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.

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.  

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.

Our final winery visit during our day in Ronda was to Bodega Los Bujeos, a small winery that is integrated into the beautiful rural hotel, El Juncal, just outside the town of Ronda.  El Juncal belongs to the same family that owns one of the most famous restaurants in Ronda:  Tragabuches.  The project was conceived as a dual project from the being:  a luxury rural hotel that offers a serene escape from the stresses of modern life and a small, artesanal winery that could produce some top notch wines. Lola Jimenez, the owner, was totally honest with us when she admitted that the hotel part was conceived in order to help finance the winery part…we all know how long it takes to make a profit form a winery!  Whatever the original intention, the result is spectacular…escapist luxury accommodations amongst the beauty of the vineyards! 

The Denominacion de Origen (DO) Manchuela, or wine appellation, is located in eastern La Mancha, close to the beautiful town of Cuenca.  This is one of the newest DOs in Spain, formed from the natural break-up of huge La Mancha into more coherent appellations.  Much of the production is still mediocre, but there are more interesting wines being made these days. 
One of the pioneers in the area is Finca Sandoval, a winery which makes consistently excellent wines in a challengingly hot climate. The winery was founded in 1998 and is the personal project of a well known Spanish wine critic, Victor de la Serna.  There search for quality includes traditional open-top fermentation vats with manual punch down…the wines are neither fined nor filtered.  Most of the grapes are local:  Bobal, Monastrell, and Garnacha, but they also have some great Syrah, using clones from Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  There are only two wines:  Salia is a great entry-level option at only about 12 euros. See below for my comments on their top wine:  Finca Sandoval. 

At the winery, we got to taste the whole range of wines, all from 2003. These are some of Spain top-rated wines…for more information on the winery, see the article below.

These are really impressive wines! With careful and high tech viticulture this winery is able to produce balanced wines in an extremely hot area of Spain. The problem in hot weather is that by the time the tannins are ripe the fruit is over-ripe and the acid levels are quite low. These wine all retained a freshness, despite being big intense wines. An outstanding series of wines!

We just visited The Dominio de Valdepusa Winery in Toledo Province and were really impressed! The vineyards is where the focus is…these are some of the most high tech vineyards I ever seen! They have sensors that detect every miniscule movement and change in the vine….years of analysing this data allows them to know with precision the exact water needs of their vines. They believed that it is very difficult to get good phenolic ripeness without over-ripe fruit and too low acid levels in hot viticultural areas. Their careful use of technology actually allows them to get a perfectly ripe grapes with good acid levels…this gives top quality, intense, yet fresh wines that age well.

I have a great new tasting group: all of them are studying for the WSET Diploma or Master of Wine exams. Technically I am not…I have finished the WSET, but I don’t plan on trying for the Master of Wine for a couple more years. It’s so great to find a group that knows so much and who wants to do some serious tasting!