The Spanish Artisan Wine Group Arrives in US With a Plethora of Low Octane Beauties, View From The Cellar by John Gilman, Publisher

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Chef Michael Chiarello, Bottega, Napa Valley, with José Manuel Rodríguez, President of the D.O. Ribeira Sacra and producer of The Spanish Artisan Wine Group wine, Décima, in José Manuel's precipitously steep Ribeira Sacra Mencía vineyards on the Sil River. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2012 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.

Long-time Spanish wine expert and journalist, Gerry Dawes has finally tossed his hat back in the ring of the wine trade here in the United States, creating a new Spanish wine import company that is focused on searching out old school Spanish wines of great character that have resisted (or studiously ignored) the modern trend towards high alcohol and over-oaked wines that have plagued many of the most well-known properties on the Iberian peninsula during the last couple of decades.

Señor Dawes is probably the most vociferous opponent of excessive new oak to be found in the world of wine since the passing of Bartolo Mascarello, and he is no fan of the very heady and overripe style of winemaking that has been championed in many other journalistic circles behind the banner of Spain’s “Mediterranean Wine” fiction, which argues unpersuasively that Spain’s natural wine proclivity is to make overripe and alcoholic wines due to the limitations of its Mediterranean climate.  

Spain’s important native wine critic, Victor de la Serna of the publication, El Mundo, has long argued for this fantasy in the face of an historical legacy to the contrary, which helped provide the propaganda program behind which so many Spanish wineries sought to maximize profitability by fashioning wines solely for the over the top tastes of Robert Parker’s associate, Jay Miller, who has just retired from covering Spain for the Parker empire.

Gerry Dawes has long been a journalistic counterpoint to the “Mediterranean Wine” armada, and in the last several months has created an import company to search out traditionally-styled Spanish wines that steer clear of the alcoholic hubris that has marred so many new and formerly great wine-producing estates in Spain in the last fifteen or twenty years.

I have now had a handful of opportunities to taste through the wines in Gerry’s new import portfolio, which he has dubbed The Spanish Artisan Wine Group. Not surprisingly, given Gerry’s long history of visiting in Spain and knowing the wine regions of the country inside out, his roster of small and very serious winegrowers is as fine a group of classic Spanish wines as one is likely to find under one umbrella. I had intended to feature these wines as part of a larger piece on Traditionally-styled Spanish wines in a coming issue, but thought the breadth and depth of selections in the Dawes’ portfolio was sufficiently exciting to warrant a feature on their own particularly since many of these wines are made in very, very small quantities, and if I sat on the notes for a few months and included them in the upcoming feature, it is quite likely that many of these superb wines would already be sold out of the market.

So, I have decided to get these notes published as quickly as possible to ensure that readers who are so inclined might have the opportunity to track down some of these truly exceptional wines prior to their disappearing from the market.

The heart and soul of the Spanish Artisan Wine Group’s lineup are superb bottlings of Mencía on the red side of the ledger, and a great set of producers making stunning Albariño on one hand, and another group working their magic with Godello on the white wine side of the ledger. This is not to say that there are not some equally superb wines to be found here amongst Señor Dawes’ selections that are not made from one of these three grapes (in fact, there is a simply stunning, old vine Garnaxta from Camino del Villar Viña Aliaga that Gerry is not particularly fond of- given its riper style in comparison to most of the wines found in his portfolio- but which should absolutely not be missed!), so one would be foolish to focus exclusively on the small growers producing Mencía, Godello and Albariño in the roster of tinyestates represented here. But, that said, there is no denying that the Spanish Artisan Wine Group’s lineup of producers of Mencía, Godello and Albariño are all absolutely exceptional andevery bit as fine as anything I have ever tasted from these three grape varieties. In particular, his roster of Albariño producers are spectacular, with each estate emphatically showing just how great the wines from this grape can be when produced from low yields and old vines.

Along with Albariño producers represented here in the US by José Pastor, such as Pedralonga, Raul Pérez and Do Ferreiro, the likes of Spanish Artisan Wine Group producers such as Lagar de Broullón, O Forollo, Avó Roxo, Cabaleiro do Val and Rozas are redefining just what Albariño can andshould be and are amongst some of the most exciting new (at least to me) dry white wines that I have tasted in several years. In fact, Gerry’s roster of Albariño producers is so superb that he generally saves them for the end of tastings, starting with reds and Rosado bottlings and letting the Albariño producers finish off the festivities at the two events I attended!

I first tasted several of these wines at the start of March of this year, as the wines were just scheduling to depart from Spain (and I for a month-long swing through France and Germany), and then followed up with a second tasting in late May when the wines had fully arrived here in New York. Both tastings emphasized that Señor Dawes’ lineup is chock full of outstanding producers new to the export markets and who are fashioning absolutely stellar, old school wines that are long on terroir, purity of fruit, tangy acids and great personality that are derived from their traditional places of origin, rather than from a tony French tonnelier or trendy international winemaking consultant.

While I have not yet had the pleasure to visit and taste in the cellars with these producers, it is now at the top of my list for future tasting trips and it will not be long until I have the pleasure to meet these vignerons in person and get a better feel for their philosophies and vineyard landscapes. For, these are really superb wines and some of the most exciting new producers to cross my path in several years. For subscribers not located here in the states, I am sure that these small artisan producers would be delighted to be contacted directly about the availability of their wines, as there is little doubt that they are currently swimming upstream from the more “typical” Spanish wine market at home (still seemingly enamored of alcoholic clout and tons of new wood) and would be amenable to sharing a few of their great bottles with sympathetic private clients from around the continent.

Slide show on The Spanish Artisan Wine Group - Gerry Dawes Selections
(Double click to enlarge.)

Can Festis Cava (Jaume Giró et Giró)

While I will be doing a full-fledged feature on Cava in the next issue, I wanted to include notes here on The Spanish Artisan Wine Group’s fine Catalan producer, Jaume Giró et Giró and their excellent label of Can Festis Cava. Like virtually all of the top producers I have tasted in recent months, Jaume Giró et Giró is part of the “Six Percent Club” who own their own vineyards and produce Cava solely from their own grapes. As I will elaborate on in my article on Cava, in my experience, this is one of the fundamental building blocks for producing truly world class Cava, and if one were to simply limit one’s consumption of Cava to producers who grow their own grapes and make their own wines, one could steer clear of disappointingly bland examples and come to appreciate just how beautifully delicate and complex top flight Cava can be from members of this “Six Percent Club”. Señor Giró produces three levels of Cava, all fermented in the bottle like Champagne, with the three levels neatly reflecting the Bronze, Silver and Gold medals of the Olympics. These are outstanding sparkling wines that are every bit as interesting as top examples of Champagne in the classic, dancing style of great Cava.

Can Festis Cava “Bronze Label” Brut Nature - Jaume Giró et Giró

The “Bronze Label” Cava from Can Festis is comprised of a blend of ten percent Chardonnay, twenty percent Macabeu, and thirty-five percent each of Xarel-lo and Parellada and is aged for twelve months on the lees prior to disgorgement. The wine is really a beautifully vibrant and racy glass of Cava, offering up a complex nose of lime zest, green apple, gentle notes of bread dough and a beautiful base of Catalan soil tones (similar to garrigue, only more floral in nature). On the palate the wine is medium-full, crisp and dancing, with a good core, frothy mousse, brisk acids and really lovely length and grip on the complex finish. This is an ideal aperitif Cava that is a perfect lead-in to tapas. 2012-2017+. 88.

Can Festis Cava “Silver Label” Brut Nature Reserva - Jaume Giró et Giró

The “Silver Label” Reserva Cava from Can Festis is really a beautiful wine, having aged on its lees for eighteen months prior to disgorgement and preparation for labeling. It is a similar blend to the Bronze Label (ten percent chardonnay, twenty percent Macabeu, and thirty-five percent each of Xarel-lo and Parellada) and offers up a deeper and more complex nose and palate than the vibrant Bronze Label. The bouquet is a fine and classy blend of apple, tangerine, warm bread, lovely, complex soil tones, citrus peel and a touch of lavender in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and rounder than the above, with a fine core of fruit, lovely complexity and focus, lovely, pinpoint bubbles, bright acids and superb length and grip on the perfectly balanced finish. This is lovely wine. 2012-2019+. 90.

Can Festis Cava “Gold Label” Brut Nature Grand Reserva - Jaume Giró et Giró

The Gold Label from Can Festis is an identical blend to the other two fine bottlings from this lovely Cava specialist (ten percent chardonnay, twenty percent Macabeu, and thirty-five percent each of Xarel-lo and Parellada) and is aged fully thirty months on the lees prior to disgorgement. This is really a stunning bottle of Cava- light on its feet and very vibrant, but with superb complexity on both the nose and palate. The outstanding bouquet jumps from the glass in a blend of tart orange, lime zest, warm bread, wonderful Catalan soil tones, lime blossoms, sea salts and citrus peel. On the palate the wine is very pure, complex and full-bodied, with a rock solid core of fruit, bright acids, very elegant mousse, superb focus and balance and a very long, classy and complex finish. Just a lovely, high class bottle of Cava! 2012-2020+. 93.

Assorted Vinos Blancos

2011 Finca Teira Blanco - Bodegas Manuel Formigo (Ribeiro)The 2011 Finca Teira Blanco from Bodegas Manuel Formigo is a blend of sixty-five percent Treixadura, twenty percent Godello and fifteen percent Torrontés, making it a slightly different mix than the 2010 reviewed below. The wine tips the scales at 12.7 percent alcohol and offers up a fine bouquet of white peach, lemon, a beautiful base of white soil tones, a touch of candied lemon peel (think mature Raveneau Chablis), pretty spice tones and a beautifully musky floral topnote redolent of honeysuckle. On the palate the wine is fullish, complex and beautifully balanced, with lovely, ripe acids, fine focus and grip and a very long, classy finish that really does its best work at the table. A really lovely bottle of Ribeiro white wine. Fine juice that is still fairly young and will clearly develop secondary layers of complexity with further bottle age. 2012-2018. 91+.

2010 Finca Teira Blanco - Bodegas Manuel Formigo (Ribeiro)

The 2010 Finca Teira is a blend of seventy percent Treixadura, twenty percent Godello and ten percent Alvilla. It weighs in at a cool 12.5 percent alcohol and is a lovely middleweight, offering up a complex nose of lemon, grapefruit, salty soil tones, citrus peel and a touch of beeswax in the upper register. On the palate the wine is medium-full, bright and very wellbalanced, with perfectly respectable depth in the mid-palate, good focus and fine length and grip on the finish. This is not exactly snappy today, but it remains fresh and vibrant for near-term drinking. 2012-2015. 89.

