Investing in wineries has become trendy among the well-heeled and famous in Spain.  In general it’s a trend that is positive….it shows that wine is becoming more high profile.  The most high profile area for celebrity investment has been Ribera del Duero, one of Spain’s trendiest areas.  Ribera del Duero is the cool wine to drink amongst affluent Spaniards at the moment…Rioja was the region that their paretns prefered.   Also the big, oaky wines of Ribera offer the intense sensations that many people are looking for in wine today.  So I was not surprised to read the other day that Antonio Banderas has bought the winery Bodegas Anta in Ribera.  I was not surprised that he chose to invest there instead of his native Malaga.  Definetely for a quicker return on your investment, Ribera is the place to acquire a winery…however, it would have been really nice to see Banderas bet on the up and coming red wines coming out of Malaga.   See  my article on the great wines from Ronda.  Anta is a respectable winery making some decent Riberas…I’ve had their A5 and their A10, but not their higher end wines A16 and A de Anta.  I was favorably impressed with the A10, quite nice for a Ribera around 11€…usually Riberas at that price range are quite thin on fruit.  I’m looking forward to trying their high end bottles…this si where Riera should shine.  No doubt we’ll be hearing more about this winery now that Banderas is associated….I hope it results in great wines!

I have been meaning to try this Rioja wine for some time and in the last week I have tried it in two vintages.  Both were impressive, but the 2007 could use a little more time in bottle to achieve a better balance.  Predicador is the inexpensive wine that Benjamin Romeo brought onto the market in 2005.  Benjamin Rome is a cult winemaker in Rioja and is responsible for such amazing wines as Contador, La Cueva de Contador, La Viña de Andrés, all priced 80 euros or higher.  Benjamin Romeo also offers one of Spain’s most unique whites, Que Bonito Cacareaba, which retails for about 35€.  The story behind the name is funny…it translates as “How wonderfully it crowed.”  Seems strange but originally it was called Gallo canto or “Cock crows”, but obviously Gallo in Spanish is spelled the same as the famous winery Gallo.  Need I say more….so Benjamin killed off the Gallo and in memoriam named the wine Que Bonito Cacareaba!  Love it and love the wine.  The Predicador is less intense and simpler than it’s pricy big brother, but it offers a lot of bang for the buck at only about 19€.   It is an intense, sweet fruit, fresh modern Rioja with great oak integration and a long finish.  The 2006 has the edge for me right now…much smoother.  The 2007 is delicious, but the tannins are a bit tight still.     It really a pleasure to drink a good value wine from this unique and creative winemaker.  Read on for more details on Predicador.  

El Chaflan is one of the most famous restaurants in Madrid and in a real sign of the times they have opened a tapas bar called the Aris Bar to make their expensive “alta cocina” more accessible to the rest of us.  We checked it out this weekend and despite some problems, had a very good experience.  On the good side the food and wines are excellent, on the downside is the décor and ambiance, which resembles an upscale fast food restaurant like the Fast Good chain.  El Chaflan is located in a hotel and when we entered, we saw what resembles a modernistic hotel breakfast room.  We asked the waiter where the tapas bar was and to our surprise he said: “Here!”  Sadly, there is no actual bar, it is just a plain room with modern plastic furniture.  Despite our dismay, we proceeded.  The service was indifferent at first though eventually the waiter warmed up to us.  The menu is divided into two pages…traditional tapas and special El Chaflan modern tapas.  We stuck to the modern tapas and ordered several…they are very small and meant for one, but we preferred to order many and split them anyway.  All of them were delicious without exception.  In the finger sandwiches we tried three types:  Torta del Casar cheese with truffle oil, sobresada with lemon jam, and smoked eel with mascarpone….seriously unusual but wonderful combinations!  Amongst the pinchos we tried the anchoa and boquerone toast, which is commonly called matrimonio, matching the salt cured anchoa with the vinegar cured boquerone.  This was a creative twist on that with tomato and pesto…really lovely.  We had a tiny plate of steak tartar served with a sweet/savory ice cream…a delicious contrast of savory, spicy, cold, and sweet.  The tuna tartare with avocado is a modern classic…here they add some fish roe and some crunchy fried bits that add lovely texture.  The octopus ceviche was tender, oniony and tart with a lovely sweet and creamy mousse of maracuyá fruit on top….spectacular!  The wine list is short but interesting…I had a decent Alsatian Pinot Blanc by the glass….almost impossible to find in Madrid.  The wines by the glass are expensive but the pours are generous and there are many Champagnes by the glass as well.  The prices by the bottled are not bad at all. The location is a bit isolated so you should plan to come and stay, but the food and wine definitely make up for the bland décor and lack of atmosphere…come with a  group of friends and you can make your own!  I’m be returning to try some cocktails, more tapas and also to try the 15€ prix fixe lunch menu that is offered during the week. Check out the El Chaflan Aris Bar website for more info.

