Tempranillo By Another Name

"Strength, nerve and courage" is on the label of the Matsu wines from Spain's Toro region.  Matsu means "wait" in Japanese, says the winery.  It's a tribute to "all the viticulturists who have been working in the vineyards for generations."   The label also features images of real life viticulturists, to a somewhat startling effect.

Spain's D.O. Toro has a dry climate, extreme temperatures and 100-year-old vines.  The grapes were biodynamically farmed and harvested in early October.

Matsu's 2015 El Recio is made entirely from Tinta de Toro grapes, which is the Toro name for Tempranillo.  The vines are nearly a century old and the wine was fermented in concrete and aged in French oak for 22 months.  Alcohol hits 14.5% abv and the retail price is $22.

This beautiful Toro wine is dark, deep and delicious.  The grapes make a wine of such a deep indigo that no light comes through it.  Aromas abound, like blackberry, cassis, anise and vanilla.  The flavors run along those same lines, with big, jammy fruit and a tarry understroke.  Acidity is spot-on and the tannins are plenty firm without being a distraction.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

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. 

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Albariño: Contes De Albarei

Albariño is a lovely white wine grape that is predominant in Spain's northwest corner.  It's the reason they get out of bed every day in the Rias Baixas region of Galicia.  Snooth staged an online virtual tasting session featuring Albariño wines from Rias Baixas, and I was lucky enough to be invited.

The winery known as Condes de Albarei is located in Castrelo, a little town in the province of Ourense.  The winery was founded in 1988 by a group of Salnés Valley growers who wanted to concentrate on Albariño.  They picked a great place to do it, as the valley is reportedly the birthplace of the grape.  Those growers still own and run the place, so much into their work that they don't appear to have a website.

The estate vineyards cover more than 700 acres with mountains all around and the Umia River running through.  Alcohol in the wine is customary for the area, around 13.5% abv, and it sells for $14 or less online.

The Condes de Albarei Albariño wine is golden in the glass and smells of apricots and flowers.  The citrus comes across as a mix of lemon and tangerine.  On the palate, it's one of the more sippable Albariños I've tasted from the region.  The acidity is fresh but doesn't rip off one's tongue.  Flavors of Granny Smith apples and Meyer lemons come forward, along with some other fruits that may have been named after people.  It's an earthy drink that lasts a while on the finish.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twittter

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. 

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

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.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Albariño: Altos De Torona

A virtual tasting session is coming on May 16th that involves Albariño wines from Spain's Rias Baixas region of Galicia.  It's being put on by Snooth and 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 of a convincer.

Spain's 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.  In fact, the winery credits 12th-century monks for providing inspiration to this day.  About a dozen grapes are permitted in Rias Baixas for making wine.

Bodega Altos de Torona is located a stone's throw from the Miña River and slightly harder toss from the Atlantic Ocean.  The vineyard's position on the south-facing slopes shields it from the cold, wet weather found on the other side.  Winemaker Pablo Ibañez fermented this 100% Albariño wine in stainless steel to an alcohol level of 13% abv.

This pale Albariño has a citrus-first nose showing lemons, peaches and twist of tangerine.  The palate displays tart apples, lemon zest and some white pepper.  The acidity is fresh and the wine finishes very clean, with minerality lingering after the sip.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Albariño: Laxas Of Rias Baixas

There's a Snooth virtual wine tasting coming up on May 16th which will involve 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 Laxas bodega has been in the family since 1862, and they watch over their 13-acre estate vineyard with careful eyes.  The vines grow on steep terraces which look south over the Miña River in sandy, mineral-laden soil.  Winemaker Jorge Dominguez Hervella works with great fruit and makes the most of it, producing an Albariño that speaks of its land.  Alcohol on the 2017 Albariño checks in as 12.5% abv and it sells for around $18.

The 2017 Laxas Albariño is a pale yellow wine which has an interesting nose full of lemon-lime, apricot and a lanolin note.  A bit of earth peeks out amid the smell of white flowers.  The mouth is rather full, yet the acidity is fresh and zingy.  Lemony and tropical fruit flavors abound in a mineral-laden palate and leave me craving a calamari and scungilli salad.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Albariño: Terras Gauda O Rosal

There's a Snooth virtual wine tasting coming up on May 16th 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 of a convincer.  I'll keep you posted on details, but it's usually easiest to jump on Twitter and join the fun.