2010 Teira X- Bodegas Manuel Formigo (Ribeiro)

Young Manuel Formigo de la Fuente is the winegrower now in charge of his family’s vineyards in Ribeiro, tucked in a corner of Galicia just above the Portuguese border in northwestern Spain. The estate’s “Teira X” bottling hails from some of their oldest vines in their top vineyard site, Finca Miño Teira, and is a blend of sixty percent Treixadura, fifteen percent each Albariño and Alvilla and ten percent Loureira. Only a few hundred cases are produced each vintage. This is a more structured and slightly riper (thirteen versus 12.5 percent) wine than the estate’s Finca Teira Blanco, with more mid-palate depth and a superior backbone of acidity. The 2010 is an absolutely superb wine, jumping from the glass in a vibrant mélange of lemon, fresh bay leaf, stony white soil tones, orange peel and a dollop of petrol. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and beautifully soil-driven, with sound acids, lovely focus and simply exceptional length and grip on the finish. A superb bottle. 2012-2018. 92.

2010 Camino Blanco- Terro Remota (Empordá- Costa Brava)

Terra Remota is owned by the husband and wife team of Marc and Emma Bournazeau, who are residents of Perpignan, France (just over the border), as Marc’s family was forced to emigrate from Spain to Perpignan during the Civil War. This very pretty and stylish white wine is a blend of forty-five percent Garnaxta Blanco, thirty-five percent Chenin Blanc and twenty percent Chardonnay. The nose is deep and complex, offering up a very classy blend of lemon, pear, white soil tones, a hint of green olive and a topnote of spring flowers. On the palate the wine is fullish, crisp and nicely transparent, with sound framing acids and good length and grip on the focused finish. This is not the most complex white in the portfolio, but it is a very satisfying bottle that offers up good depth and breadth of flavor, which, I suspect, will growexponentially in complexity as the vines get older here. Very elegant juice. 2012-2016+. 88.

2010 Sabatelius Godello-Treixadura Blanco (Ribeira Sacra)

The 2010 Sabatelius Blanco is a blend of sixty percent Godello and forty percent Treixadura and is a terrific bottle. The stylish and complex nose wafts from the glass in a blend of pink grapefruit, beeswax, tart melon, lemon peel, salty soil tones, a touch of green olive and a top note of resinous herbs. On the palate the wine is vibrant, medium-full and complex, with a fine core of fruit, bright acids, excellent focus and grip and a long, pure and transparent finish.  Fine juice. 2012-2018. 92.

Godello

2011 Don Bernardino Godello (Ribeira Sacra)

Don Bernardino is the wine label for restaurateur, Emilio Rodríguez Diaz, whose O Grelo
restaurant is located in the town of Monforte de Lemos- effectively the capital of the Ribeira
Sacra region. His 2010 Godello is excellent, weighing in at a ripe and pure thirteen percent and
offering up a beautiful nose of peach, lime peel, a lovely base of soil, just a whisper of honeycomb and a gently smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish, pure and very classy, with excellent mid-palate depth, fine focus, crisp acids and outstanding balance and grip on the snappy and soil-driven finish. Just a superb bottle of Godello. 2012-2020. 92.

2010 D. Berna Godello- Adegas D. Berna (Valdeorras)

Adegas D. Berna is owned by the young husband and wife team of Berna Guitián and Elena Blanco, who together with their talented consulting enologist, José Luis Murcia, produce an absolutely lovely bottle of Godello. The deep, complex and very pretty nose wafts from the
glass in a mix of lime, tart orange, salty soil tones, a hint of white peach, olives, white flowers
and a bit of citrus peel in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, medium-full and
vibrant, with lovely intensity of flavor, a fine core, crisp acids and lovely length and grip on the beautifully focused finish. This is a really lovely bottle. 2012-2018. 91+.

2010 A Silveira Godello- Adegas O Barreiro (Valdeorras)

Adegas O Barreiro is owned by Pepe Rodriguez, who retired from his first career to tend vines and make wine in this isolated corner of Valdeorras which looks down upon the Sil River valley. Señor Rodriguez’s 2010 Godello is flat out stunning, offering up a deep and classy bouquet of tart peach, orange peel, beeswax, white soil tones, a touch of green olive and a lovely, delicate topnote of fresh rosemary. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish and very pure on the attack, with impressive complexity and mid-palate depth, laser-like focus, sound acids and outstanding length and grip on the bouncy and very refined finish. This is a superb example of Godello and one taste of this wine makes it very easy to see why so many Spanish wine aficionados argue that Godello is the country’s greatest indigenous white wine grape. 2012-2020. 93.

2010 Viña de Neira Godello (Ribeira Sacra)

While Ribeira Sacra is obviously best-known for its outstanding red wines based on Mencía, this lovely Godello shows that the steep slate vineyards here are also a fine location for Godello and other white wine varieties. The 2010 Godello from Viña de Neira is a lovely middleweight, offering up an impressively complex and vibrant bouquet of lemon, bread fruit, beeswax, salty soil tones, lemon peel and dried flowers in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish, crisp and complex, with a lovely base of soil, fine focus and good, but not great length on the bouncy finish. If this were a bit longer on the backend it would rate outstanding, but there is an awful lot to like in this classy and complex wine. 2012-2016. 88.
 

 

Spanish Artisan Wine Group founder Gerry Dawes (right), enjoying a glass of Cabaleiro do Val Albariño with winegrower Paco Dovalo López.

Albariño

Albariño has long been considered one of Spain’s finest white wine grapes, but much of its history has been marked by unfulfilled potential, as the low prices that most of these wines sold for on the international market simply dictated that the grape had to be cropped high in order for wine- growers to survive economically and make a living sufficient to keep their families fed and sheltered. Happily, one is beginning to see more examples of Albariño these days that are clearly focused on maximizing the potential quality of the varietal by keeping yields much lower and searching out blocks of old vines, with the resulting wines showing a dramatically different profile of complexity and depth of flavor than was the case when the only way for a winegrower to survive with this variety was to over-crop and try to get by on volume.

Much the same phenomenon can be seen in a French appellation such as Sancerre, where there continues to be oceans of rather dilute, simple and easy-drinking wine produced from very high crop yields, but where the greatest producers of the region- people such as Edmond and Anne Vatan, the Cotat cousins, Gérard Boulay and others have shown just how profound a wine can be produced from sauvignon blanc in the best terroirs of Sancerre when yields are kept down and the wines are crafted to maximize quality and complexity, rather than simply aiming to make a profit through volume. A similar push upwards in quality can be seen in the region of Rías Biaxas with Albariño, and the last couple of years have seen some absolutely brilliant examples cross my path from some of the top producers in the region. Prior to tasting these wines, I never imagined that Albariño could produce such profoundly complex, intensely flavored and ageworthy wines, and this new trend may well be one of the most exciting today in all of Spain.

Two decades ago, a group of fourteen growers who specialize in Rías Biaxas Albariño decided
to form a quality-oriented growers’ association, which they dubbed the “Asociación de Bodegas Artesanas”, and six of these estates are now part of Señor Dawes’ portfolio. One of the chief tenets of the producers in this association, besides low yields and old vines is the use solely of indigenous yeasts for the fermentation of their wines. These top estates also differ from much of the more commercially-oriented Albariño out there in choosing to bottle their wines significantly later than is customary in the more quantity-oriented houses, allowing the wines to nurture on their fine lees typically until mid-summer of the following year after the harvest. The growers reported on below from The Spanish Artisan Wine Group are certainly amongst the very finest of this new genre of “quality over quantity” Albariño producers, and there are very few other vignerons working with this grape with whom I have experience that can match the stunning quality of these wines.

2010 Albariño - Avó Roxo (Rías Biaxas)

Adega Avó Roxo is currently run by Antonio Gondar Moldes, who took over the management of the family estate only in 2007. His grandfather, Serafin Gondar began production here in the 1930s and this was at one time one of the most famous wineries in the region, winning several awards as late as the 1970s. The family vineyard is one and a half hectares in size and planted entirely to Albariño and Antonio Gondar Moldes is dedicated to taking the quality here to the highest level, and Avó Roxo is one of the most recent inductees into the growers’ association in the region. His 2010 Albariño is a stunning wine, soaring from the glass in a blaze of tart orange, lime, stony, salty minerality, a touch of green olive, ocean breeze and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very transparent, with a great core of fruit, crisp acids, outstanding focus and balance and superb grip on the very, very long finish. This is a stunning example of Albariño! 2012-2020. 95.

2010 Albariño - Cabaleiro do Val (Rías Biaxas)

The Adega of Cabaleiro do Val is owned by Francisco “Paco” Dovalo López, who founded and is the current president of the Growers’ Association here. While the winery was only officially incorporated in 1989, the family winegrowing traditions here go back centuries and Señor Dovalo López has some extremely old vines in his vineyard. He has taken selection massale cuttings from some of his one hundred and fifty year-old vines to use for replanting purposes, thus retaining the unique character of his outstanding Albariños. The 2010 offering from Cabaleiro do Val is absolutely outstanding, jumping from the glass in a deep, complex and gently leesy mélange of grapefruit, orange peel, stony minerality, lemongrass and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and rock solid at the core, with snappy acids, laser-like focus and simply exquisite length and grip on the perfectly balanced and soil-driven finish. This is a brilliant Albariño! 2012-2020+.  94+.

2010 Albariño - Lagar de Broullón (Rías Biaxas)

Lagar de Broullón is owned by José Pintos, who farms this two and a half hectare vineyard in the village of Meaño, which is one of the very finest for Albariño in the Val de Salnés section of Rías Biaxas. The vineyard is situated with a south by southwest exposition, allowing the grapes to reach fine ripeness each year and still maintain a great base of minerality.  The 2010 from Señor Pintos is a beautiful wine, offering up a deep and vibrant nose of fresh lime, green apple, salty oceanic tones, citrus peel, a bit of lemongrass and a great base of stony minerality. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and classy, with a superb core of fruit, crisp acids and lovely length and grip on the perfectly focused finish. High class juice! 2012-2020.  93.

