Wine of the Week 15 – a fine Picpoul as last of my summer wine

Lean-Luc Colombo in the vineyard.

Well, the summer is drawing to a close and the weather, in the UK anyway, is not very good, but I have the antidote. I enjoyed a wine last night that was a pleasure to drink and made me happy.

I was especially pleased as the wine seemed to be very good with scrambled eggs. I say scrambled eggs, but more accurately the dish I cooked should be called huevos revueltos. It is a dish of roughly scrambled eggs into which I put prawns, asparagus and lots of garlic and served it on a bed of crispy roast potatoes. It is a typical Spanish dish and worth trying when in Spain, other classic versions incorporate black pudding and often they include little eels as well, not my thing but very popular in Spain. The best version, other than my own, that I have tried was in Restaurante El Botin which is in Madrid and is officially the oldest restaurant in the world.

Eggs are notoriously difficult to partner with wine, as is asparagus actually, but I decided to match the weight of the dish and the fresh Mediterranean flavours of the prawns and the garlic rather than the eggs, and it worked brilliantly. It might have helped that I served it with a lovely Insalata Caprese and that went superbly with the wine too.

The pairing came to me as a flash of inspiration, so I was delighted that the food and the wine all went so well together. The wine was a particularly good example of a something that has managed to break through the Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc stranglehold to become quite trendy and popular – Picpoul de Pinet. This is a white wine within the Languedoc appellation, which overwhelmingly produces red wines, and has its own sub region appellation.

I really like and enjoy Picpoul, at least Picpoul Blanc which is the version we normally encounter and the only one I have knowingly tasted – both black skinned Picpoul Noir and pink skinned Picpoul Gris also exist, but in tiny amounts. The wines made from Picpoul Blanc might never be the most complex and profound, but when they are good they can give a great deal of pleasure. Like Gavi they have a reputation for being more crisp and acidic than most of them actually are.

Laure Colombo

2013 Picpoul de Pinet Les Girelles
AC Picpoul de Pinet / AC Languedoc Picpoul de Pinet
Jean-Luc Colombo
Jean-Luc Colombo is really a Rhône Valley winemaker who is based in the Northern Rhône area of Cornas, but he makes wines across the Rhône Valley. It is a new business, only having been founded in 1982, but has enjoyed remarkable success in this short time. I really admire their style as they seem to be able to make very elegant wines with fabulous fruit concentration. In recent years Jean-Luc has been joined in the business by his daughter Laure, who has proved herself to be a superb winemaker in her own right. They have also expanded their production to Coteaux d’Aix en Provence and IGP wines from the beautiful landscape near Marseilles as well as Picpoul de Pinet and Rivesaltes in the Languedoc. 

The colour is a lovely burnished copper like peach skin, in the glass it looks viscous and enticing.
The nose gives attractive floral notes, wild herbs, nuts and fresh peaches, whilst remaining delicate and offering a faint whiff of the sea.
The palate is fresh, yet succulent at the same time. Juicy and clean, so poised between being racy and being rich, which suits it too. There is an apricot fleshy succulence to the palate, a crack of white pepper – not unlike Grüner Veltliner – clean, refreshing acidity and a touch of minerality. I like this very much indeed, there is good concentration, it’s delicious and a lot of fun to drink. There is purity and richness, lightness and weight, freshness and richness. It feels like a glass of sunshine to push away the Autumn blues – 89/100 points.

Available in the UK from Oddbins and a range of other outlets at around £9.99 per bottle. Jean-Luc Colombo wines are distributed in the UK by Hatch Mansfield.
Jean-Luc Colombo wines are distributed in the US by Palm Bay International.

If you have never tried a Picpoul de Pinet, or perhaps been disappointed by one in the past, then do try this. It is an especially good example, brilliant on its own or with prawns and all manner of seafood, as well as Mediterranean cuisine from Provencal, Spanish, Italian to Greek and Turkish. It would be perfect with Mezze or Tapas as well as being with, scrambled eggs and asparagus, either together or separately. Oh, and it is an utter delight to drink, a little burst of sunshine in your glass.