Bodegas Terras Gauda makes their O Rosal Rias Biaxas from grapes grown in one of the subregions of Rias Baixas, O Rosal.  It's a little piece of land butted up against the Miño River to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

Terras Gauda has three wineries and a vegetable cannery under its corporate umbrella.  The O Rosal Valley winery is a couple of decades old and now produces about 1.5 million bottles of wine each year.  This Albariño blend is their flagship wine.

The Terras Gauda O Rosal Rias Biaxas White Wine is not a varietal wine, which is how Albariño grapes are often vinified.  This one is 70% Albariño, 20% Caiño Blanco and 10% Loueira, the latter two grapes being found in the northeastern corner of the Iberian peninsula.  Its alcohol content is low at 12.5% abv and it sells for as little as $12 online.

This wine has a lovely golden-green hue and a brisk nose of stone fruit, Meyer lemon and flowers.  The palate shows those qualities plus a hefty load of minerals and acidity, enough to make oysters a great idea. 


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

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.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

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. 


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Spanish Rosato, Kosher

The Spanish wine co-operative of Cellar de Capçanes reportedly made the first kosher wine in Spain. Importers Royal Wine Corporation says that Spanish Jews "were once one of the largest Jewish communities worldwide, living peacefully under both Muslim and Christian rule until the year 1492 when Isabel and Ferdinand expelled them during the inquisition. Currently, there are approximately 40,000 Jews living in Spain."

The 2013 Capçanes Peraj Petita Rosat is a kosher rosé produced in the Montsant region of Spain. The wine is an incredible blend of Garnacha, Tempranillo, Merlot and Syrah grapes. It his only 13% abv on the alcohol scale, which makes it extremely drinkable.

This wine colors up like cranberry juice. It has an extremely earthy and savory element to the nose. It's more than just an herbal "stemminess" - it's a full-on, nose-in-the-furrow dirtfest. There are cherry and strawberry notes, of course, but they live under the ground. The palate plays right along with the game, hiding its bright red fruit underneath an umami blanket. It's not an approach I find much in a rosé, even one that’s Garnacha-based. Nice acidity, and full in the mouth. Pair this with a salami sandwich, cashews or tapas if you're feeling adventurous.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Rioja Blanca

Hacienda López de Haro wine is made at Bodega Classica, in the Rioja Sonsierra region. The winery says it's in the heart of Rioja, with the Toloño Mountains to the north and the River Ebro on the south. Their vineyards - spread out over Rioja - average 50 to 80 years in age, some of them older than a century.

The white Rioja wine contains Viura "and other varieties," as the winery coyly puts it. It hits 12.5% abv for alcohol and saw three months aging in French oak barrels.

This white Rioja wine shows a pale golden tint in the glass. The nose is beautiful. Citrus and tropical fruit abound, with a stony minerality laced into the fruit. On the palate, the acidity is extremely refreshing and the flavors of tangerines and lemons are again presented in mineral fashion. The finish is lengthy and the tropical fruit seems to last the longest.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

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.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Everything's Coming Up Rosé - El Terrano

Everything’s coming up Rosé at Whole Foods Markets, and that's good news for people looking for wines to pair with spring and summer get-togethers. They have a slew of pink wines that are easy on the palate and the pocketbook. Their marketing department offered a sample of a half dozen of their favorites, and I took 'em. Whole Foods beverage guy Devon Broglie calls this Spanish pinkie one of the wines from their "rosé garden."

Garnacha, Spanish for Grenache, are the grapes that make the El Terrano Garnacha Rosado 2016. They are grown in Cariñena, in the Aragon region of northeast Spain. Traditionally, the wines were heavy on the alcohol, but winemakers in the area began to go more for balance a couple of decades ago. Winemaker Ana Becoechea definitely leans that way with this entry at 13% abv. It sells at Whole Foods for about ten dollars.

The Spanish wine has a beautiful copper-pink color. The nose is not exactly overpowering, but offers up some pleasant strawberry and cherry aromas. There's a slight herbal tint, too. On the palate, the medium weight is abetted by an easy acidity. Red fruit flavors ride out front, while a barely chalky minerality makes things a little more complex. It's not a wine to write home about, even though I am doing just that, but it serves well as an afternoon sip or a companion to a salad or sandwich. Or tapas.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Spanish Wine: Albariño

The Spanish Albariño grape is the reigning king of varieties in the country’s Rias Baixas region. Related to the Alsatian Riesling grape, Albariño makes a white wine that usually offers a nice touch of sweetness amid a ton of citrus minerality.