2010 Albariño - Lagar de Candes (Rías Biaxas)

Eulogio Gondar is the owner and winegrower at Lagar de Candes, and he represents the fourth generation of his family to head this small estate, which is also located in the village of Meaño, in the Val de Salnés section of Rías Biaxas. The soils here are granitic in nature, producing beautifully mineral expressions of Albariño. The 2010 from Lagar de Candes is a lovely wine, wafting from the glass in a complex mix of tangerine, elegant leesy tones, pulverized stone, lime zest and a saline topnote of the ocean. On the palate the wine is pure, medium-full and zesty, with lovely complexity, very good mid-palate depth, sound framing acids and lovely length and grip on the focused and classy finish. This does not quite possess quite the same “electricity” on the backend as the very best Albariños in this lineup, but it is a superb bottle of wine. 2012-2016. 90+.

2010 Albariño “O’Forrollo” - Bodega Meis Otero (Rías Biaxas)

Bodega Meis Otero is owned and operated by the Fernando Meis Otero, who is one of the very youngest members of the Asociación de Bodegas Artesanas. He took over the reins of the family bodega in 2001. Like many of his fellow members of the growers’ association, his vineyards are located in the Val de Salnés. The family’s one and a half hectares of vines used to be planted to a mix of regional grapes, but Fernand Meis Otero’s father took the step to plant exclusively Albariño here in the early 1980s. Thus, the vineyards are just now coming into their prime as they close in on thirty years of age. The 2010 O’Forrollo Albariño is an outstanding wine, delivering a deep and very complex nose of sweet grapefruit, pulverized stone, orange peel, briny oceanic overtones, lemongrass and a touch of acacia blossom in the upper register.  On the palate the wine is deep, fullish, complex and very classy, with a superb core of fruit, laser-like focus, outstanding intensity of flavor and superb length and grip on the beautifullybalanced finish that closes with a distinct note of orange peel. Lovely juice. 2012-2020. 93.

2010 Albariño - Rozas (Rías Biaxas)

Adega Rozas is located in the village of Meaño in the Val de Salnés and is run by winegrower Manolo Dovalo. This family estate goes back several generations, and its 6.3 hectares of vineyards are loaded with old vines- many dating back more than two generations!  Señor Dovalo insists that it is the very high percentage of old vines in this very favored section of the Val de Salnés that allows him to make such outstanding Albariños. The 2010 Rozas is simply stunning, soaring from the glass in a complex blaze of lime zest, tart orange, kaleidoscopic minerality, lemongrass, gentle leesy tones and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very racy, with a rock solid core of fruit, brisk acids, laser-like focus and simply stunning length and grip on the very minerally and magically complex finish. This is as magical a glass of Albariño as I have ever had the pleasure to taste! 2012-2020+. 96+.

Rosado

2011 Lagrima de Garnacha Rosado - Bodegas Camino del Villar Viña Aliaga (Navarra)

The 2011 Rosado from Viña Aliaga is a beautiful bottle of dry Rosé that is drinking superbly out of the blocks, but shows every indication of improving with a year or two of bottle age. Made from one hundred percent Garnacha, with its color arrived at by a bit of skin contact, the 2011 offers up a deep and stunning nose of blood orange, cherries, rose petals, lovely, chalky soil tones and a bit of orange peel in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, fullbodied and beautifully balanced, with a lovey core of fruit, bright acids and excellent focus and grip on the long and classy finish. Just a beautiful bottle of Rosado, with great purity and no “candied” aspects on either the nose or palate. 2012-2016. 92.

2011 Viña Catajarros “Elite” Rosado - Bodegas Hermanos Merino (Cigales)

The Viña Catajarros Rosado from Bodegas Hermanos Merino is made up of a blend of eighty percent tempranillo, five percent Garnacha, and fifteen percent of two white wine grapes, Verdejo (ten percent) and alvillo (five percent). This winery is run by two brothers, Eugenio and his brother Merino, and the estate is a Rosado specialist, with the vast majority of their production comprised of dry rosé (augmented by a bit of red wine). The 2011 Viña Catajarros Rosado offers up a superb and vibrant nose of cherries, orange peel, salty soil tones and a topnote of dried roses. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and tangy, with a superb base of soil, excellent focus and bounce and a very long, complex and classy finish. I would give this superb wine another year of bottle age to really let it blossom, as the 2010 shows that there is more yet to come as this wine develops with a bit of cellaring. High class Rosado here! 2013-2018. 93.

2010 Viña Catajarros “Elite” Rosado- Bodegas Hermanos Merino (Cigales)

The 2010 Viña Catajarros Rosado from Bodegas Hermanos Merino is made up the same blend as the 2011, and the additional year of bottle age has really let this wine come into its own.  The 2010 version is a superb bottle of rosé, jumping from the glass in a complex and classy nose of cherries, melon, pomegranate, a touch of spiced meats, orange peel, complex, soil tones and a nice touch of smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and beautifully balanced, with a lovely core of fruit, with gentle framing acids, superb soil signature and excellent length and grip on the complex finish. High class and serious Rosado that shows every indication of continuing to drink well for several more years. 2012-2016+? 93+.

Assorted Viña Tinto

2010 Tempranillo - Camino del Villar Viña Aliaga (Navarra)

Carlos Aliaga’s tempranillo never sees any oak and is raised entirely in stainless steel tanks. It hails from the family’s limestone-based vineyards located in the center of Navarra and is a superb value. The 2010 tips the scales at a very civilized 13.5 percent alcohol and delivers a lot of aromatic and flavor complexity for its very modest price tag. The bouquet is a blend of black cherries, new leather, a touch of chocolate, lovely spice tones, a bit of meatiness and a topnote of violets. On the palate the wine is medium-full, complex and has a bit of ripe tannins on the backend, with a sappy core of fruit, good focus and fine length and grip. This will be even better with a year’s bottle age, but it is already an awful lot of wine for a bargain price! 2012-2020. 87+.

2009 Camino Vi Negre - Terro Remota Camino (Empordá- Costa Brava)

The 2009 Camino Vi Negre from Terro Remota Camino is a lovely red wine from Empordá, with its alcohol nicely scaled at fourteen percent and the beautiful terroir found here front and center in the wine. The blend on the 2009 is comprised of forty percent Garnaxta, thirty percent Syrah, twenty percent Cabernet Sauvignon and ten percent Tempranillo. The outstanding nose offers up a deep, pure and very refined blend of cherries, blood orange, a touch of cocoa, lovely spice tones, fresh nutmeg and a violet topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, medium-full, bright and tangy, with lovely intensity of flavor, melting tannins and a long, complex and beautifully focused finish. This is a beautiful bottle that shows off just how special this region can be when new oak is not the focal point of the equation. 2012-2020. 92+.

2008 Dhuoda Tinto (Catalunya)

This lovely red is a fifty-fifty blend of Carignane (which is known locally as Samsó) and Garnaxta. The vineyards lie at an altitude of nine hundred meters above sea level, which keeps the nights cool and the alcohol level down a bit. The 2008 Dhuoda Tinta weighs in at a very civilized 13.1 percent alcohol as a result. The soils here are brown slate and very similar to those found in Priorat, but the evenings are cooler here. The 2008 Dhuoda was fermented in stainless steel tanks and aged in a mix of new, one wine and two wine barrels of French origin. The 2008 Dhuoda Tinto offers up a deep and classy bouquet of red and black cherries, new leather, nutskins, garrigue, a lovely base of soil and a nice touch of fresh herbs in the upper register.  On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very suave on the attack, with a lovely core of fruit, soft tannins and a long, complex and very classy finish. This is quite low octane by Catalan standards and shows little influence from its one third new wood. Lovely juice. 2012-2020+. 92.

2008 Montsant Vi Negre- Herestat Navas (Montsant)

Montsant is the mountainous region that surrounds Priorat and shares many of the same grapes with its better known neighbor. There is very good potential here, but it is a hot region and there is, of course, still more incentive these days to fashion wines of power that might capture the attention of Priorat fanciers looking for a bit better value in this neighboring region, rather than try to harness the ripeness here and look for a Montsant version of elegance. This 2008 from Herestat Navas is one of the more restrained examples I have tasted from Montsant which admittedly is a very small sampling. The 2008 Montsant Tinto from Herestat Navas is comprised of a blend of forty percent Garnacha, twenty percent Cariñena (Carignan), twenty percent Cabernet Sauvignon and twenty percent Syrah. It is a deep, ripe and classy wine on the nose, offering up scents of cassis, garrigue-like spice tones, baked black cherries, a bit of tarriness and a nice base of new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and rock solid at the core, with good focus and a bit of uncovered wood tannin currently poking out on the complex backend. There is enough stuffing here to eventually carry its new wood and the wine is not particularly out of balance, but this is a wine that would have been dramatically better with a bit less oak. But, not bad. 2012-2020. 87+.

Vineyards overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in Empordá,
one of the most beautiful vineyard areas in Spain.

2007 Garnacha Vieja - Camino del Villar Viña Aliaga (Navarra)

The Aliaga family’s old vine Garnacha bottling, which hails from forty to fifty year-old vines is outstanding. Not particularly ripe by contemporary grenache standards, the 2007 weighs in at 13.9 percent alcohol and is raised in a blend of French and American oak- a small percentage of which is new - for six months. Gerry Dawes is quite funny in commenting that he really does not like this wine, but his customers keep asking for it!  It is really an exceptional bottle of Garnacha, offering up a deep, impressively complex and sappy nose of crushed raspberries, a touch of meatiness, gentle notes of chocolate, garrigue, bonfires and a lovely base of chalky soil tones. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and complex, with melting tannins, a fine core of fruit, superb focus and balance and lovely length and grip. This is a high class bottle of grenache that never strays over the line into jammy obsequiousness and is another dynamite value from this superb producer. 2012-2020+. 92.

2007 Colección Privada Tinto- Camino del Villar Viña Aliaga (Navarra)

The 2007 Colección Privada Tinto from Camino del Villar Viña Aliaga is a blend of eighty percent tempranillo and twenty percent cabernet sauvignon and is aged again in a blend of French and American oak, this time for twelve months duration, and with the percentage of new wood slightly higher than for the Garnacha Vieja. The nose on the 2007 is deep and complex, with a nice, old school feel to its mélange of black cherries, grilled meats, coffee grounds, cigar some and a lovely base of dark soil tones. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and “nobly rustic”, with a superb core of fruit, modest tannins and excellent length and grip on the backend. This is not quite as complex as the Garnacha 2007, but it too is a very good bottle of wine. 2012-2020. 89.