In the interests of total disclosure I must mention that I do some work for both Hatch Mansfield and Jean-Luc Colombo, but the views expressed here are my own genuine ones and totally unsolicited.

Wine of the Week 14 – a sumptuous Syrah

My Wine of the Week this week fits all the criteria that I have set myself. Great quality, great value for money and very, very drinkable. This week with autumnal weather creeping in – here in the UK anyway – I have gone for another red wine. I have never really been huge fan of Syrah in the past, I have enjoyed some of course, but I have never actively sought them out, but my taste seems to have changed over recent years and I am now seeing the delights that Syrah has to offer.

Cortes de Cima from the air – photo courtesy of Cortes de Cima.

Syrah of course comes from France’s Rhône Valley, chiefly the northern Rhône, where it makes the likes of Hermitage and Côte Rôtie. The grape has made other homes for itself too, Australia, where it is labelled as Shiraz for some reason which remains totally obscure, is the other really important place, but little pockets of production can be found all over the world. Chile, South Africa and California can all produce good examples, as increasingly does the Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand and even Lebanon.

My Wine of the Week though is a Syrah from southern Portugal:

2011 Cortes de Cima Syrah
Cortes de Cima
Vinho Regional Alentejano
Alentejo, Portugal
The Cortes de Cima estate was created by Danish born winemaker Hans Kristian Jorgensen and his Californian wife Carrie – whose family was originally Portuguese. They were real pioneers settling into Portugal’s hot southern region of Alentejo at a time when people were generally leaving the land and few had noticed the regions potential for quality wine. They arrived in 1988 and steadily did the place up, renovating the buildings and installing electricity. In 1991 they started planting their vineyards and ignored all the local advice of sticking to traditional vines. Instead they decided to plant Syrah, the first people to do so in fact and their gut feeling that the grape would do well was vindicated when the first 2 vintages were extremely well received at the 1998 International Wine Challenge in London. Indeed they won the top medals for Portuguese wines that year. Because Syrah was not a traditional grape in the region the Jorgensens had to label their Syrah as humble Vinho Regional rather than DOC. What matters though is what is in the bottle rather than what is on the label and I think their Syrah is superb – as is everything else that I have tasted from the estate, including their inexpensive red Chaminé. 
The colour is a lovely intense opaque ruby red.
Intensity is the byword for this wine. the aromas are of intense, bright fruit; redcurrants, raspberries, black cherry, blackcurrants and blackberries together with dashes of pepper, earth, coffee, smoke and mushrooms – you can smell the sunshine and the heat here.
The palate is gloriously ripe, soft, opulent and lead by the fruit; red fruit and black fruit, all vibrant, ripe and juicy. There is also a seam of acidity running through the wine making it fresh and emphasizing that delicious juicy quality. Then there are some lovely firm, gently chalky, but seductive tannins on the finish that show this wine will age – if you want to keep it. Rich black fruit dominates the finish too together with espresso coffee, cracked black pepper and treacle from the 8 months oak ageing.
A lot of wine and a lot of fun, drinking it instantly transports you to sunnier climes and it goes wonderfully with Mediterranean food – like lamb with rosemary – as well as richer, autumn and winter dishes – 89/100 points.

Available in the UK from Waitrose for £11.49 per bottle.
A list of worldwide distributors is available by clicking here.

Do try this wine, it might open your eyes at to the quality that Portugal can produce.

Gavi & Cortese – the place, the grape and a surprise

 

The beautiful landscape of Gavi.

The Santuario di Nostra Signora della Guardia dominates the landscape around Gavi.

I have long had a soft spot for the wines of the Gavi DOCg and consider the best of them to be among the very finest white wines of Italy. My recent trip to the Province of Alessandria in Piemonte was a delight, I loved seeing it all, but one of the highlights was visiting the lovely old town of Gavi and tasting a wide array of the wines produced there.