Leione is an interesting wine made from the grape variety Prieto Picudo.  Prieto Picudo is a local variety found in the Leon province of Spain, the same region that is home to the more high profile Mencía grape.  Mencía has become quite trendy and just stepping out its shadow is this very good quality grape.  There are so many quite obscure grape varieties in Spain that are finally getting some attention.  The winery is Dominio de Tares, one of the pioneering wineries that brought Mencía and Bierzo to prominence.  They have started a second project, Dominio Dos Tares, making a range of wines exclusively from Prieto Picudo.  Right now these wines don’t enter into any wine appellation and so are labeled very broadly as Vino de la Tierra de Castilla Leon.  Previously Prieto Picudo was used for basic reds and rosés for local consumption, but with some care the grape can really shine.  It is generally very aromatic with intense red fruit, some floral and mineral notes.  The wine Leione has all of that as well as some really nice oak spice and some leather.  The 2005 is in perfect balance with smooth tannins and nice acidity.  It is a very pretty wine, but also has substance.  Prieto Picudo is definitely a grape to watch out for.  Domino Dos Tares also makes two more wines from 100% Prieto Picudo:  Cumal and Estay.  Read on for more details on Leione 2005.  

Taberneros is wine bar I used to visit often, but it somehow dropped off my tapas route.  Plaza Mayor in central Madrid…they have no website (!), but are on google maps.   We visited the other day with some friends and I was pleased to see that the basics were still in place:  great food and good wine.  Part of the reason I had stopped going there was because I felt the quality of the service and food had dropped off a little…the food impressed me anew but the service was still pretty indifferent.  Taberneros is worth a visit though because it offers unique tapas and wine.  It fits in style-wise in between the multitudinous traditional places and the “modern-elaborate” tapas places that have become trendy.  Taberneros puts sophisticated touches to classic Spanish cuisine but without losing that comforting comfort food taste.   We tried the cecina with olive oil and it was as good as ever:  tender cured beef presented as carpaccio with top quality olive oil, lemons, and sea salt.  Most cecina is tough and dry…this is perfect!  We had the creamy scallop gratin, soft tender vegetables topped with slices of scallop and béchamel…served on the shell.  Next up was the fried eggs and potato with shaved black truffle….a cholesterol fest, but so delicious.  The wine list is very complete, a bit pricy, but with some interesting inexpensive alternatives.  There is a smattering of foreign wines, but Spain is the focus.  The by-the-glass list is good and the best surprise is that there are 6 types of dessert wine by the glass.  The highlight of the night was my first taste of the botrytis wine Caligo.  The wine is from coastal vineyards close to Barcelona and is not included in any wine appellation.  This first vintage, 2005, is made from 100% Chardonnay, but there are plans to include Sauvignon Blanc and Albariño in future vintages. Botrytis is a rarity in Spain due to the climate and this is the first Spanish dessert wine with botrytis I have ever tasted.  Their website shows the unique mists in their vineyards that allow the noble rot to flourish.  Fascinating wine which I will revisit soon.  To sum it all up….Taberneros is a great stop on the upscale Madrid tapas route!

In the last two days I’ve had two different vintages of this juicy, big wine from the southern Spanish region of Utiel…the 2006, which is still widely available, and the 2007, which was just released about a month ago.  The 2006, which sis months ago was a little rough, was really delicious.  The 2007 is better at this point than the 2006, but needs more time in bottle to round out.  Mestizaje is the basic wine of the winery Mustiguillo, one of the pioneers in fine wine in their region.  The wines are released under the appellation Vino de la Tierra El Terrerazo, which is located in Utiel Requena in the southeastern region of Valencia.  The Mestizaje is great value at about 10€ and their two prestige blends, Finca el Terrerazo and Quincha Corral are spectacular.  The wines are blends, but based on the local grape variety Bobal.  Bobal is a unique grape variety that is widespread in the area and parts of La Mancha.  It is largely used for low quality, bulk wines, but with a lot of care, can make some really top quality wines.  It is a grape that is very high in acidity and retains its freshness in hot weather.  Though not as aromatic as some grapes it does have attractive aromas of red fruit and can sometimes have a meaty quality.   Bobal has a problem with uneven ripening and has very vigorous shoot growth….so careful selection and controlled yields are necessary to make a top quality wine.  The climate in the area is also challenging….the heat can be extreme.  Mestizaje from Bodegas Mustiguillo really shows what Bobal is capable of in a blend.  Read on for more details on the wine.  