Ribeira Sacra (and other Mencía-based Reds)

2011 Don Bernardino Mencía (Ribeira Sacra)

As noted above, Don Bernardino is the wine label for restaurateur, Emilio Rodríguez Díaz, whose O Grelo restaurant in the town of Monforte de Lemos. The steep vineyards for his red wine lie in the village of Amandi, overlooking the Sil River. I tasted two vintage of this terrific Mencía, with the 2011 being the slightly riper of the two vintages at thirteen percent (incomparison to the 12.5 percent of the 2010), but with both wines proving to be absolutely outstanding. The 2011 Don Bernardino offers up a vibrant nose of pomegranate, black cherries, a beautiful base of slate, a touch of lead pencil and a gentle topnote of woodsmoke. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish and very classy, with excellent intensity of flavor, bright acids andexcellent length and grip on the focused and bouncy finish. Just a classic example of Mencía. 2012-2020. 92+.

2011 Décima Amandi Mencía- José Manuel Rodríguez (Ribeira Sacra)

José Manuel Rodríguez is the head of the growers’ association and regulatory agency of Ribeira Sacra, and makes one of the finest examples of Mencía I have ever had the pleasure to taste. Like the Don Bernardino Mencía, these two lovely vintages of Décima hail from very steep vineyards overlooking the Sil River in the village of Amandi. The 2011 Décima weighs in at a very classic octane of 12.5 percent and roars from the glass in a sophisticated and utterly classic nose of pomegranate, lead pencil, slate, a nice touch of gamebird, coffee bean and a gentle medicinal topnote that is vaguely reminiscent of Hermitage. On the palate the wine is fullish, complex and very intensely flavored, with laser-like focus, fine mid-palate depth, tangy acids and great length and grip on the very softly tannic finish. Utterly classic Mencía! 2012-2020+.  94.

2011 Toalde Mencía- Roberto Regal (Ribeira Sacra)

Roberto Regal’s production is miniscule, as he owns only about one hectare of Mencía vines here in a very steep vineyard overlooking the Miño River. There are just a handful of older indigenous varieties also in the vineyard here, so Señor Regal makes a field blend of these with his Mencía to produce this superb wine. The 2011 Toalde is outstanding, offering up a deep and complex bouquet of black cherries, pomegranate, a touch of nutskin, a lovely base of slate and granitic minerality, smoke and a gentle topnote of fresh herbs. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish, long and very sappy in the mid-palate, with fine focus and balance and a long, suave and bouncy finish. This is a lovely wine. 2012-2018. 91+.

2010 Viña Barroca Mencía- Bodegas Adriá (Bierzo)

The Viña Barroca Mencía bottling from Bodegas Adriá hails from thirty to sixty year-old vines grown on hillside vineyards that range from 450 to a 1000 meters above sea level. The soils here in Bierzo are not the pure slate one finds in Ribeira Sacra, but rather a mix of quartz, clay and slate. The 2010 Viña Barroca Mencía was aged entirely in stainless steel and given four months additional bottle age prior to release and weighs in at a ripe 13.5 percent alcohol. The nose is deep and classy, offering up a youthful mélange of dark berries, medicinal black cherries, a touch of tree bark, graphite, garrigue and a fine base of soil that seems to show a slightly ferrous complexity. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish and intensely flavored, with lovely transparency, a solid core, fine focus and excellent length and grip on the complex and classy finish. I should note that I tasted this wine twice, with the wine once popped and poured and on the other occasion given one hour in decanter prior to serving. The additional aeration made a world of difference in allowing this young wine to blossom fully and decanting is very much recommended for this fine wine. This is a stunning value! 2012-2020. 92.

2010 Mencía d’Berna- Adegas D. Berna (Valdeorras)

Adegas D. Berna is a specialist in Godello, but their 2010 Mencía d’Berna is also a splendid wine and not to be overlooked with all the white wine fireworks being crafted in the cellars and vine- yards here by the estate’s (regionally) well-known and very talented consultant, José Luis Murcia. This is an absolutely classic example of Mencía, offering up a superb aromatic mélange of dark berries, pomegranate, a touch of tree bark, spice tones redolent of cumin, a bit of bitter chocolate and a lovely base of complex, stony soil tones. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish and very intensely flavored, with a sappy core of fruit, tangy acids, excellent focus and grip and a very long, complex finish that stays light on its feet all the way to the conclusion.  There is just a faint touch of volatile acidity to this beauty when it is first opened, so a short stint in decanter is quite beneficial. Fine, fine juice. 2012-2017. 92+.

2010 Don Bernardino Mencía (Ribeira Sacra)

I am not sure if it is the extra year of bottle age or the slightly lower octane level, but the 2010 Don Bernardino Mencía is even a small step up from the excellent 2011 version. The stunning nose soars from the glass in a blaze of black cherries, dark berries, a touch of tree bark, dark chocolate, smoky overtones and a gloriously complex base of slate soil tones. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish and superbly complex, with outstanding focus and balance, tangy acids and truly exceptional length and grip on the scintillating finish. This is a beautiful bottle of Ribeira Sacra! 2012-2025. 94.

2010 Décima Amandi Mencía- José Manuel Rodríguez (Ribeira Sacra)

2010 Décima Mencía from José Manuel Rodríguez is another absolute classic in the making. The deep and utterly refined nose soars from the glass in a mélange of black cherries, pomegranate, a touch of road tar, bonfires, fresh herb tones, cracked pepper and a gloriously pure and complex base of slate. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish and very intensely flavored, with a sappy core, tangy acids, exquisite balance and a very, very long, focused and refined finish. The 2010 Décima Mencía is a beautifully crafted, complex and refined wine that is very pure and precise on both the nose and palate. It is still a young wine that will continue to blossom with further bottle age, but there is nothing structurally forbidding about the wine today and it will be a very difficult task keeping this wine in the cellar and not drinking it right away. Great juice. 2012-2025. 94.

2010 Sabatelius Mencía- Primitivo Lareu (Ribeira Sacra)

Primitivo Lareu is a superb winemaker on the far western end of Ribeira Sacra, located in the sub-region of Chantada, which happens to be the coolest vineyard area in all of Ribeira Sacra. In addition to his winegrowing responsibilities, Señor Lareu is also a sculptor and painter, but first and foremost these days, he is a serious viticulturist bent on extracting as much terroir from his vineyards and producing as transparent a glass of wine as possible. His 2010 Mencía is outstanding, offering up a stunning and sappy nose of pomegranate, black cherries, woodsmoke, beautifully complex herbal tones, espresso and a superb base of stony, slate soil. On the palate the wine is deep, medium-full and dancing on the palate, with superb lightness of step coupled to excellent intensity. The wine is impressively complex and focused, with bright acids, little tannin and outstanding length and grip on the bouncy finish. Superb juice. 2012-2020+. 93+.

2010 Toalde Mencía- Roberto Regal (Ribeira Sacra)

The 2010 Toalde from Roberto Regal is excellent, wafting from the glass in a smoky mélange of dark berries, black cherries, espresso, tree bark, stony soil tones, fresh herbs and woodsmoke. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish and intensely flavored, with lovely transparency, very good mid-palate depth and superb length and grip on the focused and complex finish. This wine is very light on its feet and yet packs plenty of intensity. I suspect it will prove to be a touch longer-lived than the equally fine 2011 Toalde bottling. Classic Ribeira Sacra. 2012-2020+. 92.

2010 Viña Cazoga Mencía - Jorge Carnero (Ribeira Sacra)

Viña Cazoga has a long history of fine wine production in the Ribeira Sacra and was once one of the largest and most important estates in the area, but during the nadir of the region’s fortunes- which really started at the dawn of the twentieth century, when so many of these steep vineyard sites were abandoned and young people emigrated en masse in search of more profitable work- Jorge Carnero’s family’s vineyard holdings in the village of Amandi dwindled down to almost nothing. Jorge’s grandfather, Raimundo Vidal, was instrumental in starting to resurrect the Ribeira Sacra region in the 1970s and today the family owns a single, 3.9 hectare parcel of vines right above the Sil River that was long recognized as the finest vineyard in Ribeira Sacra. Almost the entire vineyard is planted with vines in excess of one hundred years of age, with ninety-five percent planted to Mencía and the balance made up of a mix of Tempranillo and Merenzao. The 2010 Viña Cazoga Mencía is a beautiful wine, offering up a deep, very intense and complex nose of black cherries, pomegranate, black pepper, a touch of spiced meats, slate soil tones, espresso and a topnote of cigar smoke. On the palate the wine is deep, fullbodied and very sappy at the core, with great focus and grip, excellent balance, bright acids, virtually no tannins and outstanding length and grip on the dancing and palate-staining finish.  Great Ribeira Sacra! 2012-2020. 94.

2008 Viña Cazoga “Don Diego” Mencía - Jorge Carnero (Ribeira Sacra)

The Don Diego bottling from Jorge Carnero spends six to twelve months of its elevage in four year-old, five hundred liter French oak barrels prior to bottling and is released after further bottle age. Even using four year-old barrels, the Mencía grape still shows a fair bit of wood influence in this wine, which does make for a markedly different impression than the stainless steel-aged regular bottling. The 2008 offers up a very deep and classy nose of black cherries, bitter chocolate, woodsmoke, lovely soil tones and a nice, generous touch of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and quite suave on the attack, with a bit less overtly terroir-derived soil tones in evidence. The finish is very long and moderately tannic, and though the wine is focused nicely, there is not quite the same purity and blazing transparency here as is found in the 2010 regular bottling. This is still a very well-made wine, but it seems that the oak takes away a bit more than it adds to the final blend. 2012-2025. 90.

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com

O’ Forrollo Albariño 2010 by Bodeguero Artesano Fernando Meis Otero

* * * * *

 
Logo of La Asociación de Bodegas Artesanas, Meaño, Rías Baixas, Galicia.
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com 
/ http://www.spanishartisanwinegroup.com 

Fernando Meis Otero, O'Forrollo. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com /  
 http://www.gerrydawesspain.com

 

O’ Forrollo Albariño 2010 (13% alcohol). $23.99
Bodeguero Artesano Fernando Meis Otero.  Dena-Meaño (Pontevedra), Galicia.

Fernando Meis is one of the younger members of the Asociación de Bodegas Artesanas, a group of 14 independent artisan wineries from the same area of Val do Salnés, the top subregion for Albariños from Rías Baixas.  


