A lot of cava is aggressively bubbly and quite bitter but this cava shows Spain can give France a run for its money in sparkling wine.  Cava is the Spanish sparkling wine made in the champenoise method in Cataluña and some other regions in Spain.  The traditional grapes are Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo, but increasingly Chardonnay is being used in the blend.   Unfortunately many Spaniards and foreigners are only exposed to the cheapest of cavas, the under 8€ crowd from big producers.  Few of these are any good and most are frankly, quite bad.  Cava is a good value, if very different alternative to champagne, but I don’t understand how anyone thinks it should be that cheap.  The great cavas are between 12 and 25 euros…above 25 euros I find small producer champagnes better for the money….few of the really high end cavas really impress me either.  My favorite cava producers are medium or smaller outfits, my all time favorites are any cavas from Gramona, Raventos I Blanc and Sumarroca.  One of the frustrations of living in Madrid is that many smaller Catalan producers don’t have good distribution here…internal Spanish political tensions affecting the wine market.  Just today, I had one of my top picks…this is the cava I drink the most….it’s a top quality wine, good value and readily available in Madrid.  The Gramona Brut Imperial is a steal at about 15€. It‘s a wonderful, mellow, wine-like cava, where apply fruit mixes with leesy, toasted aromas.  The mouth is round, fresh and the carbonic is terrific, super integrated and not at all aggressive.  The finish is very persistent with a very slight, pleasant bitterness.  This wine is a great example of the quality Gramona offers…this Penedés-based company also makes great still wines, dry and sweet.  Read on for more information on the Gramona Brut Imperial. 

This is a top notch red from the southeastern Utiel region of Spain.  I recently rated this winery’s bargain wine Mestizaje and more recently tasted the Finca Terrerazo wine, which is their intermediate wine at about 25€.  The winery also has a top cru called Quincha Corral.    As I mentioned in the previous article, these wines are released under a Vino de la Tierra Category, in theory table wine, and are based upon the local grape Bobal.  Bobal is a mediocre grape when over cropped, but can make some unique, top quality wines with a lot of care.  The Ficna Terrerazo 2005 is a Bobal blend, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo.  Very complex nose, with tobacco, menthol and black fruit.  The mouth has all those elements plus surprisingly fresh acidity and big, smooth tannins.  I tasted the wine a day later and it was even better…smoother and more in balance.  It has a whopping 19 months in new French oak, but the intensity of the wine allows for it.  Shows what Bobal can do…this is a good value wine, considered the complexity it gives you.  Read on for more details on Finca Terrerazo 2005.

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 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. 

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….

Memento Restaurant is not strictly a wine place, but it is one of my favorite restaurants and it does have a nice, well-selected wine list.  Memento Restaurant is owned and run by Karen Bell, an experienced young American chef who was looking for a change of scene when she moved to Spain five years ago.  When she arrived in Madrid she saw that missing from the restaurant scene was a great California/Spanish fusion place.  She opened Memento three years ago and has been building up quite a local following.  Her cuisine is inventive yet satisfying, a great blend of some unusual ingredients with some really comforting classics.  Her sauces and use of herbs is genius…and when you live in Spain long enough you crave sauces and herbs!   If you are a mussel lover make sure you order them…it’s one of her signature dishes and are some of the best I ever eaten.  She offers a high- end menu del día (prix fixe) lunch which is great value at 18.50€.  Her latest creative addition is a great jazz brunch every Sunday between noon and 4PM.  She offers brunch classics served with a creative twist:  Potato latkes with smoked salmon and mixed greens or crab cakes with poached eggs and a spicy hollandaise sauce.  A group of us went yesterday and we loved it!  You can enjoy your brunch with cocktails such as a Bellini or a Bloody Mary or just stick to the brunch classic, a Mimosa.  It’s hard to find a great brunch place in Madrid and Memento really hit the spot…I’m already craving those crab cakes again!  Check out their regular menu and contact info at:  http://www.restaurantememento.com/.