Dominio de Atauta is a really unique wine from the Spanish wine region of Ribera del Duero.  As mentioned in my ratings of Ferratus, I’m a bit down on the region.  The inexpensive wines from the region are often hollow and thin on fruit, the more expensive can often be over-oaked.  Also many of the wines, though perfect technically, seem to be lacking a lot of character. I feel that many Ribera wineries have lost touch with the terroir of the region in order to attain the perfect model for an “international” wine.  I’m convinced that it would be very hard to pick some Ribera wines out of a lineup of blockbuster-style reds from around the world….many of these wines lack a sense of place…and they can also be exhausting to drink.  The wines of the Dominio de Atauta winery are the opposite of international…they are firmly rooted in the terroir that the wine-maker tries to reflect in his wines.  The winemaker; Bernard Sourdais is from the Loire Valley, but has been working in Spain for over a decade.  He brings a real French sensibility to the idea of terroir, a concept that is just catching on in a real way here in Spain.   The vineyards are very special; they are located at the far eastern end of the Denominacion, in the province of Soria.  The altitude is higher than most of Ribera, 950 meters and the vines are very old.  The youngest vines the winery uses are 60 years old, the oldest, 160!  The winery also practices biodynamic wine-making and the winery is built in a manner so as to blend into the landscape.  These are all facts that lead to the uniqueness of these wines…but a word of warning…these are not always easy wines.  These are not the big, sweet, juicy Riberas we have become used to.  When I first tasted the 2005, it was delightful in the nose, but the tannins were still quite rough in the mouth.  The wine has since come into a much better balance and is one of the most original and satisfying Riberas on the market…and also good value at 25€..    Even more spectacular are the single-vineyard wines, Llanos del Almendro, La Mala and Valdegatiles that range between 75 and 100€.  Read on for more details on the basic Dominio de Atauta red.  

Megoba 2007 is a very trendy red wine from Bierzo made from the outstanding Mencía grape.  It is so trendy that its price seems to have gone up 25% in its first year of release!  It’s a wine made by Gregory Pérez, the well known enologist that is behind the Luna Beberide winery.   He originally from Bordeaux but of Spanish descent and has settled into making wines in the Bierzo area.  I love the Luna Beberide wines…they are really some of the most elegant Mencías around.  This wine is at the other end of the spectrum.  It really shows the intensity and concentration that Mencía can give.  It is from 80 year old vines with really low yields…one of those great sites that offer such unique terroir.  I have to say that in the mouth, I found the tannins a little too intense.  I loved the nose and I loved the fruit in the mouth…but the tannins were really tough, closing down the finish. We were drinking it with friends so there was no time to let it open up.  It is a 2007 and hopefully the tannins will be tamed by a little more time in bottle.  I’d like to try the wine again in a several months.  I’m also anxious to try Megoba’s white wine made from one of my favorite white Spanish grapes:  Godello.   Read on for more details on this wine. Also check out my post about the Mencía grape and about the Tierras de Luna wine from Luna Beberide.

Another slightly high end wine….but the Mauro 2005 is totally worth its 22€ price tag.  Mauro was one of the pioneers in making top quality wine outside the traditional wine appellation areas.  Its category is Vino de la Tierra, in theory a table wine category, but also producing some of the best and best value wines in Spain.  Mauro was founded in 1980 in the Ribera del Duero area.  Outside the wine appellation has given the winery more flexibility in grape varieties, which include Tempranillo, Garnacha and Syrah.  In the mid to late 90’s Mauro changed wine styles along with many area wineries, seeking fresher fruit and more intensity.  Mariano Garcia, the famed winemaker from Vega Sicilia took over and the result was one of the hottest wines in Spain…it really put the category of Vino de la Tierra de Castilla Leon on the map.  Even the casual wine-drinker has heard of this winery.   I used to drink a lot of this wine, but had ignored it in the past few vintages.  I’ve rediscovered the wine in the very good 2005 vintage…an intense, yet attractive wine with a perfect oak balance…something sadly lacking in many Ribera del Duero wines. It’s great to revisit a pioneer and find it still deserves its reputation.  For more information on the Vino de la Tierra Category of wine see my blog post on the unconventional wine categories in Spain.  Read on for more details on the wine.