Fernando Meis farms his own vineyards of 100% Albariño grapes and ferments his must using native yeasts.  He produces just under 850 cases per year. 

Color & appearance: Deep green-gold, correct for Albariño.

Nose: Pears, lime, apricots, spices, minerals.

Palate: Lots of delicious fruit, including hints of pear, apricot and spices, with a bracing acidity reminiscent of limes that balances the fruit.  The wine finishes long, compelling sense of minerality.

Spanish Wines — A Seductive New Crop Godello, mencia, and other less-than-famous Iberian grapes shine in a new selection from Spanish wine expert Gerry Dawes - - Colman Andrews, Editorial Director, The Daily Meal

* * * * *

"Gerry Dawes is a famous character in the Spanish food and wine scene, both on these shores and in Spain itself. A veteran of the wholesale wine business, he has been traveling around Spain for decades, discovering its best things to eat and drink, and promoting them — the wines above all — in the United States, through personal appearances, interlocking websites (click here for the main one www.gerrydawesspain.com), and guided tours. 

He is a prolific writer and pretty much nonstop photographer (his images of Ferran Adrià, Mario Batali, and other important chefs have appeared on The Daily Meal). He is highly opinionated — some would say cantankerous — and extremely knowledgeable. His passion for things Spanish (he knows the country's literature and history and its flamenco almost as well as he knows its gastronomy) is so strong as to seem proprietary; somebody once called him, not without a hint of sarcasm, "the man who invented Spain."

Well, call him what you will, but Dawes has recently gotten back into the wine business, as an importer of small lots made by small producers, mostly in northwestern Spain, and his initial offerings include some bottlings that are nothing less than a revelation.

Dawes is forthright about what he doesn't like in wine: He is an outspoken foe of high alcohol, too much oak, insufficient acidity, the over-extracted "fruit bomb" style, and maybe most of all the anonymous could-be-from-anywhere character that all too many winemakers in every corner of the world seem to be striving for these days. In other words, he hates international-style stuff based on big-name French varietals, usually grown in areas where they have no business being, and vinified in a style that makes one indistinguishable from the next. 

When he opens a bottle, he's looking for something with balance, flavor, and above all individuality — the expression of terruño, or terroir, through indigenous grapes and native yeasts and winemaking practices that may be up-to-date but that allow the region's personality to shine through. Oh, and he doesn't have much patience with excessive pricing, either, and all but one of the 30-plus selections in his portfolio (he is adding more) have a suggested retail price of less than $30 a bottle, and some are less than $20. (Even the exception, Viña Cazoga Don Diego Crianza from Ribera Sacra, an exotic, chocolate- and tobacco-flavored wine with some of the "wild" character the French call animal, retails for only $50.)

Godello grapes, Valdeorras. 
Photo: Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

Early in June, Dawes poured 21 of his wines for a small group of wine retailers and consultants, sommeliers, and writers over lunch in midtown Manhattan (at Le Cirque). The grapes involved were mostly Spanish: albariño, a primarily Galician white variety ever more popular in the U.S.; godello (pictured above), another white grape found mostly in Galicia and capable of producing truly fine wines, especially in the Valdeorras region; mencia, never thought of as an important red grape until recent years but now yielding wines of some distinction in Galicia and its neighbor in Léon, bierzo; and garnacha, which is grenache, a red grape (though it actually comes in white and "gray" forms, too), that is widely grown in southern France and increasingly important in California and Australia, but is probably from Aragón originally.

There wasn't one of these wines that I wouldn't have sipped happily, but these were the 10 that particularly impressed me.

White:

Adegas D. Berna Godello 2010 ($25). If I were a producer of white burgundy, a wine like this, from Valdeorras in Galicia, would make me nervous. It's big, authoritative, lush, and full of fruit (peaches come to mind), but beautifully structured, with plenty of acidity and a trace of flint — just delicious.

Pepe Rodríguez, owner of O Barreiro, Seadur, Valdeorras, Galicia, in his vineyards. 
Photo: Gerry Dawes©2012 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

O Barreiro "A Silveira" Godello 2010 ($20). Another splendid godello from Valdeorras, a little lighter than the D.Berna, but also a touch more elegant, again with an abundance of fruit but enough acidity to balance out the opulence. (Pictured above, Pepe Rodriguez, proprietor of O Barreiro. Courtesy of Gerry Dawes)

Lagar de Broullon Albariño 2010 ($24). An albariño to banish all memory of those banal examples of the wine that now flood U.S. wine shop shelves — bright and well-rounded, with juicy fruit and a long, complex finish.

Rozas Albariño 2010 ($26). (Pictured below) If I'd tasted this blind, I might have thought it was a particularly lean and stylish viognier. It has a wonderful, intense aroma and real complexity of flavor, with plenty of acidity and a beguiling finish that is part mineral, part floral. I don't think I've had a better albariño.

  

Bodegas Manuel Formigo Finca Teira Blanco 2011 ($20). This is a blend of grapes found mostly in northwestern Spain: treixadura (65 percent), godello (20 percent), and torrontés (15 percent; this is not, incidentally, the same grape that goes by this name in Argentina). It is wonderfully fragrant — think of honeysuckle and jasmine — but pleasantly sharp and well-defined on the palate.

Rosé:

Aliaga Lagrima de Garnacha Rosado 2011 ($14). An almost dusty-dry Navarra sangrado ("bleeding") rosé — meaning that it's made from free-run juice — with a light, luminous pink color and an intense strawberry fruit both on the nose and on the palate.

Red:

Bodegas Adrià Viña Barroca 2010 ($15). A dark, juicy, lively mencia from Bierzo. The wine is unoaked, which lets the intense fruit shine through very nicely.

Don Bernardino Tinto Joven Mencia 2011 ($17). A brash, forthright mencia from Ribeira Sacra, medium-rich and herbaceous, with a flavor reminiscent of blackberries and a faint tannic bitterness.

Viña Cazoga Tinto 2010 ($27). Another Ribeira Sacra mencia, surprisingly soft, with a generous bouquet, a blackberry-and-black-pepper tang on the palate, and a long, satisfying finish. (Pictured above, Jorge Carnero, proprietor of Viña Cazoga, courtesy of Gerry Dawes)

Terra Remota Camino Tinto 2009 ($29). Atypical of Dawes' offerings, this is a blend of French and Spanish varieties (equal quantities of garnacha and syrah, plus 20 percent cabernet sauvignon and 10 percent tempranillo), higher in alcohol than the other wines tasted here (at 14 percent), and definitely showing some French oak. I thought the nose was a little cabbagey at first, but that character dissipated, and on the palate the wine is earthy and full, with the garnacha fruit shining through.

Gerry Dawes's wines are not yet widely distributed around the U.S. Some of them are available at Stew Leonard's Wines in New York State and at Chambers Street Wines and Despaña Vino y Mas in New York City, and will be sold through Stew Leonard's Wines in Connecticut in 2013.

For more information on these wines, see www.spanishartisanwinegroup.com.

Read the original article here: http://edit.thedailymeal.com/spanish-wines-seductive-new-crop?page=0,1#ixzz21kNzZmZT

Looking Back at Galicia’s Green Gold: White Wines from Native Spanish Grapes

(An abridged version of this article first appeared in Wine News, March-April, 2007.)

by Gerry Dawes

The best areas in Spain to discover just how sublime Spanish native varietal white wines can be is Galicia, encompassing the northwestern provinces of Lugo, A Coruña, Ourense and Pontevedra. In addition to the now-well-known Rías Baixas Albariños, currently de rigor on most serious stateside wine lists, white wines from the other Galician regions, such as Valdeorras, Ribeiro, Ribeira Sacra and Monterrei, are vying to become international white wine contenders. Although some of the blends include albariño grapes, many producers are increasingly confident with their home-grown varieties, such as treixadura (Ribeiro and Rías Baixas), godello (Valdeorras, Ribeira Sacra and Monterrei) and loureiro (Ribeiro and areas of Rías Baixas along the Miño River), all of which contribute to some surprisingly refreshing, often terroir-laced, high quality white wines that can be exceptional food companions.

Because it is rainy and emerald-green for part of the year, has deep Celtic roots (folk festivals feature bagpipers and all the associated trappings), is seamed by stacked-granite walls that surround lush fields and boasts a very long, often breathtakingly beautiful Atlantic coastline notched with deep, fjord-like inlets, Galicia is often billed as the Spanish equivalent of Ireland. Its people even share the Irish love of potatoes. But unlike the Emerald Isle, Galicia’s more southerly latitude affords the sunshine necessary to properly ripen wine grapes, at least in most years.

Because of its high rainfall--some 63 inches annually in Rías Baixas; just under 40 inches in most other Galician D.0.s--there is considerable humidity, however vines are trained on tall wire trellises anchored by granite or concrete posts. Growing grapes several feet off the ground, high enough for vineyard workers to stand upright beneath the clusters, also allows for air circulation that ameliorates the effects of humidity-nurtured diseases such as mildew. The leaf canopy shades the grapes from over-exposure to the sun as well, a practical expedient because Galician summers historically can bring some surprisingly hot days — now being exacerbated by global warming. Even though Atlantic waters can be quite bracing and bring refreshing breezes to the vineyards, the climate is actually warm enough to support some very popular summer beach resorts.

A tasting trip through Galicia in early August provided a refresher course on the progress of the native varieties in each of Galicia’s five denominaciones de origen: Monterrei, Ribeiro, Rías Baixas, Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras. I encountered considerable progress since my last major trek in 2002 and a Rías Baixas sortie in 2004. In the case of several estates, I was pleasantly surprised by either world-class "made" wines or evolving wines that would soon fulfill that promise. On my previous visit I flew into Santiago de Compostela, the famous monumental city at the end of the Camino de Santiago (the medieval pilgrimage route that runs from France down into the Iberian Peninsula and then some 500 miles across northern Spain.

Monterrei

This time, however, I opted to drive in from the Ribera del Duero in Castilla y León to for a first visit Monterrei, a small DO comprising some 1,650 acres of qualifying vineyards located just north of the Portuguese border in the eastern mountains of Orense province. I was drawn to Monterrei by one particular adega — as bodegas are called in Galicia — Gargalo, the producer of Terra do Gargalo, a light, racy, mineral-laced, but nicely fruity wine that Iberia Airlines serves its business class passengers. Gargalo is located in Verín, a quaint, sprawling town that is watered by the Tamega River and located less than ten miles north of the Portuguese border.

