wines. Located in Calahorra, they use grapes from all over the country. It’s hot over much of Spain, but there are cool-climate regions near the Atlantic Ocean, and those places are where the grapes are grown for the Atlantis line.

The bodega started as a college experiment in 2001, just yesterday as far as Spanish wine history goes. Under Raul Acha's guidance the wines just keep on coming.

These Albariño grapes come from Rias Biaxas, on Spain’s northwestern edge, just north of Portugal and splashed by the Atlantic. The wine’s alcohol content comes in at 12.5% abv and the price seems to run about 12 bucks.

The Maetierra Atlantic Albariño is a pretty, pale golden wine. I love the nose. It shows a serious savory side, with a soapy salinity. There's great fruit in there, too, a gentle note of limes and tangerines. The palate brings plenty of minerals to the forefront with a racy acidity that really refreshes. Pair it with crab, oysters or peel-and-eat shrimp for a delight.


Friday, June 9, 2017

Spanish Wine Comes To L.A.

The Familia Martínez Bujanda winery was established in 1889. Today, it's run by Carlos Martínez Bujanda and his sister Pilar. The family has estate vineyards in Rioja, La Mancha and Rueda. I recently had the great fortune to meet Marta Bujanda, Pilar's eldest daughter and the first of the fifth generation to join the family business.

Marta is the export manager, an important position for a wine producer which sells 70% of its wine abroad. Marta came to Los Angeles to pour her wines for a few wine scribes like me, Anthony Dias Blue and Brett Anderson. A swingin' night out with that crew may sound like a full-on vacation, (pause for chuckles) but Marta was in work mode. She enjoyed herself, it was clear, but I believe that had less to do with table mates and more to do with the chance to expound on her family's wines.

The Bujanda wines poured at dinner - at Michael's in Santa Monica - were all single-vineyard wines, driven by their respective terroir. From Rioja, there are the Viña Bujanda and the Finca Valpiedra wines, from Rueda comes the Finca Montepedroso line and out of La Mancha are the wines of Finca Antigua.

I got to the restaurant a little early and had the chance to enjoy a drink from Michael's bar. I opened with a barrel-aged Martinez, 47 day.  It's gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino, angostura and orange bitters with a lemon twist. It has a lovely cherry red color, and flavors of black cherry, herbs, citrus and vanilla spice. For this cocktail, it should be Christmas.

Here are my impressions of the wines poured during the dinner.

Finca Valpiedra Reserva 2009 - A Tempranillo from Rioja, made by winemaker Lauren Rosillo. It's a Graciano and Maturana blend. Great tannic grip, beautiful fruit, savory notes. This is the steak wine. $40

Cantos de Valpiedra 2013 - 100% Tempranillo from Rioja.  Perfumed and delicious. Smooth, with 22 months on oak.

Viña Bujanda Gran Reserva 2010 - 100% Tempranillo from Rioja, fermented in steel and aged 24 months in French and American oak, 39 months in the bottle. Smooth, helluva 30 dollar wine.

Vina Bujanda Crianza 2014 - All Tempranillo from Rioja. It spent a year in American and French oak. Grapes from 20-60 year-old vines. Red fruit and vanilla spice, beautiful with the Bronzini.

Finca Antigua 2013 - Cabernet Sauvignon from La Mancha. $10. Here's where you do a double-take. Response at the table was "Ten buncks? Get out!" Fresh and fruity. Fermented in steel, aged 10 months in new French oak. Great structure.

Finca Antigua 2016 - 100% Viura from old La Mancha vines. Grapefruit nose, flavors of distinct earth and citrus. Very savory white wine. Spent five months on lees.

Finca Montepedroso 2016 - 100% Verdejo from the Rueda vineyard named for its "mountain of stones." Grapefruit and lime, less savory than the Viura, but just a little. 2500-foot elevation vineyard planted in 1980. Five month on lees.

Both whites age well, according to Marta, over 12 years at least. Virua is the better ager, she says, and it even picks up some petrol notes with age.


