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.

John & Dan's Picks, March 1st 2007

Feburary was a busy month for wine tastes. Numerous other restaurants held their Fat Tuesday tastes and mid-winter tastes to boost their wine sales. Due to so much activity, we were unable to book a distributor this week. So, John and I decided this would be a perfect time to feature some of our favorite wines that we were unable to present before.

As always our wines were accompanied by some food. This week Chef Tim King put out a mixed cheese board, miniature shell pasta tossed in a meat sauce, mini tube pasta with mussels and alfredo sauce, and home made bread sticks to accompany the wine this week.

First we started with a wine represented by the Vintage Company, Nederberg Stein 2005 (retail $15). This white blend comes from the Western Cape, South Africa. While I am always a little reluctant in fully accepting South African wine this little beauty which is a blend of Chenin Blanc, Riesling, and Gewürtztraminer really caught my attention when I first tasted it. While many wine enthusiasts consider the South African Coast to be one of the up-and-coming wine regions of the world, I feel as a whole their wines and wine makers are in their adolescence and have yet to impress me with anything they have released. This does not however mean that I think South Africa will never produce good wine, I just think the program needs a bit more time to develop. However, Nederberg makes a pretty damn good wine indicating maybe South Africa is worth a revisit from time to time. While Nederberg was producing wine since 1937 the winery style and wine making really came around when they hired Gunter Brozel as their winemaker. He led them to their and South Africas first award in winemaking. Deep gold in color this wine exhibits tones of fresh pear and pineapple in the nose. Its light, fruity, and slightly sweet leading to a crisp acidic slightly tangy finish. Try this wine with a pan-seared tilapia with collard greens and dirty rice. For more information on this winery go to: www.nederburg.co.za

Next John and I decided to feature a wine new to the market. Marquee Chardonnay 2004 retails for around $12. Marquee's Classic series produces artisan style wines that are meant to be approachable and affordable small-batch wines. This wine from Victoria, Australia was bright hay in color featuring dried pineapple and hazelnut with a hint of oak in the nose. A nice bold fruit and slightly creamy start lead to a long citric finish. Try this wine with a creamed crawfish bisque or a roast chicken with cornbread and oyster stuffing and seasoned potatoes. To find out more about Marquee go to: www.marquee.com

Moving on to red we featured this new selection from Superior Beverage, Carneros Creek Reserve Pinot Noir 2004 (retail $24). This Pinot Noir is deep ruby, almost opaque in color which is a good indication of the intensity of this wine that shows cocoa, walnut, and heavy strawberry tones in the nose. This 2004 Pinot Noir has bold berry flavors upfront with a long rounded slightly spicy finish. John Webster described this wine as, "Without a doubt the finest Pinot Noir we have been offered in a long time." While I agree with him on the price point, I would be interested to see how well this intense (undervalued) wine would present itself with a little bottle age. I suggest getting some to cellar for a later date. Try drinking this wine with berry glazed roasted quail with carmelized onions and polenta. For more information on Carneros Creek wines check out this link: Carneros Creek Winery

For the fourth wine of the taste we tried Qupé Los Olivos Cuvée 2001 (retail $24). This Rhone blend of 53% Syrah, 27% Mourvèdre, and 20% Grenache is also a blend of the Ibarra-Young vineyard (67%) and the Purisima Mountain Vineyard (33%). Qupe is the brain child of Bob Linquist who is considered among the wine world as an innovative winemaker and along with the other few "Rhone Rangers" of Santa Ynez responsible for the popularity of Syrah in the American palate. This wine exhibits nice black cherry and plum with a hint of cocoa and tar on the nose. It is big and full upfront leading to a long rounded finish that seems to go on forever. This 2001 cuvée is hands down one of my favorite undervalued wines and has yet to dissapoint me every time I revisit it. Try this wine with grilled lamb kebobs served with lentils and wild rice. Find out more about Qupé at: www.qupe.com

We finished the taste with a unique varietal that thrives in South America, Tannat. Tannat is a rare French vareital that is assumed to have got its name from the heavy tannins in the wine. Our representaion of this strange grape is from Don Rodolfo Viña Cornejo Tannat 2004 and retails at $12. Its amazing that these young vines (six years old) produce such a full-bodied rich wine. At 6000 feet above sea level Don Rodolfo boasts being one of the highest altitude wineries in the world. This deep purple wine has heavy bright cherry and plum tones with a slight hint of honey and oak. The wine is dry and heavy with bright fruit that leads to a long acidic smokey finish. Try pairing this wine with beef curry and long grained rice. For some more information on this winery plase check out this link: Don Rodolfo

Sorry it took me so long to post this taste. I know I kind of fell behind, but within the next couple of days I will catch up with the other tastes and be right back on schedule. Until next time remember to keep an open mind and an open eye.