Another great red wine from the Montsant area of Spain.  In recent articles, I’ve rated Finca L’Argatá and Brunus.  Montsant is the great value area that surrounds the cult wine area of Priorat.  Many of the vineyard sites in Montsant offer similar great terroir as those in Priorat but at a fraction of the price.  But, it’s best to know your producers….there are still some fairly rustic wines out there.  The Acústic 2007 is my favorite kind a Montsant:  super mineral, intense black fruit, huge but smooth tannins.    Admittedly it’s a bit closed at first, but it’s a 2007 and needs some air and even some time in bottle.  Acústic has that distinct Montsant character that gives it real originality.  Also interesting in this wine is the use of Samsó, an obscure regional variety that is coming back into favor lately.  It is an intense, structured grape that really plays well with the old vine Garnacha so typical of the area.  Acústic Celler also makes a higher end wine called Braó, that retails for about 22€ and is more a more typical Montsant blend of old vine Garnacha and Cariñena.  Read on for more information on Acústic 2007.

Caliza is the value wine in the Marques de Griñon Dominio de Valdepusa line.  Dominio de Valdepusa is the estate wine appellation or vino de pago located in Toledo province to the southwest of Madrid.  The estate specializes in very ripe, big wines from mostly French varieties, though they are starting to work with Graciano, a Rioja grape.  The estate has been very important in the evolution of Spanish wines over the last 25 years, and has been innovating in terms of grape varieties and technologies in the vineyard.  I’ve previously written posts about the wines and the winery, but the Caliza was not part of the line-up back then.  Previously, the estates wines started at about 19€, topping out at about 45€. I’ve always loved these wines but often found them a little pricy.  Now the winery has come out with a lower end wine, the Caliza, that is much more reasonably priced at 12€.  The Caliza, made from Syrah and Petit Verdot, is soft and full, with wonderful black fruit.  It is not super complex, but has surprising freshness for such a hot weather wine and has quite a long finish, with very ripe tannins.  I really think it is a lot of wine for a good price….and it’s perfect to drink this year.  I don’t love the label though…it looks like a bland version of Didier Dagueneau’s original Silex label…also the shape of the stone looks a little like the outline of Africa.  Read on for more info on Caliza 2005.

One Spanish white grape I’ve written quite a bit about is Godello, a high quality grape from Galicia in northwestern Spain.  My all-time favorite Godello is As Sortes by Rafael Palacios, a wine I’ve rated and written about a couple of times.  Rafael Palacios is very passionate about Godello and determined to make world class wines out of the grape…something he’s already done.  Today’s wine is As Sortes little sister, Louro do Bolo, a delicious Godello that is much more approachable and also half the price!  I love the As Sortes, but it is so intense steely, and complex that it is not the friendliest wine before it gets some air.  The Louro do Bolo is much more round and aromatic from the beginning, albeit less complex.  It offers aromas of lees, pineapple and lemon in the nose, as well as a bit of smokiness and oak spice.  In the mouth it has all those aromas as well as really fresh acidity.  It’s a really great example of Godello at a really friendly price:  12€.  Read on for more details on Lour do Bolo 2007.

One wine region I rave about but never write about is Rueda.  The region is a mainstay in my tastings because I think they are some of the most consistent and best value white wines in the world.  You can get a reliable bottle for between 5 and 8€ retail.  These are unoaked, fresh whites made either from Verdejo or Sauvignon Blanc.  Verdejo is the local variety that has a similar Sauvignon grassiness but with more tropical fruit and some refreshing bitterness in the finish.  Though still not common, oaked versions of Verdejo are coming on….Verdejo handles oak beautifully.   A few of my favorite wineries are José Pariente, Naia, Belondrade y Lurton, and Aura.  It is because of Rueda that cheap white wine is more reliable than cheap red wine in Spain.  It is available by the glass in bars throughout Spain and is usually much better than the corresponding house red….usually a thin Rioja.  When in doubt as to the wines on offer in Spain…order Rueda…you’ll almost always get some at least decent.  The wine today is Groc…what an unfortunate name; the label is very cute and somewhat unusual in the Spanish world of plain Jane wine labels.   The wine is the entry level wine of the winery Ossian, known for its top flight oaked Verdejo…one of the top whites in Spain.  It is made from low-yield old vines.  I really loved this wine, much more austere and focused than many Ruedas…many un-oaked Ruedas have intense grassy and pineapple aromas…sometimes a bit excessive.  It was quite a refreshing alternative, though perhaps it lacks the easy, soft attractiveness these wines typically offer.  Read on for details about the Groc 2007