Mountainous terrain, denuded of vegetation by widespread fires of suspicious nature that have plagued Galicia for the past several summers, surrounds the town. On a high promontory outside of town, with spectacular views overlooking Verín, the vineyards and the sweeping Val de Monterrei, sits the striking Acrópolis de Verín, a complex that includes the 15th-century Castillo de Monterrei, a Renaissance palace and the medieval Gothic Santa María church. A few hundred yards away, on the opposite promontory with superb views is the rustic former Jesuit convent that is now the comfortable Parador de Turismo, the hotel where I make base while touring the region’s vineyards.

Adegas Gargalo is a small winery with a chic, modern cubist design that befits owner Roberto Verino, a Spanish fashion designer and Verín native. Located just down the hill from the castle and the parador, Gargalo is set amid sloping vineyards planted primarily with the native white grapes treixadura, godello and dona blanca; and native red varieties arauxa, mencia and bastarda (some wineries here also have the equally ill-named monstruosa, a white grape).

There is also a fascinating experimental vineyard planted with a wide variety of primarily white grapes that are described to me by Rosa Salgado, Gargalo’s shy, but informative enologist, who leads me on a tour of winery and vineyards. She explains that the trellised main vineyards, now some 20 years old, are predominately planted in treixadura, godello and mencia. Back in the winery, Roberto Verino’s status as a top designer is underscored by the large blowups of models wearing his clothing juxtaposed against horizontal Bucher presses and large blowups of Gargalo wine bottles.

Although I had tasted a couple of previous vintages of the Terra do Gargalo white wines at 35,000 feet, this would be my first encounter with them on terra firma. In the tasting room, Salgado pours two whites that had been opened the day before and refrigerated (I wonder if American wine writers don’t rate freshly opened bottles?). 

The Terra do Gargalo 2005, a 50/50 blend of treixadura and godello that is left on the lees to pick up flavor, was still fresh, however, and showed some sweet floral, tropical fruit and baking spice flavors, balanced by palate cleansing acidity and moderate alcohol (12.5 percent); Terra do Gargalo Clásico 2005, a blend of 50 percent treixadura, 30 percent godello and 20 percent dona branca, was still fresh and lively, too, with even more bracing acid and distintive spice, almond and mineral notes. (A Terra do Gargalo 2004 tinto, made with 50 percent mencia and arauxa, a grape Salgado calls "tempranillo de Monterrei," was a spicy, raspberry- and currant-laced, serviceable red in need of a few more months bottle aging.)

Ribeiro

About an hour northwest of Monterrei lies the Ribeiro DO, with its production of 85 percent whites, made from 7,500 acres of vines in 13 municipalities in western Ourense province. Some of the best producers are located around the captivating medieval town of Ribadavia, located some 20 miles southwest of Ourense, the provincial capital. Ribadavia is a fascinating trip back in time that counts among its attractions the 14th-century castle of the Counts of Ribavia, a 12th-century transitional romanesque church, an evocative medieval former Jewish quarter and substantial remains of the town’s old walls overlooking the Avia and Minho rivers, the latter of which, a few miles to the southwest, flows on to form the border with northwestern Portugal.

As close as any Galician wine to being the Spanish equivalent of France’s Muscadet, the wines of Ribeiro, because of the climate, which averages 37 inches of rainfall and just over 1,900 hours of sunlight annually, have historically been lean and razor-edged; recently they have become increasingly richer, but still never overblown or heavy. Grown in granite-laced soils, often with alluvial deposits of stones and gravel, Ribeiro’s officially "preferred" white grapes are treixadura, godello, albariño, jerez and torrontés, yet loureiro, macabeo (viura), albilla, and the experimental variety, lado, are also permitted.

Treixadura Grapes 

In the past, overcropping for high production levels, not necessarily the quality of the native grapes, kept these reasonably-priced wines from achieving their full potential. In recent years, the rising quality levels of Spanish white wines have begun to lift all the vino blanco boats to higher level, Ribeiro being a notable example. In addition to racy acidity and better fruit flavors, many of these wines are also express a classy mineral quality. They are delightful with moullucs (especially raw oysters and clams), crustaceans and fish. On this trip (and in Madrid and New York), I tasted and accompanied meals with several very accessible reasonably priced Ribeiros, all of which were delicious, balanced and with refreshingly low (for these times) alcohol levels.

Emilio Rojo, a former engineer with a reputation for eccentricity, is generally recognized as the star of the Ribeiro. Several years ago, Rojo returned to his native Galicia to make some 9,000 bottles of wine from two hectares of old, low yield vines on terrace hillsides. A blend of 55% treixadura, 15% loureiro, 10% lado, 10% albariño and 10% torrontés, Emilio Rojo’s wines have racy acids, moderate alcohol, show exotic flavors (orange, lime, tropical fruits and spices), have haunting finishes laced with minerals and are, thankfully, unoaked.

Viña Meín, made from 80% treixadura, 10% godello, 5% loureiro, plus traces of albariño, torrontés, and lado, is a bracing wine with substantive pear and melon flavors and a long mineral finish that was a fine companion for grilled prawns and small, flash-fried red mullets at Rafa restaurante in Madrid. Bodegas Campante Gran Reboreda (80% treixadura, 10% godello, 10% loureiro), made by the same company as Morgadio Albariño in Rías Baixas, is inexpensive, fresh, lively, minerally and a perfect food companion for people tired of palate taxing, high alcohol wines. Even the wines from the region’s very large Vitivinicola del Ribeiro, the 70,000-case Viña Costeira and the 85,000-case Pazo, can be delightful with tapas and seafood dishes such as pulpo a la gallega (Galician steamed octopus with Spanish paprika, olive oil and sea salt).

Galicia's Ribeiro & Sanclodio, The Wine of Spanish Art Film Maker José Luís Cuerda

José Luís Cuerda, San Clodio

Just before this article went to press, at the Encuentro Verema (verema.com) wine convention in Valencia, I met Spanish award-winning Spanish art filmmaker José Luís Cuerda (Bosque Animado, La Lengua de Las Mariposas, Educacion de las Hadas ), who recently began producing Sanclodio, a delicious, complex, delightful white made with five native Galician grapes: treixadura, albariño, loureiro, godello and torrontés. In 2002, Cuerda bought several hectares of vineyard land and XV-century wine cellar near the historic Cisterican San Clodio monastery in the prime Gomaríz region of Ribeiro, one of the best wine growing areas of Galicia in northwestern Spain. 

José Luís Cuerda, San Clodio

The production of Cuerda's impeccably tended, terraced vineyards is strictly limited in order to insure the highest quality wine, resulting in a crisp, fruity, mineral-laced wine with a lingering sense of authentic terruño (terroir) that could come only from this region and these grapes. He makes about 2,700 cases off six hectares and just about 10% of his production is destined for the U.S. market. The grape composition is treixadura (67 %), godello (15 %), torrontés (12 %) loureira (5 %) y albariño (1 %).

José Luís Cuerda, San Clodio

Only the fact that Cuerda's vines are still young and thus don't exhibit quite the intensity of terroir that they will undoubtedly show as his viñas get older, keeps this superbly balanced wine from being one of the great white wines of Galicia (some would say it already is, quite remarkable for young vines, but he has an excellent vineyard man working for him. Like any great white wine, Sanclodio will improve with bottle age when stored in a cool environment. Drink from release date up to four years from the harvest.

Sanclodio and a soft Galician cows' milk cheese.

Sancolido and José Luís Cuerda were featured in a three-page, front page lead article in The Sunday's New York Times Travel Section on August 27. http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/travel/26galicia.html

The wine was also a big hit at the Sonoma Napa Wine Country Film Festival, where, according to the Festival organizer, everyone was saying that it was the "best Spanish white wine they had ever tasted." It was served under the stars to accompany the showing of his film, La Educacion de las Hadas.

Ribavia's old Jewish quarter.

All around the old Galician Ribeiro town of Ribavia, which has a charming old Jewish quarter, are picturesque wine-growing hamlets surrounded by rustic, trellised, small plot vineyards planted long ago on granite-butressed terraces. These vineyards are of another age and are among of the most picturesque in Spain. 

On this trip, when I was looking for the vineyards of Emilio Rojo in the hamlet of Arnoia, it was disconcerting to happen upon yet another suspicious Galician forest fire raging southeast of town and potentially threatening a particularly beautiful spread of old vineyards and the houses built among them. The scene became totally surreal when helicopters and fire planes began to fly overhead, racing back and forth over the vineyards to the Minho river and a nearby reservoir to collect water for bombing runs on the raging fire.

Ribavia is dotted with charming, old wine-growing villages hemmed by rustic, trellised small plot vineyards planted long ago on granite-buttressed terraces. These viñedos are of another age and are among of the most picturesque in Spain. While looking for the vineyards of Emilio Rojo in the hamlet of Arnoia, it was disconcerting to happen upon a forest fire, thought to be set by an arsonist, raging southeast of town and potentially threatening a particularly beautiful spread of old vines and the quaint stone houses that stood among them. 

The scene became totally surreal when helicopters and fire-fighting planes swooped in, flying back and forth to the Minho river and a nearby reservoir to collect water for "bombing runs." Unfortunately, this was not be the last time I came upon such a scene during this August trip. (If one tastes a smoky quality in some 2006 Galician whites, in all seriousness, it will not be from a toasted barrel.)

Rías Baixas

Pazo de Señorans, one of the top Albariño producers of Rías Baixas

To the west of Ribeiro lies Rías Baixas, characterized by the southern Galician Baixas, or "lower," fjord-like inlets that mark the Galician coast and from which both the area and the DO take their names. The albariño grape reigns supreme in Rías Baixas, and the luscious, fruity, but nicely balanced, food-friendly wines produced from it have propelled Galician whites into both the national and international spotlight. Indeed, Rías Baixas whites are some of the most versatile and least intimidating in the market; its Albariños typically exhibit lovely, green-tinged straw or light gold colors and exude typically fruity albariño aromas reminiscent of pear, white peach, pineapple or apricot; racy acid underpinnings shore up the same often luscious fruit flavors found in the nose and balance harmoniously with delicious, complex, dry mineral-laced finishes.

Pazo de Señorans & almejas, a great wine-food match. 