Roda Reserva 2004 from Rioja is the wine I have consumed most over the past year.  I love to change the wines I put in my tastings constantly….otherwise I get bored!  The Roda, however, has been the exception…it is the consistently the favorite wine in my line-ups of eight wines from all over Spain.  The 2004 vintage, which is really structured, has only been getting better over the months…I’m dreading the day they come out with the 2005…it’s a very nice wine, but it will take a year to get to where the 2004 is now.  This wine is a firmly modern Rioja with only 16 months in new French oak.  The special thing about it is that perfect balance it has between sweet red fruit, fresh Rioja acidity, perfectly integrated oak and firm, yet ripe tannins.  It is so youthful, with many years ahead, but so easy to drink now.  It is really good value at 20-22€ retail in Madrid. It is the all round wine, a wine that please all types and nationalities of wine drinkers.  I serve it so much I do get burned out on Roda but I can’t stop serving it!  Read on for more details on the wine.

I usually rate wines that retail under 20€ because I think they are more useful for the typical wine buyer, but the other day I tasted a great wine that I really wanted to put out there.  The wine Cenit 2005 costs about 35-40€ retail here in Spain, though I’ve seen it for less on US sites at 40$.  Cenit is from one of the most recently created wine appellations in Spain, DO Tierra del Vino de Zamora…not the most practical name!  But it’s an interesting region located in northwestern Spain right on the border with Portugal…  The region is best known for reds made from old-vine Tempranillo, some of them on original rootstock….though there are only a handful of wineries so far, some very interesting wines are being made.  The climate is very extreme with big temperature changes between the day and night.  The best wines are generally big, full-bodied and intense.   If you want to check out this new wine appellation see http://www.tierradelvino.net/home.html.  Read on for more details on the wine.

A couple of really interesting articles at Market Watch and at Decanter in the last week really gave some insights into how Spanish wine is performing in the current crisis market.  According to Market Watch, Spanish imports are performing better than average in the US wine market, and particularly when you compare their numbers to other major European wine exporters such as French, Italy and Germany.   The value of Spanish table wines increased 5% in 2008 while cava imports performed even better at 9%….obviously cava is good recession alternative to Champagne!  The Decanter article addresses the situation in the UK market, Spanish wines declined in volume by 3% but remained stable in value.  Hopefully this shows that UK and US consumers that Spanish wines offer great value at very inexpensive price points, but also at higher price points.   It’s great to see Spanish wines performing so well in this difficult market…certainly the quality and value of the product on offer merits the recognition of the consumer.  The Decanter article’s main theme was that Rioja imports had declined as compared to their rival regions.  Just as interesting is the comment posted by the UK office of Wines from Rioja, denying any slump in Rioja sales in the UK!  Decanter doesn’t provide any assessment of Rioja’s decline, but I have been thinking of a few.  Read on for some more thoughts….

 Various media sources came out this week citing a new study that shows that event the moderate consumption of alcohol in woman increases their risk of cancer.    In recent years drinking wine in moderation has been cited as being heart healthy.   This new study, which tracked 1 million women, concluded that just one drink a day of any kind, increases your overall cancer risk by 6% up to the age of 75 years old.  This does not necessarily eradicate the good influences a glass of wine each evening has, but it certainly puts a damper on the drinking for health love fest that has abounded for the past few years.  I do not feel too dismayed by all this; I figure that lots of what I do has some kind of nefarious effect on my heath.  I certainly hope that we do not see the kind of extreme reaction that we saw over the French paradox in the early 90’s, when thousands switched to red wine from white because in theory the French eat butter and do not die of heart attacks.  We have to remember that in our modern lives, we are constantly exposed to chemicals and emanations that surely impact our health tremendously.  We can hardly go through life cutting out anything that might have a negative impact…we would also eliminate much of what make sour lives so rich and interesting.  We take risks everyday just by leaving out houses, driving, travelling etc.  The benefits of wine lie not only in its health impact or in the effect it’s alcohol has upon us….it is so much more….wine is an important relaxation tool in our busy lives.  We often disconnect from our hectic lives while sipping a glass of wine after work or with our friends.  Though it may sound excessive to some, for me wine is an art form that also provides physical pleasure to the senses.  A theoretical 6% more risk of cancer cannot outweigh wine’s vital place in my life and my well-being.  So here’s one woman who will not give up her daily glass…..