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More Spanish Table Wines
The Lay of the
Land...Backgrounder on Spain's Wine Regions
- ALVARO PALACIOS
 This
fellow has become an important ambassador for the wines of Spain in general
and the wines of Priorat in particular.
Born into a family with a winery in Rioja, Alvaro Palacios was the seventh
kid in the family, so his prospects of running the family business were
bleak. His father sent him to Bordeaux to study wine and Alvaro went,
but dropped out of school, taking a job with the Moueix family at Chateau
Petrus. It was this experience that ignited the flames of winemaking
passion in Palacios.
Returning to Spain, he had a job in selling oak barrels to wineries.
He traveled around his home country and saw great, but unfulfilled
possibilities for wine growing and wine making.
Working at the Palacios' family winery in Rioja many years ago was the
now-Priorat Pioneer, Rene Barbier. He enlisted young Palacios to join
him in the Priorat region. In the early 1980s, Palacios and others
bought grapes, made some wines and the re-birth of this region began.
Today the Palacios label is well-regarded and we've been fans for a number
of years.
The current vintage of Les Terrasses, 2008, is quite good and one of the few
relative bargains in the Priorat. It's made of estate grown, as well
as purchased fruit. It's something close to 60% Carignane, 30% Garnacha, 5% Cabernet
Sauvignon and 5% Syrah. The wine spends about a year in French oak,
but only 20% is new cooperage, so the grapes really shine.
The wine is medium-full bodied and only mildly tannic. It's quite nice
to drink immediately, though it ought to age well for a few years.
Currently in stock: 2008 ALVARO PALACIOS Priorat "Les
Terrasses" $35.99
- BIELSA
 The
Campo de Borja appellation in the Aragon region of Spain. The
principal city is Zaragoza and if you drive north towards the Rioja region
on the highway, you'll see signs for Borja, a major center for the Garnacha
or Grenache grape.
Vineyards have been cultivated in this region since the mid-1100s and today
Garnacha accounts for nearly 70% of the vineyard plantings in the
region. And think of this remarkable statistic: roughly 5,000
hectares of Garnacha alone (that's 11,000 acres) and a mere 17
wineries!
We have a couple of wines from the Campo de Borja region and this Bielsa is
one of them. And a wonderfully fruity, charming rendition it is!
The wine is labeled as an "old vines" bottling, but in the Campo
de Borja, something like 40% of the Garnacha vines are 30 to 50 years of
age.
The 2009 vintage is the current release and this offers all the charm of a
good Beaujolais but with the fruit character of Grenache (raspberries, dark
cherry and a hint of spice). I've served this lightly chilled and it's
aromatic, flavorful, smooth and dry. It's best in its youth, so don't
leave bottles of this in the rack for aging...
Currently in stock: 2009 BIELSA Garnacha $10.99-
- DESCENDIENTES DE JOSE PALACIOS
 As
if Alvaro Palacios didn't have enough to do already, what with his own
property in Priorat (see above) and running the family estate in Rioja, he's
now teamed up with his nephew Ricardo Perez Palacios to produce some
remarkably good wine in the Bierzo region of Northwest Spain.
The two Palacios are making some really good wine, this from the somewhat
forgotten/now resurgent "Mencia" grape. We're heard references
to this being somehow related to Cabernet Franc. We're not sure, though
some of the wines from Bierzo do, to some degree, have a kinship with some Loire
Valley reds such as Chinon, Bourgueil and Saumur-Champigny.
Palacios has been instrumental in spearheading the awakening of wineries and
vineyards in this region and now we're seeing quite a number of interesting
wines from Bierzo.
One of our favorites is the Petalos bottling from Palacios. It's from
hillside and ridge-top vineyard sites. The wine is vinified to be
immediately drinkable and so the tannin level is modest. The wine features
a red berry fruit character with a faintly floral tone. Oak?
They supposed age this for a few months in wood, but it's not prominent, so you
can smell and taste the stony, minerally tones as well as the red fruits.
 Corullon is an old
vines bottling from various parcels and it's matured in a higher percentage of
new oak. In tasting through the range, we all preferred this to some of
the far more costly limited bottlings intended for point-awarding wine critics
and their trophy-hunting followers. The 2008 sports black cherry/dark
raspberry fruit with a woodsy, cedary, sort of vanillin tone. It's lovely
now, especially with food and it should hold up well for a few more years.
- Currently in stock: 2008 DESCENDIENTES DE JOSE
PALACIOS Bierzo "PETALOS" $19.99
2008 DESCENDIENTES DE JOSE
PALACIOS Bierzo "CORULLON" $49.99
-
CLOS DE L'OBAC
- This outstanding little winery is located in the village of
Gratallops in the Priorato region of eastern Spain. This is amazingly rugged country
and you have to be crazy to want to spend your life making wine here. The
mountainous terrain is steep and the vineyards are typically terraced. The rocky
soil means the vines really have to struggle to exist and they produce small quantities of
fruit, if you're lucky.
Owned by the Pastrana family, they've got some 50 hectares
planted at the present time. These are about a thousand feet above sea level.
When we first visited some years ago, they had but 14 hectares!