The view from the Santuario di Nostra Signora della Guardia.

Gavi town

Gavi is made from the Cortese grape which really only gets a starring role in south east Piemonte. It is also grown in the nearby Colli Tortonesi and Monferrato regions as well as in the provinces of Cuneo, Asti and the wider areas of Alessandria to make the slightly more humble wines labelled as Cortese del Piemonte DOC. Outside Piemonte Cortese can be found in Lombardy’s Oltrepò Pavese region and it is also cultivated around Lake Garda where it is used to produce Garda Cortese as well as being used in the blend of Bianco di Custoza.

I have also had one Cortese from Australia that was very enjoyable, but I am surprised, given what nice wines can be made from Cortese, how little the grape is grown and known around the world.

However it is in the rolling hills around the town of Gavi and the 10 outlying communes that Cortese produces its most famous wine – Gavi or Cortese di Gavi which was created as a DOC in 1974 and promoted to DOCg in 1998. Gavi is very much regarded as Piemonte’s pre-eminent white wine and as such the production zone is very small, it produces less than 2% of all Piemonte’s wine and covers just 11 communes or villages , of which Gavi itself is the most important and famous.

As for the place name it seems that in ancient times the local people were cave dwellers and Ga Va means land of holes in the local Ligurian dialect.

The rolling hills and vineyards of Gavi.

The area is in Piemonte now, but historically was more associated with Liguria and Genoa, which being on the coast needed more white wine to partner their fish based cuisine. Records show that Cortese has been grown here since at least 1659, but the wine that we know of as Gavi did not appear until 1876 and Gavi’s reliance on Cortese did not fully start until replanting took place after Phyloxerra was beaten in the early years of the twentieth century. In reality Gavi’s reputation and its perception as a quality wine only dates from the 1960s with its fame growing through the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s as new producers created new estates and used modern knowhow to make increasingly better wine.

One thing I learned was that despite its popularity there is no such wine as Gavi di Gavi and that term should not appear on labels. If a wine comes from fruit grown in just one of the 11 communes able to make Gavi then it can be labelled as Gavi del Commune di Gavi – or Bosio, or Carrosio, or Capriata d’Orba, or Francavilla Bisio, or Novi Ligure, or Parodi Ligure, or Pasturana, or San Cristoforo, or Serravalle Scrivia, or Tassarolo.

What’s more these are a single DOCg, they are indivisible and are considered to all be of the same quality – unlike Chianti and Chianti Classico for instance which are separate DOCgs.

Map showing the wines of Piemonte, I will draw a more detailed map soon.

It is a lovely part of the world, hilly in a way that reminded me of Tuscany and surrounded by mountains. The Alps to the north and west, coastal mountains towards Genoa and the Apennines to the east and south. Standing on a hillside just outside Gavi I was struck by the beauty of the place, the excellent exposure to sunlight, which would help ripen the grapes on a well angled slope, but above all the lovely fresh, cooling breeze coming from the Ligurian Sea some 60 kilometres to the south. It is this cooling wind together with the chalky soils that helps keep the freshness, acidity and balance in the wine that makes Gavi’s reputation and ensures this is a fine white wine region.

As I say, I tasted a great many different Gavis and I can truthfully say that none of them were disagreeable in any way. Most of them were what I would term reliable and I would have happily drunk any of them at all at the right price and in the right setting. Sadly a few were a little lacking in character and excitement, but luckily the others more than made up for it.

It’s strange that Gavi is so often talked about as a high acid wine, well actually most of the examples I tasted had medium acidity at most, which made them softer than I had expected and hoped for, as it also made them somewhat anodyne. For me the heights were reached when the wines had a more thrilling and zesty level of acidity that lifted them to a different level and emphasised Gavi’s much vaunted, but not always seen, minerality. For me at least it is that minerality and vibrant acidity that gives the wine its real finesse, elegance and excitement.