In a recent article I compared two great Garnachas from France and Spain:  Atteca and a Cairanne Côte du Rhône.  I’ve since wrote about many great Garnacha’s from around Spain.  Today’s wine is an old vine Garnacha, from Calatayud, the same region in north-eastern Spain that the Atteca comes from.  This region, though still rustic, is producing an amazing array of old-vine Garnacha wines that are great value.  An interesting thing about Calatayud is that the cooperatives are producing some of the top wines.  Cooperatives in many regions produce pretty ordinary stuff, but here they can excel.  The Baltasar Gracian 2006 is from one such cooperative…San Alejandro…their whole range of inexpensive old-vine wines are really worth trying.  This wine is easy-drinking, but offers exuberant, attractive fruit, some spiciness and some good intensity and decent complexity.  For about 5-6€, it’s a steal!  Read on for more details on the wine. 

I took a week off blogging for a vacation in Marbella, located in Malaga Province in southern Spain.  It’s always a great break to go to the coast, one of the few places I can really relax.  I always feel like it’s a spa week as I go to the gym, walk a lot and eat really healthy.  We eat nothing but fish and seafood when we’re down there, either grilled or fried…so fresh and delicious.  The food in southern Spain tends to be simpler than elsewhere and can be repetitive, but it is really perfect for a few days.  We ate simple food at simple place….the one exception being Calima Restaurant, which I will write up separately. Food highlights typical down there are coquinas, tiny clam-like shellfish, chopitos, baby fried squid, grilled large shrimp, and grilled sardines.  There are also wonderful salads, especially a typical roasted pepper salad and a tomato-garlic salad.  Our favorite restaurant for fish and shellfish in Marbella is El Timonel….great value and delicious food….their grilled calamar with a garlic olive oil is one of my favorites.  The wine scene in southern Spain is pretty dismal. Read on for more on the terrible wine choices available and my review of the most popular white wine in Spain:  Barbadillo.

I recently rated the Brunus 2006 from Montsant…it wasn’t my favorite, but it seems to be garnering high points from all the critics.  As I mentioned in that post, Montsant is a great value alternative to Priorat but can be very hit or miss.  One of the good ones is Finca L’Argatá…it’s been a favorite of mine since the 2002 vintage.  Recently I tried the 2004 for the first time and loved it.  If the Brunus was lacking that intense black fruit that I associate with the region, the Finca L’Argatá has it in spades!  It also has those original, wild aromas that the best Montsants and Priorats have.  It’s a bit of stone and slate with what in Spanish we call “bajo monte” and in French “garrigue.”  The English translation always comes out a little poor but wild herbs, herbes de Provence are similar.  When you walk through dry and scrubby areas of southern France or the Med you get those wonderful smells of all the wild herbs such as rosemary and them, but it is mixed in with an earthiness as well.  Love it!  The 2004 is perfect to drink now…the sometimes tough tannins have really smoothed out and it has a really long liqueur black fruit finish.  The only criticism I could make is that the alcohol is a bit notable in the finish.  The best part is that the price is really reasonable at 13€ retail.  This is what’s best about Montsant!  Read on for more details on Finca L’Argatá.  

Another edition of the Salon Gourmets has past in the Feria de Madrid…Gourmets is a four day professional food and wine show that launches the fair season.   In the past wine has been a much bigger part of the show and this year I noticed that even less wineries participated.  Food dominates this show and sadly I’ve seen the wine component diminish every year.  Wine shows in Spain have yet to find the international audience that justifies many wineries participation.  It’s a fun show to walk around, with delectable offerings at stands such as jamon, olive oils, cheese, paella and even grilled steaks and roasted suckling pigs.  It’s a bit of a struggle to get samples at the most interesting stands as there are often long lines, but very fun.  Another interesting element are all the national and international gourmet stands looking for distribution in Spain.  I’ve notice a huge increase in those over six years…a great sign of the times…Spain is going gourmet big time!  As to the wine scene…there were a few interesting regional offerings, especially from Castilla Leon, and Galicia.  I tasted a fascinating 150€ wine from the Denominacion Vinos de Madrid!  I’ll be doing a separate post on the Ricardo Benito Winery.  The best wine section of Gourmets is the Wine Tunnel.  In the wine tunnel, wine is served at stands organized into grape varieties.  The first edition was last year and I went thinking there would be few wines of great interest, that they would mostly be inexpensive wines.  It turns out the wines offered at the stands are some of the top wines in Spain, some very expensive and the wine tunnel is a great opportunity to taste different styles of the same varietal from around Spain.  Read on for information on some fo the stand out wines in the wine tunnel this year.