Spanish Wines I

For this post I decided to address the recent Spanish interest from wine enthusiasts. Spain as an "old world" wine making country offers some of the best quality wines for the cheapest prices on the market. Even some of their hard to get "Cult" wines hover at price points close to or slightly above the $50 mark. With that being said, Spanish wine is definitely something every wine lover should experience while the prices stay low.

As usual I'm starting off the taste with a sparkling white wine. The Marques de Gelida 2002 Brut Exclusive Reserva Cava retails around $15 and is noteworthy to anyone that is enthusiastic about bubbles in their wine. Cava is the D.O. (Denominación de Origen) for sparkling white wine in Spain, however, the restrictions on Cava aren't as strict as Champagne. While there are examples of Cava from five different D.O.'s around the country around 90% of the Cava produced comes from a small region near Barcelona called Catalonia. You can find most Cava under the $20 mark making it more affordable than it's American counterparts and more dry than Italian sparkling. Marques de Gelida uses a blend of traditional Cava varietals (35% Maccabeo, 30% Xarel-lo, 20% Parellada, and 15% Chardonnay) in this heavily yeasty yet lightly buttery scented wine. This Cava offers crisp and clean fruit leading to a refreshing and gentle finish. I suggest trying this wine with a venison stew with garlic butter brushed baguette crisps. For more info on this winery please check out:Marques de Gelida.

While Spain does make some fantastic white wines I thought I'd concentrate on some of the outstanding red offerings first. The Barahonda Tinto 2004 Monastrell is a good example of great quality for a small price (retail $15). Barahonda is an impressive winery that offers a variety of different styles of wine from several different labels. This winery grows almost all Monastrell with a small production of Cabernet Sauvignon. Monastrell is known as Mataro in California, Mouvedre in France and is known as Spain's second most important grape varietal. Hot days and cold nights allow for ripe fruit that is clearly evident in this wine. This deeply colored beauty from Yecla (D.O.) offers earthy scents accompanied by plum, strawberry, spice and black cherry. Deep and spicy red fruit flavors lead to a finish riddled with black pepper. I would pair this wine with roasted rosemary stuffed quail over wild mushroom risotto. For more information on the fantastic wines offered by this winery please visit: www.barahonda.com

This time I'm ending the blog with the best of the bunch. The Can Blau 2005 (retail $22) from Montsant, Spain was truely a treat to drink. This was the second time I visited this tasty wine. I'm not sure if I've talked about buying wine in this blog yet, but here it goes. When purchasing wine you don't know much about I suggest buying in at least twos. That way when you taste the wine and come to the conclusion that it needs more bottle time (as was the case in the first tasting of this wine) you still have at least one that you can lay down for a while. If on the other hand its good... drink away! But I've wandered from the original subject... Can Blau. The blend for this wine is 35% Cariñena (Carignan), 35% Syrah, and 30% Garnacha (Grenache). While these grapes are widely grown in both Southern France and Northern Spain the relatively newly created Montsant D.O. (in the historic region of Priorato for you Spanish oenophiles) offers unique vineyards dating back to the 12th century chosen for their particular soil and microclimate. In this old vine wine the Cariñena was planted in sandy clay, the Syrah in chalky soils and the Granacha on slate, known as llicorella. Robert Parker refers to Monsant as "the Spanish appellation that could be called the poor person's Priorato." On the second tasting this wine exhibited essences of blackberry, plum, tobacco, and slight caramel tones. Deep dark red fruit flavors lead to a full rounded silky yet complex finish. I would suggest drinking this fantastic wine with a char grilled bone-in Filet Mignon encrusted in black pepper corns and topped with a red wine compound butter served with blanched broccoli florets.

Thanks again for your continued interest in my blog and I appreciate everyone who has commented on or asked questions about wine and spirits. Please keep the inquires coming and until next time keep an open mind and an open eye.