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Monday, April 25, 2016

Spanish Wine: Vionta Albariño

The way American wine drinkers go after Chardonnay, that’s how Spanish consumers feel about the Albariño grape.  It’s the white wine of choice on that big chunk of the Iberian peninsula, and with good reason.  It’s fresh, aromatic and downright tasty.  Not to mention, it pairs well with just about any kind of food.

This Vionta white wine is all Albariño from the Rias Baixas area of Galicia in northwest Spain.  It’s imported by the Ferrer family under the Freixenet banner.  I was kindly provided a sample of this wine for the purpose of review.

The 2014 vintage was a little light, yielding small bunches of grapes in late September that were highly concentrated as a result, according to the winery.  They say the vines are mostly over 15 years old.  More than two-thirds of the harvest was vinified "on the lees," or in contact with the spent yeast cells, lending roundness and weight to the mouthfeel.  The alcohol clocks in at 12.7% abv and the wine retails for $15.

The wine has a beautiful golden tint and smells of green apples and lemon/lime with just a hint of flowers.  On the palate, the apple notes are crisp and laced with citrus. There is a salinity that runs through it right into the finish and a bracing acidity that really makes it a refreshing sip. Pair it with fish, hummus or crackers and blue cheese.  The salinity also hits well alongside sweet cheeses.


Monday, March 14, 2016

Spanish Food, Spanish Wine In L.A.

The Spanish winery Azul y Garanza is a triumvirate of María Barrena, Dani Sánchez and Fernando Barrena, the former two concerned with growing and winemaking, the latter, María's brother, taking up the business end.  The bodega is located in the northern desert of Bardenas Reales, in Navarre. Clay soils and big temperature differences between day and night make it a good place to grow grapes, especially since the terrain makes the vines work for their water.

The trio condense their varied interests to four, which they say are the most important to them: Love, Music, Wine and Revolution.  Their love of the land leads to their organic approach in the vineyards.  The music pushes them through the day, whether it’s from their digital collection or the throat of a nightingale.  Their wines express their own selves, and the revolution is figurative. "Don’t be scared, we’re not going to take the Bastille," the website offers. It’s more a reference to concrete tanks and biodiversity. They say, "In a world of stainless steel and chemical products, this is a revolution."

I sampled the 2014 Azul y Garanza Viura in Los Angeles at Moruno, the brainchild of Mozza alums, David Rosoff and Chris Feldmeier, presents southern Spanish cuisine in the former Short Order space, and I wish them well there. I feel they may be a little pricey for the Farmers Market crowd, but I hope they succeed for purely a selfish reason. I want to go back and enjoy more meals there. The Esqueixada is a beautiful salt cod salad similar to ceviche, The fried Bhatura bread is crisp and spicy and the delicious chicken and cilantro sandwich also comes as a skewer. So does the lamb.

The Rueda wine is golden-green, smells fresh with a nice savory, vegetal side to the fruit, tastes of citrus and pear and has great acidity to make it a perfect match for a ceviche-type dish.  At 12.5% abv, it’s easy to drink and it is 100% Viura, a grape that gets a bad rap for being a little less than interesting. It’s usually teamed with Verdejo, but it stands alone here. The concrete tank fermentation gives a nice, full mouthfeel.  It was the only Spanish white on the list at Moruno, and it holds up its end well.  $8 by the glass.


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Monday, January 11, 2016

Garnacha: Cruz De Piedra

A Virtual tasting event featuring Garnacha wines from Spain hit Twitter recently, with the hashtag #LoveGarnacha serving as a good way to look up the stream. Several Garnacha fans chimed in during the hour, which was moderated ably by @canterburywine. She covered everything from Garnacha Blanca to Garnacha Gris to Garnacha Noir. "There’s 1 other type of Garnacha," she tweeted, "Garnacha Peluda, whose leaves have furry undersides." I wouldn’t think of holding that against them. She was full of fun facts, including the factoid that the earliest known mention of Garnacha was in 1513. Of course, "Garnacha is grown throughout the Mediterranean," she noted, "but it is originally from Aragon in NE Spain."