I’ve been complaining a bit about the over-oaked state of many Spanish wines lately and probably the worst region for it is Ribera del Duero.  There’s no denying that some of Spain’s best reds come from the area….reds from a robust variant of Tempranillo called Tinto Fino.  Tinto Fino gives wines of great body and structure that do well in new oak.  Many wine-makers have taken that favorable characteristic and taken it too far.  Many top Riberas have way too much oak despite their great fruit and structure….many of my clients have been disappointed by tastings of top Riberas lately.  Inexpensive Riberas are often tough and hollow…lacking in fruit.  It’s not an inexpensive region by Spanish standards….I have found few Riberas below 20€ that I have really liked.  I tasted an Emilio Moro Crianza the other day…it used to be one of my favorites…it’s good value for Ribera at 17€, but the 2005 I tasted the other day was overly oaky.  One of my favorite wineries in Ribera is Dominio de Atauta…they make a range of blends and single vineyards wines that really stand apart from other Riberas…they really focus on terroir.  They are very intense and focused with lean, elegant fruit and great acidity…most importantly they are very carefully and moderately oaked.  Ferratus, the wine I’m rating below, is a new winery (2003) that has garnered some great ratings from Spanish critics.  I am not so impressed.  Read on for my detailed rating.

I’m on a tapas roll!  Yesterday we tried another newish tapas and wine bar called Estado Puro, located right across the Paseo del Prado from the Prado Museum.  A very stylish locale, it offers the innovative and elaborate tapas of famous Madrid chef Paco Roncero.  He’s the chef at the top rated Casino de Madrid.  The tapas are modern interpretations of classic Spanish dishes and the menu is filled with interesting choices.  The tapas are very creatively presented and arrive on slate board plates.  We tried four different tapas and results were mixed:  the tempura asparagus and the “meat bombs” were delicious while the deconstructed tortilla and the presa iberica with chimichurri were just ok.   There are lots more things on the menu I would like to try though, such as the mini hamburger plate, the fried egg with baby squid and the boletus carpaccio with pine nuts.   The tapas are a bit pricy…they range from 6 to 12€, but are smallish, so this is a place to come and try only a few at a time then move on to one of the more traditional places in nearby Huertas.  The wine list by the glass offers 6 reds, 3 whites and a couple of rosés….a good variation, though none of the wines were spectacular.  In the whites my favorite is a nice Godello called Montenovo, the best red was Artazurri,   a joven red from Navarra.  The wines are all priced at 2.50€ a glass, which is a bit steep for this level of wine….but the pours are really generous.  To sum it up:  Estado Puro is a fashionable new alternative on the tapas trail…the location is amazing and they also have a really nice outdoors terraza seating area with spectacular views.  I’m not completely sold on the food, but I’ll definitely be returning to try some more.  Another plus is that it offers its full menu all day from 11AM to 1AM, a rarity still here in Madrid.  Read on for more details on the food and wines at Estado Puro. 

Vinos de Madrid is an improving but still little known wine appellation within the province of Madrid, the small region surrounding the city of Madrid.  Traditionally it was known for joven or “young” red wines without any oak, wines that were often served in the bars in the capital.  There has been a tremendous effort to improve the wines and the area has become quite trendy here in Madrid.  Unfortunately the best wines have become so popular that they can be quite pricy.  There are three major sub-zones in the area, each with very differing soils and climates:  Arganda to the southeast, San Martín to the west and Navalcarero to the southwest.  The climate is generally very hot continental, similar to La Mancha.  Grape varieties allowed are numerous:  the most common ones are Tempranillo and Garnacha, though Syrah is catching on.  Some of the most well known wineries are Tagonius, Qubel and Regajal…I find their wines very good but quite pricy.  Probably my favorite wine form the area, though it is not an appellation wine but rather a Vino de la Tierra is Montazo, a wonderful wine made by the famous enologist Telmo Rodriguez.   The winery Nueve Valverde is in the zone of St Martin and makes two very interesting reds.  They also represent quite good quality compared to many.