This attractive combination of fruitiness and dryness makes Albariños ideal as apéritif wines and equally suitable mates for a range of modern dishes, as well as for Galicia’s legendary seafood classics. Because of their inherent versatility, Albariños have become so popular with American consumers that the United States is now its most important export market (the only Spanish wine region that can claim that distinction).

Five designated winegrowing areas make up the Rías Baixas DO: Condado de Tea, O Rosal, Val do Salnés, Soutomaior and the relatively new Ribeira do Ulla. In each of these subzones, a wine must be 100 percent albariño to use the Albariño monovarietal designation on the label. This is often a moot point, since 95 percent of Rías Baixas’s more than 7,500 acres of registered DO vineyards are planted to albariño. Yet there are some very high-quality, noteworthy whites that cannot be labeled as Albariño, but can be designated Rías Baixas as long as they contain at least 70 percent albariño. In Condado de Tea and O Rosal some very interesting, sometimes very high-quality versions of these wines are made (by long-standing tradition) with up to 30 percent of the DO’s other preferred varieties — treixadura, loureira and caiño blanco (some godello, torrontés and marqués are also authorized). Small additions of these varieties to the albariño deepens aromas, adds body and, often these blends show more complexity than many 100% albariño wines.

With more than 60 percent of its vineyards registered, Val do Salnés, surrounded on three sides by the Atlantic and the inlets Ría de Arousa and Ría de Pontevedra), is the most important Rías Baixas subregion, followed by Condado de Tea and O Rosal, both in southernmost Galicia along the Minho. Several major producers in Condado de Tea, along with their 100 percent Albariño wines, also make intriguing albariño-treixadura-albariño blends; most prominent are Marqués de Vizhoja’s Señor de Folla Verde, Adegas Galegas’s Veigadares and Valmiñor’s Dávila. Farther west, in the O Rosal subregion at the mouth of the Minho, Terras Gauda, Santiago Ruíz and Pazo de San Mauro are all marked by loureiro in the blend, along with smaller percentages of treixadura and caiño blanco that promote an attractive complexity and demonstrate the significant potential of these lesser-known grapes when blended with albariño.

In the literal rather than figurative sense, Rías Baixas wines are likely the most feminine in Spain. Many of the country’s wine regions have female winemakers and winery owners, but not in the numbers working in Rías Baixas, where the president of the Consejo Regulador for the past 21 years has been the dynamic María Soledad Bueno, owner of Pazo de Señorans (in 2007, she relinquished her position to grateful kudos from producers, press and a host of admirers). 

María Soledad 'Marisol' Bueno, owner of Pazo de Señorans

Among the female enologists responsible for some of the region’s top wines are María Luisa Freire (Santiago Ruíz), Pilar Jiménez (Pazo de Barrantes), Cristina Mantilla (Veigadares, Pazo de San Mauro, Valminor Dávila and Couto), Ana Martín (Condes de Albarei), Angela Martín (Casal Caiero), Ana Oliveira (Terras Guada), María del Ana Quintela (Pazo de Señorans) and Isabel Salgado (La Granja Fillaboa).

Isabel Salgado, La Granja Fillaboa

La Granja Fillaboa

Many of these producers were showing their wines at the colorful annual Festa do Albariño held every August in Cambados, the main town of the Val de Salnés district. As the first American invited to help judge this Albariño competition at this event, I was privileged to sample more than 70 wines over the course of the competition, the public tastings, official meals and impromptu gastronomic excursions around Cambabos.

Do Ferreiro and Galician oysters, a superb culinary pairing.

Gerardo Méndez of Do Ferreiro

Many superb, small-producer, 100 percent Albariño were among my favorites:  Gerardo Méndez's Do Ferreiro (one of the region's best producers), Granja Fillaboa, Lusco, Palacio de Fefiñanes, Pazo de Barrantes, Pazo de Señorans and the small artisan producers, Cabaliero do Val, Rozas, O Forrollo, Lagar de Broullón, Avo Róxo, (fortunately, most are currently exported to the United States).

Albariño grapes, Do Ferreiro

Fruity and complex, Palacio de Fefiñanes, is one of Rías Baixas’s greatest wines and one of the best Spanish whites I have ever encountered. Founded in 1904 and housed in a baronial palace on a charming plaza in Cambados, Palacio de Fefiñanes makes albariños aged in large, used oak vats (a la Alsace), which have minimal impact on the flavor, but contribute greatly to the age-worthiness of the wines, which I have beem tracking since the 1994 vintage). Fefiñanes, owned and produced by the Marqués de Figueroa, Juan Gil de Araujo (not to be confused with the Juan Gil of Jumilla), is on par with some of the finest Chablis.

Ribeira Sacra

After several days in Rías Baixas marked by some lovely wines, but also plagued by arson (fire destroyed some of Do Ferreiro’s vines, among others), I turned west toward Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras. The former has some of Spain’s most spectactularly beautiful vineyards, which are planted on terraces along slate-strewn hillsides that plunge steeply to the banks of lakes created by the dammed-up north-south-flowing Miño and east-west-flowing Sil rivers. The Ribeira Sacra DO has 3,000 acres of the vineyards that snake through the Galician provinces of Lugo (in the north) and Orense (in the south) and is divided into five subzones: northernmost Chantada and Ribeiras do Minho (along the Minho River) [Use Minho, which is Gallego and Portuguese, essentially the same language], and Amandi and Quiroga-Bibei (along the Sil) — all in Lugo province — and Ribieras do Sil (along the Orense portion of the Sil).

Ribeira Sacra is producing some surprisingly good, terroir-laced red wines from mencía, Spain’s most exciting rediscovered red variety, but several promising, still little known, godello- and albariño-based whites also are grown here. Abadía da Cova, Ribeira Sacra’s top bodega, offers a delicious, complex Albariño accented by the addition of 15 percent godello and treixadura; a fine Godello, with 15 percent albariño added, is also made here. José Manuel Rodríguez, president of the Ribeira Sacra Consejo Regulador (regulatory council), makes the excellent Décima Godello, which, with its white peach and mineral flavors, is reminiscent of viognier. The Godellos of Donandrea Toxeiro y Peza do Rei are also delicious.

Great Red Wine Hope from Ribeira Sacra

Ribeira Sacra, “Vinos del Cielo” (The Wines of Heaven) reads a sign overlooking a heaven’s view of perhaps the most strikingly dramatic and stunningly beautiful wine region in the world (from a writer fresh off a trip to Portugal’s Douro River Valley, this is not hyperbole). The Ribeira Sacra Vinos del Cielo sign is also a tie-in to the origin of the region’s name, which comes from the profusion of ancient sacred (sacra) monasteries and churches in this region. Some are more than a thousand years old and several are Romanesque churches founded in the 12th and 13th centuries by Burgundian Cisterican monks, who were the “Johnny Grapevines” (instead of Appleseeds) of their epoch. They established vineyards all around France, Spain, and Germany, many of which are still the basis for some of the world’s most famous wines (Clos de Vougeout, Beaumes de Venise and Vega Sicilia to name a few).

“Heavenly” Riberia Sacra is the land of mencía par excellence, but two other preferred minority varieties, brancellao and merenzao; some beefy garnacha tintorera; two other obscure red grapes; and a sextet of Galician white varieties, the most promising of which is the superb godello, are all grown here. Ribeira Sacra, a snake-shaped denominación de origen with 3,000 acres terraced along the spectacular slate-strewn hillsides of the dammed-up Miño (flowing north-to-south) and Sil (flowing east-to-west) river valleys. Ribeira Sacra is shared by the Galician provinces of Lugo in the north and Orense in the south and divided into five subzones: northernmost Chantada and Ribeiras do Miño along the Miño, Amandi and Quiroga-Bibei along the Sil (all four in Lugo province) and Ribieras do Sil (along the Orense portion of the Sil).

More than five years ago, I began visiting Ribeira Sacra, still practically unknown in this country. I found single row terraces of old vines mencía (with some garnacha tintorera and the white grapes, albariño and godello), growing on incredibly steep slate hillsides first planted by the Romans that plunge precipitously down to the dammed-up Sil and Minho rivers, making for some of the most spectacularly beautiful vineyards in the world (surpassing even the beauty of the Douro and Germany’s Moselle wine growing regions). These vineyards are so steep that steel railings have been placed at strategic points to allow the grapes to be hauled up and some, like a Cividade, are so precipitously steep and isolated that they can only be reached by boats, on which the grapes are placed during harvest to transport to the winery.

On that first visit, I was immediately awestruck by the region’s magical landscape and after a number of tastings and a few dozen bottles that I drank during meals in Galicia, I found some of the same promising black ruby-red, raspberry-flavored fruit and mineral elements in these mencía-based wines as those in Bierzo. I loved the fact that Ribeira Sacra reds were fresh, light (some only 12% to 12.5% alcohol, a welcome relief in this epoch), deliciously fruity and laced with the same graphite-slate mineral characteristics as the wines of Bierzo and Priorat. (For the “there is no such thing as mineral terroir current wisdom,” those mineral tastes are getting into these wines somehow, because all three regions have the same Galician food and in tastings in the region, I tried a number of wines that were pleasurable, even fascinating because of their raspberry and red currant flavors and distinct mineral stamp, but few them were more than quaffable, rustic country wines.

I felt too many of the wines were way too unsophisticated, not well made and often obviously overproduced, a fact underscored by Adegas Alguiera’s Fernando González, when he showed me heavily laden vines from one of the multitude of small minifundia grower vineyards that sell their grapes to the larger Ribeira Sacra wineries and to others outside the region. However, as 50-something former banker-turned-bodeguero, González has shown--with the winemaking expertise of the peripatetic, talented Raúl Pérez to bring out the best in his wines–that these small, old vine plots, with careful vineyard practices, reduced yields and a good winemaker can produce world-class wines practically overnight. This is relatively easily acheivable and means that there can be quantitative and qualitative quantum leap in the wines of Ribeira Sacra within a very short period of time.

In early August 2007, José Manuel Rodríguez, President of the Consejo Regulador (regulatory council) of Ribeira Sacra took me to Pradio, a new, but very isolated hill country winery overlooking the spot where the Sil River pours out of its “throat” (Gargantuas del Sil) into the Minho River, which flows down past Ourense and becomes Galicia’s southern border with Portugal. Twenties-something owner, Xavier Seone Novelle, who owns a whole hamlet where he renovated some old houses and built a winery, hotel and facilities for mountain tourists, poured his Pradio 2006 carbonic maceration red wine along with some of his mother’s excellent tapas. It was evident from the first sip, that at least at this winery, something was changing in the right direction in Ribera Sacra. Pradio was deliciously fruity, moderate in alcohol and had seen no wood except the trees around the property.

