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.  

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.  

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….

Chacolí or Txakolí is the wine produced in three wine appellations in Spanish Basque Country.  It is a slightly sparkling light wine made in all three colors that is commonly served in Basque bars with tapas and pintxos.  It is very similar in style to Portugal’s Vinho Verde.  White Chacolí is the norm and it is generally served with a special spout attached to the bottle high above the glasses…splashing it vigourously encourages the fizzy carbonic to come out.   It is meant to be a light, fresh and fruity wine that refreshes the palate between all the varied pintxos you might eat….the best wines fit that bill perfectly…the worst are bland and bitingly acidic.   I recently saw in a Spanish TV report that over 80% of the Chacolí served in Basque bars is fake…in other words, not from the wine appellation, but rather a table wine made in the style of Chacolí with inferior grape varieties.   I decided to investigate the last time we were in Basque country and sure enough most of the time I was served a vino de mesa most of the time when I ordered Chacolí.  Generally you don’t get your hands on the bottles as it usually served behind the bar by the glass, but in the picture you can see a bottle of a fake one we were served.  The real rip off is that these wines are served at Chacolí prices, 8-10€ a bottle versus their real price value, which would be well below 5€.   So be wary of what you’re being served while enjoying the tapas in San Sebastian…ask for appellation Chacolí (Denominacion in Spain).  Read on for more information on Chacolí and its counterfeit version.

Today a Decanter.com article caught my eye:  “Sisseck of Pingus owes success to Bordeaux,” which was a preview on an interview with the winemaker in their current issue.   More interesting was the bit at the end of the article that stated that Peter Sisseck is moving away from the very pronounced new oak influence that characterized Pingus from the beginning.  “These days I am more wary of new oak.”  This is music to my ears….could it be we are starting to move away from the excessive new oak that has characterized so many Spanish wines in the past few years?