Wine with Leslie: Spanish wines - starting from €13
Some excellent wines this week from Spain.
I’ve been reminiscing about my holidays as I suspect have many of you, so it is back to Northern Spain this week.
I have four wines from WineSpark.com which is now one year old - I sat down recently with its founder Eamon Fitzgerald to try some of his new discoveries. In case you have forgotten, the idea is simple - pay a monthly membership fee of €10 per month and you can order their wines at significant discounts. The monthly fee covers all the administration, delivery and salaries which means that there is almost no margin applied to the cost of the wine.
Eamon’s riskier choices have been paying dividends he told me - white Rioja and obscure Spanish varieties now sell as well as many of his Sauvignon Blancs. A wine I had no room to mention is an intriguing Priorat Blanco from producer Cal Batllet made from the little-known Escanya-Vella grape (‘old lady strangler’). Costing €28.52 (normally €50) this is full and rounded with peach and herb notes and a pleasing tautness.
Two brilliant new wines from the El Hato Y el Garabato winery in Arribes will arrive later this month and I suspect might sell out. Arribes is in North-Western Spain near the city of Zamorra - there are just 270ha under vine. The winery’s name translates as The Herd and the Scribble - a quote from Don Quixote meaning ‘to bet it all!’ Located at an altitude (780m) along the River Duero bordering Portugal and growing local grapes such as Juan Garcia, Bruñal, Bastardo and Rufete - of which I had only tasted Bastardo before. Pleasingly these grapes can ripen at 12% which is remarkably low these days as alcohol levels increase everywhere thanks to warmer weather.
La Loba is another new wine recommended below and is made by a young 37-year-old winemaker Ana Carazo from 105 different small plots in Eastern Ribera del Duero - it must be a nightmare keeping tabs on them all. The wine is dedicated to her Gran who is pictured on the label (her nickname was La Loba - The Wolf).
So four excellent wines from WineSpark and two from O’Brien’s September sale if you are feeling the pinch this week.
This would retail at around €20 with standard markups, but WineSpark’s membership model allows them to cut substantial costs. This is mostly Tempranillo plus Albillo Mayor (blanco) co-fermented - strawberry and rose petal aromas, creamy textured fruits hit the palate first followed by bitter cherry, dried berries and refreshing stony acidity on the finish. Try with Thai Curry.
Reduced from €17, this is made by O’Brien’s Lynne Coyle with Alicia Eyaralar of Bodegas Tandem. Wild ferment Garnacha and minimal intervention the current vintage has delightful raspberry and strawberry aromas, ripe red fruits on the palate and a dry, fruit-focused finish. A little more texture and fruit than classic rosé from Provence so nicely suited to the Autumn.
Reduced from €15.45 this is packed with soft juicy value cool climate Tempranillo and Merlot with bramble fruits, plum and chocolate notes and freshness thanks to the cool nights in the vineyard. Also on offer is Tandem Inmune Garnacha for €12 which is pure Garnacha from old vines with ripe berry fruits and good complexity.
This brilliant wine drops later in Sept. but can be pre-ordered. From Juan Garcia grapes and packed with red fruits, spice and earth with a layered complex palate that reminded me of top quality Barolo. The field blend ‘Sin Blanca’ for €20 is also recommended - equally fine red fruits if perhaps a little less structure and depth.
I should mention Bierzo and its gorgeous Mencía grape more often as it is exactly the lighter fresher style of wine many of us are seeking out. From 45 plots in 9 villages this could be called a regional blend - dense dark cherry and cranberry fruits, crunchy, lively and delicious - serve a little cool for best results.
Made at the South-Eastern edge of Ribera del Duero from very old vines (100-200 years old) at 960m above sea level and from over 100 organic plots. This is a more elegant style of Ribera del Duero than many I’ve tasted with beautifully pure, floral scented, dark fruits. Blackberries and plums with a mineral core, this is supple, balanced and fine.
Wicklow Wolf brewery has now become solar-powered, surely a prescient move given energy prices. The use of solar should reduce their carbon footprint by over 100,000Kw per year and save 30 tonnes of carbon. WW also grow some of their own hops and has a proper focus on sustainability for which they deserve praise.
This is a supremely drinkable dry-hopped session beer packed with El Dorado, Sabro and Chinook hops. Pouring a pale gold this has aromas of grapefruit and pine forests with a big bang of citrus on first taste and lingering malt and hoppy freshness on the finish.