The Wines
As I said, all the wines are agreeable, but some were superb, and these were my absolute favourites:

Azienda Agricola Morgassi Superiore
This wonderful, and innovative winery is very new as it was only founded in 1993. Marina and Cecilia Piacitelli farm 50 hectares of steep south and southwest facing hillsides and have achieved amazing success in that short time. I really liked all Morgassi’s wines and their labels are very beautiful too, as are their vineyards. They even produce a delicious example of the rare Timorgasso grape, which has to be labelled as Timorgasso Monferrato Bianco DOC rather than Gavi because it is not made from Cortese grapes.

Azienda Agricola Morgassi Superiore.

2013 Morgassi Superiore Tuffo
Azienda Agricola Morgassi Superiore
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
Very pale, citrine and bright, silvery with a little touch of lime.
The palate is lovey and taut with great acidity, green fruit, more freshness and minerality and complexity, there is even a nice touch of weight to the palate too and lovely balance. The finish is pretty long and there is a touch of attractive peach stone bitterness. Really lovely stuff and nicely balanced – 90/100 points.

2010 Morgassi Superiore Volo
Azienda Agricola Morgassi Superiore
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
This Riserva level wine is a careful selection of the best fruit on the estate and spends 9 months ageing on the lees and is then aged for at least 18 months in bottle before release.
Bright citrine leemony, lime hue with more obvious vore viscosity.
More creamy, smoky aromas, that could be mistaken for oak even though there isn’t any.
Fatter more rounded palate with savoury leesy flavours and touch of cheese in the texture, savoury, bready, herbal and creamy. Very good weight, the acidity is masked a bit, but very good and zesty. Lovely texture, good length and the finish has some real fat to it. – 91/100 points.

Azienda Agricola La Ghibellina

The beautiful vineyards at Azienda Agricola La Ghibellina.

Probably my favourite visit in Gavi, and not just because they served us a superb buffet. Again this is a very new venture, founded as recently as 2000 by Alberto and Marina Ghibellini. Again the estate is small, just 20 hectares of south facing slopes that form a sort of amphitheatre giving perfect aspect to capture the sun’s rays and the cooling sea breezes from the south. Gavi is the focus, but they also make some red wines and Chiaretto rosé that are labelled as Monferrato DOC as Gavi is solely for white wines made from Cortese.

2013 Laghibellina Mainìn
Azienda Agricola La Ghibellina
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
This is Gavi as I imagine it to be, with a crisp, mineral character and high acidity, reminiscent of good Chablis. The wine is aged 4 months on the lees to help develop complexity.
Very bright and shiny with a pale silvery lime colour.
Very fresh, lively lime aromas, together with a touch of pear and zingy peach.
Nice pure mineral and zesty limey style, crisp, good acidity and some rich rich citrus fruit on the palate.
There is real tension here and a stony crisp acidity. This is a very fine wine with lovely citrus fruit and a long finish, thrilling acidity and minerality – 91/100 points.

2011 Laghibellina Altius
Azienda Agricola La Ghibellina
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
This Riserva level wine is a selection of the best fruit on the estate and spends 8 months ageing on the lees.
Deeper colour with a touch more gold.
Concentrated rich peachy fruit aroma with  leesy notes, cream, cheese and caramel.
Broader palate with a rich texture, smoky flavours, peach fruit and peach skin too. The acidity is there on the finish, but the succulence and fleshy, fat texture dominate, with succulent peach and nectarine fruit. The finish has a little bitter nutty, peach stone character – 91/100 points.

Azienda Agricola Gian Piero Broglia
Sadly we did not visit this producer, but we enjoyed a stunning lunch with them in the wonderful Cantine del Gavi restaurant – if you are anywhere near the area do try and get there. Everything they served me was superb from the wild boar salami to the two pasta courses, and the scrumptious zabaglione to the home made amaretti biscuits with the coffee.

The beautiful dining room in the Cantine del Gavi.

The first pasta course.