The wines tasted were Celler Batea Terra Alta Vall Major Blanca, Care Finca Bancales Reserva, Cruz De Piedra Selección Especial, Pdm Moncayo Garnacha and Marin Old Vine Garnacha. @chasingthevine noted that "the wines have an earthy, savory quality that is so different from the fruit-bright purity of California Grenache," which is a great reason to have a Master of Wine candidate in the group.

Cruz de Piedra means “Cross of Stone” in Spanish, and the name refers to the stone crosses that mark the Pilgrim's Road to Santiago de Compostela, which runs through the collective’s vineyards.  Selección Especial is made of 100% Garnacha grapes from bush vines in Calatayud that are up to 100 years old.

The grapes are fermented in concrete tanks, then transferred to new oak barrels, where malolactic fermentation occurs. The wine is in oak for a total of about 17 months. Alcohol hits 14.5%, and the retail price is $10.

It is a dark colored wine, inky indigo with no light able to break through from the other side of the glass. The is a bit of alcohol on the nose, which makes me wonder if it might not be a higher content than indicated. Aromas of blackberry, plum, vanilla and a puff of smoke make for an olfactory delight. On the palate, big dark fruit dominates even with plenty of oak spice trying to take over. There is a savoriness to it that "prettier" Grenache wines don't show. The mouthfeel is full and the tannins are quite toothy. It’s not a gentle wine. - to the extent that sipping it may offer some discomfort to tender mouths.

Better to have it with meat - meat that has fat literally dripping from it. The fat will give the tannins something to do besides prick your taste buds. A heavily marbled ribeye or smoked ribs come to mind.



Monday, May 19, 2014

Bonny Doon Vineyard Albariño Central Coast 2013

Spring is taking its dear, sweet time about settling in this year.  Earlier this month I was still noticing baseball umpires wearing heavy jackets and gloves in Chicago.  Of course, in Chicago that might be considered routine.  The coldest baseball game I ever attended was in Chicago on Memorial Day weekend.  My eternal gratitude goes out to the nice folks who sat next to me.  They brought an extra blanket.  And to the hot chocolate machine.  It was way too cold for a beer.

Here in Los Angeles, spring comes and goes all year long.  Summer has already started trying to crowd its way in.  The tourists in rented convertibles are starting to look like they aren’t freezing with the top down.  Whether your spring is swinging, or you need some help really feeling it, an Albrariño just might do the trick.

Randall Grahm’s Bonny Doon Vineyard has a recently released Albariño that is perfect for spring, and several other seasons, too.

Yes, the iconic “Rhône Ranger” also works his magic with the Iberian grape variety.  To hear him describe his minimal intervention winemaking, though, you get the impression there’s no magic involved.  You  may even think he simply throws some grapes in a tub, sits doon, waits a while and puts on a screw cap.  That’s not true, though.  Mr. Grahm has a machine which puts on the screw caps.

The Bonny Doon website offers a brief intro to Albariño:  “Until 1989 Albariño was one of the rarest wine varieties in the world, rarely glimpsed outside the Iberian Peninsula. Since that time, this light yet vibrant white grape has become a darling of wine geeks worldwide with its preternatural ability to pair with all types of seafood, cheese and salty dishes.”

The grapes for the 2013 Bonny Doon Albariño are Central Coast fruit, all Albariño.  73% of the grapes were grown in Kristy Vineyard in the Salinas Valley while the other 27% are from Edna Valley’s Jespersen Ranch.  Grahm notes that both sites are windy and cool during the summer.

The wine’s alcohol content of 13.2% makes it a perfect choice for spring and summer refreshment.  To paraphrase the brewer’s old ad copy, it’s a great wine for "when you’re having more than one."  Production was 1,592 cases and the wine retails for $18.

Pale straw in color with just a hint of green tint, the wine looks slightly frizzante in the glass.  A ring of small bubbles cling to the rim.  One sniff brings springtime into full focus.  A floral note of hibiscus mingles with peaches, pears and citrus mineral notes.  The palate shows some very nice mineral-laden salinity riding herd over the peach and lemon peel flavors.  There’s boat load of acidity, so the wine is completely refreshing.  It's also a great food wine.  Look for some Thai food or shellfish to make it really sing.


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