That night with tapas at O Grelo restaurant, just down the road from the hilltop Parador de Turismo where I was staying in the Ribiera Sacra capital of Monforte de Lemos, José Manuel Rodríguez tasted me through his own wines, the juicy, complex Décima 2006 and the Décima 2005 (a year he says was espectacular for his wine), both of which were delicious and full flavored, neither of which topped 12.2% alcohol! Then he served an unusual and unusually good Décima 2006 tinto that was delicious, silky, easy drinking blend of mencía, garnacha tintoera (30%) and godello (10%), the white grape. The garnacha tintorera boosted the alcohol level to 13.5%, but that is low by today’s standards. I now had tasted four superb wines from two small producers. Were there more good Ribeira Sacra wines where those came from?

A day later, after having toured some incredible mencía vineyards with Fernando González (and almost having a heart attack when I peered out the window of a van too large for the cliffside vineyard road we were on and saw a vineyard 100-feet below me, at the bottom of a sheer drop!), we returned to Alguiera, where Raúl Pérez, fresh off a flying enologist run from Bierzo in his Mini-Cooper, had just arrived. Pérez led me through an eye-opening lineup of wines ranging from the Alguiera 2006, which should be superb with bottle age, back to the 2001, one of the best Mencía-based wines I had ever tasted, certainly the best Ribeira Sacra wine perhaps ever made. As if to underscore that where there is smoke, there’s fire, as we were drinking the wines with some tapas from Alguiera’s own small restaurant, José Manuel Rodríguez showed up with Dona Das Penas owner Antonio Lombardía, who produced a bottle of juicy, white peach- and honeysuckle-flavored, mineral-laced Alma Larga Godello 2006, which clearly showed that Ribeira Sacra was capable of producing a world class white as well. (In a previous Wine News article, I wrote about the quality of Abadia da Cova’s godello-albariño white wine blends.)

The next morning, at the Parador of Monforte de Lemos, Antonio Lombardía brought me his Verdes Matas Mencía 2006, which despite just having been bottled and marked by new oak, showed excellent potential with rich, sweet red raspberry and red currant fruit, mineral flavors and just 12.5%.

On earlier trips to Ribeira Sacra, I had seen glimpses of future greatness in the meager production of José Manuel Rodríguez’s Décima and in Abadía da Cova, which had been on the market for some time, but had seemed to have lost focus under the interventionist winemaking market urgings of their former American importer. But now, after the remarkable tasting at Alguiera and the tastings of Décima, Pradio and Pena Das Donas, I had seen the future of Ribeira Sacra come together in just two days. And, there are other wines like the unusual, but exotic and intriguing (are you ready for cherry and chestnut wood, instead of oak?), Enológica Thémera and a trio of wines–Lacima, Lapena and Lalama–from Priorat husband-wife team, Sara Pérez (Clos Martinet) and René Barbier, Jr. (Clos Mogador). With Pérez-Barbier, what I fear is not invasion of the “L”s, it is the Priorat invasion, which I hope does not bring in its wake Mediterranean climate style wines with 14% - 15% alcohol levels.

My prediction is that within two to three years, this region will suddenly vault onto the wine stage to join the new Spanish red wine chorus line that already includes Bierzo, Priorat, Toro and Jumilla, but Ribeira Sacra, if it stays true to its own regional style, will be the lightest stepping dancer in the line and may find an important market as the antidote to the beefy 14% to 16% alcohol wines that seem to be dominate today. The challenge will be to maintain the lovely raspberry, red currant and light black raspberry mencía fruit, minerality and reasonable alcohol content (12.5% to 13%) that makes these wines so engaging, plus resist the temptation to submit the wines to the ubiquitous abuse of new oak, which overwhelms both the fruit and the terroir. If these first few wineries entering the American market are an indicator, they may prove to be Spain’s antidote to all the overblown “blockbuster” wines out there–an antidote which a multitude of protesting wine lovers are fully ready to embrace. Maybe their bigger sibling to the East, Bierzo, will even follow Ribera Sacra’s lead and mencía may turn out to be Spain’s new Great Red Wine Hope.

Valdeorras

Just east of Ribeira Sacra, with 3,700 acres of DO vineyards along the Sil valley is Valdeorras, which is showing excellent potential for fine godello-based whites that reflect their particular terroir. Valdeorras, which could very well be Spain’s Burgundy, is attracting more serious winemakers, such as peripatetic Telmo Rodríguez and Rafael Palacios (brother of Priorat-La Rioja-Bierzo winemaking star, Álvaro Palacios). They have come here to make rich, fruity, but well-balanced wines laced with mineral finishes from old vines godello vineyards terraced on well-drained slopes; the results are reminiscent of the best white wines of France.

After making wines for several years in his family's Palacios Remondo winery in La Rioja Baja, including the very well-regarded Placet, one of the best 100% viura wines ever made in La Rioja, Rafael Palacios burst onto the Galician white wine scene in 2005 with As Sortes Godello white, which was in instant sensation. After a rumored family rift and, perhaps a desire to make his own mark free of the shadow of his superstar brother, Álvaro, Rafael moved to Valdeorras (Palacio's cousins are also making wine there and in neighboring Bierzo) and procured some high altitude, terraced old vines godello from which he crafts his signature. 

When first released As Sortes will score in the low 90s on just about anyone's scale. It is cask fermented in foudres (again, a la Alsace) and the wine is left on the lees for several months in the cask. The resulting wine is Burgundy weight, richly fruity, mineral-laced, leesy and without marked oak characteristics, but early on it exhibits a slightly cloudy, too-deep green-gold color, which, if it were a sweet wine would not cause concern, but in a dry white it often means that after a year the wine may be an downhill oxidative spiral, which I have seen in several other Spanish white wines vinified this way. One hopes that Palacios will master his superb godello raw material, because tastings of his first efforts show the potential to make one of the great white wines of Europe.

Rodríguez is the former winemaker of Rioja’s Remelluri, where he made some memorable, highly rated reds and one of Rioja’s most interesting whites from a blend of several native and foreign varieties. He now makes Telmo Rodríguez y Cia wines in such far-flung areas as Ribera del Duero, La Rioja, Alicante and Málaga. Two years ago, he introduced his first Valdeorras wine, an old vines godello called Gabo do Xil. The 2004 was already showing an advanced deep, green-gold color, but was somewhat out of balance; it did possess a promising character that made it a wine worth revisiting in vintages to come. Rodríguez admits that he considers Gabo do Xil an entry-level Godello, but the 2005, which I tasted over dinner with young star chef Vicente Patiño's food at Sal de Mar restaurant in Denia (Alicante) in January, was silky, spicy, delicious and performed well above Telmo's own advance billing for the wine.

A Valdeorras godello-based wine with a longer history is Godeval, which shows the flinty, mineral terruño (terroir) from the pizzara- (slate) strewn slopes around a refurbished old monastery that is the winery. In its early years, Godeval reached depths of flavor and complexity that few other native Spanish whites achieve. It has become quite popular over the past few years, however, and, though still quite good, it may have slipped slightly as its production has grown to meet demand. Godeval also makes a more expensive barrel-fermented godello, but the oak obscures the wine’s nuances and haunting mineral flavors.

La Tapada, which produces Guitian, uses godello grown on vineyards around the winery that are distinctly less rocky than those at Godeval. José Hidalgo, winemaker at La Rioja’s Bodegas Bilbaínas, is La Tapada’s consulting enologists. Guitian is a pleasant, rich, glossy mouthful of tropical fruit, but it does not achieve Godeval’s complexity. I tend to discount the barrel-fermented version, because of its overtly butterscotch flavor and a surfeit of oak, but I recently had to amend that opinion when I tasted the 1997 and found it surprisingly good. Other Valdeorras 100 percent godello-based wines of interest are Galiciano Dia, Joaquín Rebelledo, Viña Somoza and Pezas de Portela.

After this article was almost complete, I tasted the latest vintage of Pezas de Portela, the 2005, at the trendy Urban restaurant in the Hotel Urban, perhaps the hottest new hotel in Madrid. It was simply stunning, easily as good as many white Burgundies. Two days later, at Mari Carmen Velez’s superb La Sirena restaurant in Petrer, outside Alicante, I had the 2002, which showed some of the same fruit and terroir, and was tasting a lot like aged Burgundy.

There is no doubt that Galicia is turning out truly fine whites from native grapes. These refreshingly different varieties — albariño, godello and treixadura, especially — are proving themselves capable of producing memorable wines that are fruity, spicy, often complex, dry, mineral-laced and excellent companions to food. That is a revelation in a country thought as little as decade ago incapable of making world-class white wines.

– The End –

Galician Shellfish, some of the best seafood in the world
 

Judging, tasting and drinking these wines, often with those supernal shellfish of Galicia — ostras (oysters), almejas (clams), cigalas (langoustines), nécoras (small crabs), vieiras (sea scallops) and zamburiñas (similar to bay scallops, served with their coral) — underscored the excellence of Spain’s best-known white varietal wine.

Cigalas (langoustines, Dublin Bay prawns)

Santiaguiños (small lobster-like shellfish), camarones (camarones), nécoras (small crabs).

The range of my dining experiences while in Cambados, which spanned modern Spanish cuisine and regional specialities, underscored the versatility of Albariño, and tastings of several wines, particularly those of Pazo de Señorans and Palacio de Fefiñanes, reinforced my faith in the age-worthiness of this native white in the hands of the best producers. Yet several barrel-fermented Rías Baixas whites sampled on this trip reconfirmed my belief (formed on earlier visits) that fermenting such wines in new oak fails to enhance their natural flavors and often masks their freshness, fruitiness, charm, nuances and any terroir they may possess.

In this new oak-demented age, mercifully, the majority of Rías Baixas whites are spared brutal lashings of oak that many other Spanish wines suffer. Three of the very best, Pazo de Señorans (unoaked), Do Ferreiro and Do Ferreiro Cepas Vellas (old vines) and Palacio de Fefiñanes (used barrels), see no new oak, yet age well, particularly the latter. Pazo de Señorans Selección de Añadas Albariño, a stellar wine made only in the best Rías Baixas vintages, is aged on the lees in stainless steel for three years.

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