 

The second pasta course – Ravioli originates in the area and some people say there was a chef or family called Raviolo whose name was given to the stuffed pasta.

The main course, Chema a typical genoese dish of sliced meatloaf stuffed with vegetables and served with Genoese pesto – what’s more it was delicious.

The zabaglione, one of the best desserts I have ever tasted – it was served hot and had frozen raspberries at the bottom.

Piero Broglia, chairman of the Gavi Conzorzio, owner of Azienda Agricola Gian Piero Broglia and our host for lunch.

The La Meirana estate is very old indeed and records show that some of it had vineyards on it as long ago as 971. The Broglia family purchased it in 1972, having first renovated a beautiful villa in Gavi. Piero took the estate over from his father in 1974 and they have never looked back. In many ways La Mairana is considered the quintessential Gavi as it makes beautifully elegant, mineral wines of great finesse and vitality and farm some of the oldest vines in the region.

2012 Broglia La Meirana
Azienda Agricola Gian Piero Broglia
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
5 months ageing on the lees with no malolactic fermentation.
Enticing pale appley cream colour with slightly green hints.
The aroma gives nice delicately cream notes with pear and apple fruit. together with some gentle, leesy, smoky aromas.
The palate feels elegantly weighty, with pear, apple and melon fruit. There is a fresh, soft acidity, too which gives a rounded and creamy mouthfeel.
All in all it is very attractive with steely minerality on the finish. A beautiful wine that would go with all sorts of dishes, but was especially good with the Ligurian food they served – 90/100 points.

2012 Bruno Broglia
Azienda Agricola Gian Piero Broglia
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
A Riserva level wine made from a parcel of vines on the La Meirana estate called Fasciola. These vines were planted in 1953 and 1955 and produce a wine with great concentration and which is named in honour of Piero’s father. It is unasked, but spends 6 months on the lees.
A deeper colour, like creamy pear juice.
The nose was aromatic, gently cheesy and creamy, with herbs, flowers and pear, together with delicate peach notes and some gentle spice too.
Very rounded palate with lovely freshness of acidity with minerality and an earthy, ashy character, touch of almond bitterness to the finish too. Lovely soft, creamy texture, very rich finish, long with lovely balance. This is a fine, fine wine and quite delicious too – 92/100 points.

Over lunch and during the tasting that followed I was also hugely impressed by these Gavis:

2013 Minaia
Nicola Bergaglio
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
Very pale, pear juice colour with a dash of lemon.
Pear drop aromas, herbs and onion seed, all very delicate though.
Lovely palate, soft acidity, gentle mouthfeel, just fresh enough to be lively, but with pear juice succulence.
Very attractive wine – 89/100 points.

 

2013 La Fornace
Azienda Agricola Bergaglio Cinzia
Gavi del Commune di Tassarolo DOCg
I loved this wine with its thrilling acidity and minerality and it came from a different commune too.
Bright, pale colour, a sort of silvery lemon and lime.
Leesy nose, with citrus and apple skin notes, floral blossom and acacia, all in all very fresh and attractive.
Nice intensity of peach and green apple fruit, and good acidity with some texture of fruit, nicely mineral too making it feel clean and zesty. Very good balance, concentrated and fine with lively acidity, great length and a twist of peach stone bitterness at the end – 92/100 points.

A sparkling surprise
I was very excited to be served some sparkling Gavi too. I knew they existed, but had never tasted one before and I was very impressed. Prosecco and Franciacorta get all the fame and plaudits for Italian sparkling wine, but from the examples I tried, sparkling Gavi – and by extension sparkling Cortese – can be really good and perhaps more exciting too. Some are made fizzy by the tank method, and can be very enjoyable as this one shows, but the best are made using the traditional method – metodo classico in Italian – and the extra finesse and complexity really show.

The beautiful vineyards at Azienda Agricola Magda Pedrini – courtesy of Azienda Agricola Magda Pedrini.

2011 Magdalena Pedrini Metodo Classico Gavi Brut
Azienda Agricola Magda Pedrini, Tenuta Nuova Cà da Meo
Gavi del Commune di Gavi DOCg
Cà de Meo is a hamlet – or lieux-dit – within Gavi and it is very old indeed, with a history dating back at least as far as the fifteenth century. Magdalena Pedrini’s estate covers 10 hectares on 3 natural south facing amphitheatres that catch the sun and those vital sea breezes. Sadly I have not yet visited, but if all the wines are as good as this, then I really should.
Very fine wine with a lovely biscuity caramel nose. The palate has a fine mousse, rich apple and apple skin flavours some butterscotch and mealy character. Very good indeed with lovely acidity, balance and complexity. The freshness shows well and there is lovely richness too making it a brilliant fizz. We enjoyed it as an aperitif with some salami to nibble on, but it would partner anything you can eat while drinking Champagne  – 92/100 points.

I think you can see that there is a lot to enjoy in Gavi. There are a great many perfectly enjoyable wines and lots of flashes of brilliance – from producers like those mentioned above – which lift Gavi up into the ranks of world class wine regions and put it firmly with the best white wines and sparkling wines of Italy.

I leave you with a view of the dramatic fortress which dominates the skyline of the town of Gavi as it has done since it was first built in 973.

Gavi fortress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wine of the Week 13 – another Spanish gem

 

Beautifully tended vineyards at Viña Magaña. Photo from Olé Imports.

It must be the Summer making me think of Spain. Whatever the reason though, this week’s Wine of the Week is a gem of a wine and great value for money too, so perfect Wine of the Week material.

It comes from the wonderful, if under appreciated, region of Navarra. As I have mentioned before, Navarra produces a beguiling array of different wine styles, so it isn’t always easy to know what to expect. However the quality is generally high and the wines can be very exciting indeed. As regards red wines, there are mainly two types in Navarra. The more normal is wines made from Tempranillo and Cabernet / Merlot blends, while the newer speciality – or recently revived traditional style – is very fine pure Garnacha / Grenache. There are, of course a few mavericks producing a little Pinot Noir, some Graciano and Mazuelo, some Syrah even, but broadly the red wines fall into those two styles.

The Navarrans are proud of their heritage. The region was once the southern part of the medieval Kingdom of Navarre, with the northern bit being over the Pyrenees in what is now France. Much of the population was, and remains, Basque – indeed the Basques claim Navarra as theirs despite it not being part of the official Basque Region, or País Vasco. That historic French influence is very apparent in Navarran wines with most producers having added classic French grapes to their vineyards over the last 40 years or so. The majority of Navarran whites are made from Chardonnay and a great many of the reds have some Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in their blends. I have even heard of a little Malbec being grown in Navarra too.

These French, or international grapes were apparently helped to return to Navarra – if indeed they had ever grown there before – by Juan Magaña who had worked in Bordeaux and wanted to create Navarran wines with the finesse and sophistication of top Bordeaux. To that end he famously smuggled cuttings over the border during the early 1970s – when Spain was still a dictatorship and near siege economy. He planted his vineyard and built Bodegas Viña Magaña in Barillas near Cascante in Ribera Baja in the deep south of Navarra. Nowadays it is so normal for Navarran wines to include Cabernet and Merlot that it is hard to realise quite what a pioneer Juan must have been.

It worked though and before long Juan’s wines were showing just what Navarra could do and it had a huge impact on the style of wines from the region. Juan has now been joined in the business by his son Diego and the 100 hectare family estate, Viña Magaña, has gone from strength to strength, producing wines of great quality and renown.

Juan Magaña hand plunging the grapes as they ferment in the barrels. This ensures good extraction of colour, tannins and flavour. Photo from Olé Imports.

2009 Barón de Magaña
Viña Magaña
D.O. Navarra, Ribera Baja sub-zone

A  blend of 35% Merlot, 35% Cabernet, 20% Tempranillo and 10% Syrah fermented separately in 228 litre Burgundy barrels. The blended wine is then aged for 14 months in French oak barrels, 70% new.

I thought this was a tremendous wine, richly fruity, superbly concentrated and showing a lovely balance between elegance and power. The colour is deep, opaque purple / ruby black. The nose shows the rich fruit, blackcurrants, blackberry and plum together with some creme de cassis, red earth, espresso, cedar wood and a dusting of spice. The palate leans towards being full-bodied and is completely dominated by the rich, sumptuous fruit at the moment. There is freshness from a cleansing seam of acidity though, while the tannins are there giving a classy fine grain feel to the finish and the coffee and mocha oak gives the wine an extra polish and class. This is deliciously drinkable and bright right now, but there is enough structure to show that it will age beautifully over the next 4 years or so – 91/100 points, Robert Parker gave it 93!

Available in the UK from SpaNiche Wines at £10.94 (£9.94 by the case). 
Viña Magaña wines are distributed in the US by Olé Imports. Additional stockist information is available here.

Personally I think this is a remarkable wine for the price, beautifully made and full of character. It will age beautifully over many years, which makes it a very good value wine to keep in your cellar – no one will ever guess how cheap it was I assure you.

Serve it at dinner parties with lamb and rich meat dishes, but above all do try this delicious and great value wine.

 

Wine of the Week 12 – a lovely white for Summer

Legaris vineyards in Ribera del Duero.

During Summer – and actually the rest of the year too – I love drinking white wine.

I never understand people who only drink red wine as white can be so deliciously refreshing, cleansing and lively. What’s more it is easier to drink on its own than red and goes with a wide array of foods too, from nibbles and alfresco delights to a lovely piece of fish.

In Summer I seem to be especially drawn to a fresh and lively style of dry white wine that is going through something of a golden age right now – if you want good white wine it has never been better or more varied than it is today.

What’s more modern know how has made it possible for superb whites to be made in areas that were once exclusively famous for their red wines. Spain is the best illustration of this and it makes a wide array of superb white wines, from the aromatic delights of Galicia, the creamy barrel fermented Viuras of Rioja, the fine Chardonnays of Navarra, the zesty lively joys of Txakoli / Chacolí , the richer, creamier white Grenache / Garnachas of Terra Alta and Catalonia, the emerging Picapoll / Picpouls of northern Catalonia to the delicious Malvasias from the Canary Islands.

If the delights of Spanish white wines have passed you by, then perhaps the best place to start is with the superb region of Rueda in Castilla y León. Red wines are now permitted to be made in this Denominacion de Origen – D.O. -, but it was solely for white wines until recently. The focus is still white wines though and it makes some of Spain’s very best using Sauvignon Blanc and Viura, but the real speciality grape is the local Verdejo.

Rueda’s blends can be very good wines, but the very best wines from the region – in my opinion – are made from pure Verdejo. All the examples that I have ever tried are enjoyable, but some are outstanding and are amongst Spain’s very best white wines. I would include Analivia, Palacio de los Bornos and Protos amongst these, as well as my Wine of the Week: Legaris Rueda Verdejo. Like Protos, Legaris is really a red wine producer based in the stunning region of Ribera del Duero – this D.O. can only make reds and rosés -, but it doesn’t stop them turning out a superb dry white from grapes grown in nearby Rueda.

2013 Legaris Verdejo
Bodegas Legaris
D.O. Rueda, Castilla y León
Verdejo is a grape that oxidises easily – which is why historically they made Sherry-like wines out of it – but modern knowhow has meant that the grapes natural freshness can be retained. They grow the vines on trellises to maximise ripeness and harvest the grapes at night to retain the freshness and acidity. Cold fermentation at low temperatures in stainless steel tanks ensures the wine is fresh, lively and zesty, while a short maceration on the skins before fermentation adds flavour and texture to the wine, as does 2 months lees ageing after fermentation is complete.

If you like Sauvignon Blanc, then there is no doubt in my mind that you will like this too. The nose is floral and intensely citric – lime, lemon and grapefruit – and also offers an array of fresh herbs. The clever winemaking gives some texture, weight and succulence to the palate, which makes it juicy and deliciously easy to drink, while the acidity keeps it clean, fresh and vibrant. The finish is zesty and bright with a touch of attractive bitterness like almonds and olives at the end. This is a delicious and drinkable wine that goes superbly with a few garlic prawns and a salad, as well as some simply cooked fish or chicken. What’s more it is great value – 90/100 points.

Available in the UK at £8.49 per bottle from Ocado, Noble Green Wines and Wine Rack. Additional stockist information is available here.

Legaris wines are distributed in the US by Aveníu Brands. Additional stockist information is available here.

If Rueda and Verdejo have passed you by, then this is one of the best and it is a perfect wine to enjoy with Summer food. Give it a go, I am certain that you will enjoy this lovely wine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wine of the Week 11 – a great barbecue wine

Nekeas Valley.

It’s turning out to be quite a good summer here in the UK, so I thought it would be nice to have a Wine of the Week that would be delicious with a barbecue in the garden.

Yet again it is a wine from the Spanish region of Navarra, which is a place that I love as it produces a dazzling array of very different, but good quality wines. Sadly this diversity means that UK retailers have not really taken Navarra wines to their hearts, so although there are some wines available they can sometimes take a little seeking out.

This week’s wine though is not only easy to buy, but it is really delicious, great value for money and massively over performs for its price.

It is produced by Bodegas Nekeas who claim to farm the most northerly olive groves in Spain, from which they make some superb olive oil by the way. Once upon a time it was a cooperative for the Nekeas Valley, but is now a privately owned winery. The area had a tough few decades in the twentieth century and with no market for their wines most of the vines were grubbed up, but some of the Garnache / Grenache vines were very  hard to reach, so they just left them alone. Which is a really lucky break for us and Nekeas, because these 100 year old vines have now been brought back to life and produce this superb wine.

The vines form a single block, interspersed with olives, growing at between 450 and 650m above sea level. No only does this height make the area pretty cool for Garnacha, but the place is influenced by the Atlantic. Concha Vecino is the winemaker at Nekeas and she is one of the most engaging and charming winemakers that I have ever met. Her passion for this land clearly shows when she speaks and she described these Garnachas as the ‘Pinot Noir of Garnachas’ and explained that Navarra produces the only Atlantic Grenache in the world.

Concha Vecino winemaker at Bodegas Nekeas.

These local conditions make the wines feel fresher and more elegant than I normally expect Grenache to be and I was totally won over by the style of the Nekeas Garnacha as well as some of the other examples that I found in Navarra. By the way Concha also makes some lovely Chardonnays and Tempranillo blends as well, so if you are in Spain and see anything made by Nekeas I would highly recommend giving them a try.

Old Garnacha vines at Nekeas.

2012 El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa Old Vine Garnacha
Bodegas Nekeas
Añorbe, D.O. Navarra, Valdizarbe sub-zone

The vineyard this wine comes from are at the highest point of the valley – the high plain or chaparral – and the vines are between 70 and 100 years old. The wine has a short time in French oak to give it a dusting of spice and touch of complexity. It gives rich aromas of vibrant red fruit with caramel, vanilla together with black fruit and spice. The palate is rich, smooth, supple, savoury and a little liquorice-like. The tannins are gentle, but firm while the palate delivers a lively mix of lovely intense rich sweet red and black fruit, while there is lovely freshness, balance, purity and cut of clean acidity that makes the wine dance across your palate.

Do try it, it would be perfect with a barbecue – perhaps lightly chilled even – and in winter it will go just as brilliantly with richer stews and hearty meat dishes – 90/100 points.

Available in the UK from Majestic Wine Warehouses @ £9.99 per bottle.

This is a lovely and great value wine and I urge you to rush to Majestic to try a bottle as soon as you can.