The wine’s importer notes that Bodega Don Olegario was started some 60 years ago in the place that Albariño calls home.  Don Olegario is a 12-acre single vineyard with vines averaging 30-years of age growing in granitic, sandy soil that drains well. It is one of only a few single estates in Rías Baixas, where vineyard land is often divided among hundreds of growers. The growing is sustainable and harvesting is done by hand. The grapes are fermented in stainless steel tanks.

The wine sells in most places online for under $20 and has a well-restrained alcohol content of only 13% abv.

This 2015 Albariño pours up pretty in the glass - yellow-gold and a touch of bubbles. The bubbly sensation doesn't last too long, but it's festive while it’s there. The nose brings some citrus - of course - and a smattering of stone fruit and ripe apples. In the mouth, the magic really begins. The acidity is razor-sharp and a complete delight. The bottle should come with a dozen oysters. Flavors of apples and Meyer lemons grace the palate and you simply don't run out of minerals. There's a lot to like here, and it lasts long beyond the sip.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Garnacha: Spanish Grenache

A recent "Twitter Tasting" brought wine lovers together for the sake of Garnacha. That’s what the Grenache grape is called in Spain, and I’m always up for some Spanish wine. I was invited to play along and was provided with samples for that purpose. This is one of the great Garnachas that were sampled.

Pdm Moncayo 2013

Located in the Aragon region of Spain, Campo de Borja, in the foothills of the Sierra del Moncayo, Pagos del Moncayo relies upon traditional techniques in winemaking. The grapes - from their estate vineyards - are crushed by foot, then subjected to a more modern crush after vinification has begun.

The '13 PdM Garnacha is a 100% varietal wine, aged for ten months in American oak barrels. Alcohol comes in at 14.5% abv and the retail price is $26.

This Garnacha is brawny and very dark in the glass, with a nose exhibiting blackberry, blueberry and spice galore - allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg are predominant. The palate is fruit forward, with dark berries, sage, thyme, and tons of savory spice showing. Great tannins and a super acidity lend to food pairing.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Garnacha: Spanish Grenache

A recent "Twitter Tasting" brought wine lovers together for the sake of Garnacha. That’s what the Grenache grape is called in Spain, and I’m always up for some Spanish wine. I was invited to play along and was provided with samples for that purpose. We are presently examining some of the great Garnachas that were sampled.

Garnacha Centenaria Coto de Hayas 2013 $15.99

This is Campo de Borja wine made from 100% Garnacha grapes taken from 100-year-old vines. The wine experienced just four months in French oak, and hits 14% abv on the alcohol scale.

The nose on this wine is subtle, but expressive. Dark berries and oak spice sum it up, but to leave it at that doesn't do it justice. The fruit points toward savory while the spice shows a sweet side. Vanilla, soft and gentle, mix with the sort of cinnamon you put in oatmeal. The cigar box is the one you kept lemon drops in as a kid.

On the palate we find that everything is all grown up. It's a lovely and elegant sip, a grape effortlessly shirking off the criticism that it isn't pretty enough. But even though it's pretty, it can still fight dirty. Don't expect it to punch you in the nose, but don't let your guard down, either.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Garnacha: Spanish Grenache

A recent "Twitter Tasting" brought wine lovers together for the sake of Garnacha. That’s what the Grenache grape is called in Spain, and I’m always up for some Spanish wine. I was invited to play along and was provided with samples for that purpose. Over the next week we will examine some of the great Garnachas that were sampled.

Pirineos Seleccion 2013

From the Somontano area of Aragon, the land flows from the foothills of the Pyrenees into the Ebro Valley in Spain's extreme northeastern corner.

This wine is extremely full of minerals and loaded with an oaky essence that, while a bit heavy-handed, plays right into the rustic sensibility that I love in a wine.  The oak blasts through with tobacco, clove, cinnamon, allspice and a wisp of vanilla. It’s a big, dirty red - it smells of the dirt and rocks and it tastes of it ,too. Beef, please. It has an easy-to-swing $15 retail price tag.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

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.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

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.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter