Iberians on wine

“I read, much of the night, and I go South in the winter”, wrote T.S. Eliot. This is exactly my mood as I approach the last month of the year. But before I disappear for a couple of weeks, some of you have asked me to pick a few wines to celebrate Christmas. I write at the pleasure of my readers, so here is my list, with my best wishes for the season:

I have recently discovered Xión Cuveé 2019, a Rias Baixas red with an amazing personality: very acid, but so well made that you mostly notice how fresh and light it is (12 degrees of alcohol). It combines Pedral, Souson and Espadeiro local grapes, a winning coupage, and I recommend it as the perfect tapas wine (14 euros).

I have also tried Merus 4, a very noteworty Rioja, at Centro Riojano de Madrid. This red is a creation of the Meruelo Family in Elvillar de Alava (36 euros). Even though it is marketed as a “signature wine”, its best features are its frankness and depth, like an anonymous Rioja winegrower.

In my weeks teaching in London this Fall, I was invited to a dinner by a dear friend and she welcomed us by serving Nora da Neve, the ultimate Albariño. This is a white from As Neves, in the very South of Galicia, a countryside shaped by the magical Miño river. Fermented in oak barrels, Nora speaks of ocean life, apples and peaches and wild jasmine. I had it with Moroccan food, and I can’t wait to tried again, this time with seafood.

Finally, I would like to share with you a great find, Inurrieta Cuatrocientos Crianza 2018, the house wine of the restaurant La Manduca de Azagra in Madrid. I have always felt that wines from Navarra were meant to make a come back, thanks to technology and the freedom to experiment. Inurrieta Cuatrocientos is the right coupage of cabernet, garnache, graciano, syrah and merlot (8 euros). This not-so-modest wine is the living proof that the long awaited miracle is happening, just like the return of Christmas every year.

This Fall has been a time of mourning -pack up the moon and dismantle the sun- but also of fond memories of her. After my father passed away, she asked me periodically to buy red wine for her house. She only drank a modest white, but wanted to be sure that her guests would be welcomed with a good Rioja or Ribera. I was purveyor to my mother, a title that I now cherish, while I miss her dearly.

In my latest explorations of the Peninsula, I have encountered several wines worthy of your attention. I spent a day in the blessed region of El Empordanet, invited to a wine tasting. Two of them really stood out, Verd Albera 2021 and Camins de l’Albera 2020.

The first one is a white from the from the Celler Martí Fabra vignerons that seduces you with a perfect ensemble of muscat, chardonnay and white garnache grapes. It reminds you of ripe fruit and lemons. This is a cosmopolitan white, uncomplicated and cheerful. It has an amazing price of 8 euros.

The second one, Massís de l’Albera Camins de l’Albera 2020, is a serious red made from grenache at Celler Massis De L’albera. It is dark and profound, with a very long finish (25 euros).

In a previous trip to Valencia with my son I discovered Bilogia, a local ecological red created by the 13th generation of vignerons at Casa Los Frailes. I confess I chose this wine because it comes from a village called Fontanars dels Alforins (my mother was known as Pili Fontanar all of her life). My sentimental inclination yielded very good results. This a perfect coupage of monastrell and shiraz grapes, very well made and with a great finish where all the wonderful memories of shiraz stay with you (9 euros).

Gerald Manley Hopkins wrote: “Nothing is so beautiful as Spring / when weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush”… I have read this poem in my first day of holidays in La Coruña. Driving this morning from Madrid I floated in the green and yellow countryside, eager to arrive to Galicia, the Eden garden by the sea. But Hopkins verses can also connect us with more mundane and hedonistic matters: “What is all this juice and all this joy?” he wrote. Which takes me to my notes about two Spring wines -wines that I have tasted in the last weeks and are wondrous examples of weeds in wheels.

Cosme Palacio 1894 Tinto 2014 is the eldest son of a revered Rioja saga from Laguardia. I have seldom encountered a red so beautifully made: it is smooth, well-rounded and with a very long finish (54 euros). This is a stellar wine that wants to speak to the rest of the family about the future, instead of looking back to its glorious past.

My second Spring wine is Viñas del lago 2018, another great discovery (14,50 euros). It was conceived as a “village wine”, a homage to the Tubilla del Lago community by the Marta Maté winery. These young vignerons from the Burgos moorland have launched one of the most innovative projects in Ribera del Duero. Viñas is a not-so-simple wine, red but almost violet, ready to fill your senses with well chosen hints of spices and flowers.

Alvaro Cunqueiro, my favorite Galician author, wrote that Spring was an invention of troubadours, but he also was willing to give credit for coming up with the idea to a blackbird singing in a nearby grapevine. I wonder if he would consider adding a few wine blogers to his list.

I have been very fortunate to spend this week in Fontainebleau, teaching again my course on Power. It is wonderful to be back on the road, in spite of the uncertainties and obstacles of the pandemic. Some friends who indulge in eccentric tastes and follow this blog have insisted that before Christmas I should suggest some wines for the season. Today I was able to find a bit of time between classes and here is my list:

Valenciso blanco is the best white I have tasted in 2021. It is made with Viura grapes and a bit of white Garnache by two of my favorite vignerons, Luis Valentín and Carmen Enciso, from Bodegas Valenciso in Rioja Alta. Everything they do is outstanding, but this limited edition of a very different white has seduced me. It has a smooth, velvety taste and a long finish (18,50 euros).

Yotuel Selección 2016 is a recent discovery I made in Angelita, the Madrid restaurant where I always find wine treasures. This red from Ribera is incredibly well priced (17 euros). The name does not anticipate how much dignified grace and hidden beauty it has. It is a creature of Bienvenido Gallego Zapatero, from Anguix, Burgos, not far away from the Douro river.

I drank for the first time Alprendre 2020 in Alabaster, the restaurant in town with the most amazing selection of Galician wines. Alpendre means “country shack” and reflects well the spirit of the Ribera Sacra, unpretentious, hard-working and totally in love with their corner of paradise. This red is made by the Ronsel do Sil winery with merenzao grapes, somewhat similar to the trousseau variety in Borgogne. It reminds you of a very complex pinot noir and the price (28 euros) reflects its amazing quality. When I tried, I noticed a hint of gooseberries, but perhaps I did because I love the short-story with that title by Anton Chekhov, a favorite Aspen Institute reading.

Pegaso Arrebatacapas 2020 was introduced to me by Telmo Rodríguez himself at a friend’s dinner. Telmo is a hero for wine lovers and he never fails to surprise us. He and his teammates have created extraordinary wines all over Spain, reconnecting wine and roots, with an amazing capacity to innovate by reformulating the best traditions. The Pegaso project started when they decided to recuperate an old vineyard of Granacha grapes that had not been properly cared for in the stunning slate hills of the Gredos mountain range, near Cebreros. Since 2015 they have bottled Arrebatacapas, a red wine for a very special occasion like Christmas. It sells at 54 euros.

Last but not least, I would like to recommend Guímaro Camiño Real 2019 (16,90 euros). This is a red wine made with Mencia and other local grapes in the Ribera Sacra by the family winery of Pedro Rodriguez Pérez. When you taste it, so fruity and mineral, you can close your eyes and go back to sailing in the Sil River, protected by the mountains and the quasi-vertical vineyards. María my wife likes it and therefore I consider it a Stratocaster wine, a category I invented to describe her favorite wines (always related to music, but that is another story, https://iberians.blog/2010/09/24/stratocaster-wines)

The Tramuntana mountains is one of the best spots on earth to unwind and spend quiet days (or years). Robert Graves, who moved permanently to the nearby village of Deia, wrote in a letter to Virginia Woolf, “this is Paradise… if you can stand it”. I think he was just being funny. The combination of green, orange and yellow colours from the hills and blue and silver from the sea is breathtaking. I have been lucky to spend here part of the summer since I was born. This season I found a wondrous wine from Tramuntana while I visited dear friends at the other side of the island, in the Colonia de Sant Pere. The vignerons of Son Vich de Superna, from Puigpunyent, have created a white wine made with Viognier grapes, under the name “Viognier 2020” (16 euros), a match made in heaven. It has all the splendour of his elder cousins in the Rhône: dense, long and fruity, plus a Majorcan touch of salt. This is a grape that is very difficult to grow and figure out. Son Vich of Tramuntana has been able to do it.

F. D. Reeve wrote “the full moon this May, after our last terrible winter, washes the lost Earth”. We have been indeed in full moon mood lately, as we celebrate the arrival of a long-awaited summer and vaccinations to fend off the pandemic.

We found a wine to celebrate and symbolize our desire to fly again and explore the world. It was a gift from Gonzalo Entrecanales, who dreams big and understand wine as an inter-generational endeavor of endless innovation. He introduced us to one of the latest inventions of his company, “El Aeronauta 2018”, a lees-aged Godello that we have drank these weeks at home.

The name of this white wine comes from a veteran pilot who started the venture in the blessed region of Valdeorras. The project has evolved greatly thanks to Almudena Alberca, a passionate winemaker, who is fully in contact with Nature and is crazy about flowers and herbs. There is no other white like it in Spain: it has an expressive and intense gliceric flavour and a surprising long finish, like an undying sunset when you travel westward. At a price of 16 euros, you won’t find a better companion to fly to the moon this summer.