The winery is called Costers del Siurana and they make a few different
wines, including a sweet red of Garnacha, Cabernet & Syrah! But
the famous red wine is called Clos de L'Obac, a blend of Garnacha, Cabernet
Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot and Cariñena.
The 2004 is a huge wine...deep and dark in color...lots of black fruit
aromas with some spice tones on the palate. It's one of those wines
which will certainly appeal to those measuring it on a numerical
wine-tasting score-card. We had a bottle with a prime rib dinner and
the wine showed marvelously. It's nice now, but we suspect it needs a
few years to really blossom and come together.
While they do
fine with egg whites, Clos de L'Obac is bottled unfiltered. New barrels are the
rule, being of Limousin, Allier and Nevers oak.
- Currently available:
- 1994 Clos de L'Obac $49.99
2004 Clos de L'Obac $76.99
-
-
MAS MARTINET
 A neighboring winery to Clos de L'Obac,
Clos Martinet is a 6 hectare estate. It's owned by Jos Luis Pérez, who also was
involved, apparently, with Carlos Pastrana at
Clos de L'Obac at one time. The planting of Cabernet and Syrah is, apparently, a
relatively recent issue, as they started this sometime during the 1980s.
Today Pérez is assisted by his daughter Sara, who's an enologist (and
philosopher!).
Pérez makes two
wines, the Clos Martinet being the best of their production and amounting to 40% of the
output. That wine is about 35% Garnacha (as the Catalonians write it), 35% Cabernet
Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 15% Syrah.
The little brother red vino is called Martinet Bru and this
has less Garnacha and Syrah and a bit more Cabernet and Merlot.
The Clos Martinet is a big, deep wine and the 2004 vintage is one of the best.
It's more elegant and refined, showing 'finesse', which is unusual for the
powerful Priorat wines. It's quite lovely now, having sweet oak notes
(all new French barrels were used to mature this wine) and it should cellar
nicely for a decade.
Currently available:
Clos Martinet 2004 Priorat SALE
$79.99
- CLOS MOGADOR
- This property is owned by the large firm of Rene
Barbier. The vineyards from where this comes are in Gratallops, near Clos de
L'Obac. It is a lavishly oaked red wine, typical of these showpieces from this
incredible area of Spain.
Garnacha is the base of this wine, augmented with a substantial contribution from Cabernet
Sauvignon and a bit of Syrah. Very nice, modern and, to my taste, an
improvement over wines made in the early 1990s.
The 2002 is not as massive as the 2001, but it's still quite good. I
suspect this will arrive at its peak before the 2001, as well. It's
nicely oaked and gets a high "score" from Spain's top wine
guide...
The 2003 is a big, deep wine. I tasted it once, shortly after its
arrival and the wine was good, but not quite "together."
I'll have to have another taste to see if it has bounced back from its
travels from Spain. Other's tasting notes I've read have been
encouraging, though.
- Currently available: 2002 Clos Mogador
Priorat (List $82) SALE
$71.99
2003 CLOS MOGADOR $89.99
-
-
-
CVNE or "CUNE" if you prefer
 The abbreviation stands for
"Compania Vinícola del Norte de España," this is another old Rioja winery. It's a very old and
traditional property, having been founded in 1879. They
own some 1200 acres of vines, which accounts for about half their production.
They also own an estate called "Contino" from which they make
estate-bottled,
single-vineyard wines of the same name.
The style of the wines is rather traditional and given the taste preferences
of today's wine critics, the CUNE wines tend to be somewhat
unheralded. They are not deep in color, hugely alcoholic, massive red
wines, so using the measuring stick of a hundred point scale, the wines
merit good to very good scores, but rarely are they weighing in as
"exceptional."
-
On the other hand, if you're looking for an impressive wine to serve with
grilled meats or a roast of beef or lamb, you might treat yourself to the
2001 vintage of CUNE's "Imperial" in Gran Reserva format.
I found this wine
to be most impressive. It's Tempranillo, of course, with about 10% of
Graciano and 5% Mazuelo. Nice oak this vintage...cedary, woodsy,
toasty and a hint of vanillin. The wine is quite drinkable now and
should be good for another 5-12 years.
The 2005 Imperial Reserva is quite good, too...a bit less "Gran"
than the older vintage, but similarly styled, if a shade less complex.
Very fine, though.
- Currently available:
Imperial Gran Reserva 2001 $69.99
CUNE Imperial Reserva 2005 SALE $44.99
- Other CUNE wines available by special order...
-
- BODEGAS FAUSTINO MARTINEZ
Their wines are rather "standard" in quality and the current
line-up is okay. I did not taste anything spectacular, but we can, of
course, order their wines with ease.
Another "old time" producer of Rioja wines, Faustino
is located in the town of Oyn. Their wines come in dark, frosted bottles and are
certainly distinctive. Happily, the wines are pretty nice. The have a curious
numbering system for their wines: FAUSTINO VII is for their modestly-priced, normal
quality.
Their wines are rather "standard" in quality and the current
line-up is okay. I did not taste anything spectacular, but we can, of
course, order their wines with ease.
Currently available: By Special Order
Faustino VII (Crianza)
Faustino I (Gran Reserva)
Faustino V (Reserva)
Faustino Rosado
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