Spanish wines offer plenty of personality
It's difficult to keep track of all the great wine from Spain these days.
It is a rare week when I don't taste yet another well-made vino from Spain, usually at an attractive price. Even regions once regarded as strongholds for mass-produced table wine, such as La Mancha, are turning up the quality dial.
Wine-lovers are taking notice. Here's a look at some new arrivals worth discovering, liquid testimonies to Spain's ability to deliver well-made, affordable wines rarely short on personality.
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Font:****Mencia is a somewhat obscure Spanish varietal once thought to be related to Cabernet Franc, but recent DNA fingerprinting has revealed it to be a unique varietal native to Spain and Portugal, where it's known as Jaen. It yields wines either soft and fruity or dense and concentrated, not unlike Tempranillo, Spain's most famous red grape.
A delicious and affordable example of Mencia is the 2004 Cuatro Pasos ($19), a medium-bodied wine tasting of red fruits and a touch of mocha. One of Spain's greatest winemakers, Alvaro Palacio, produces Villa de Corullon ($70), a magnificent example of Mencia from 60- to 100-year-old vines in Bierzo. It needs at least five years in the cellar but it will evolve into a spectacular wine. It offers notes of cassis and minerals backed by very firm tannins.
I am a big fan of the wines of Priorat but they tend to be pricey -- most are well over $50 a bottle -- so when one comes along for $30, I'm curious. The Rotllan Torra 2001 Reserva Priorat ($31) is one such effort, a big, delicious red wine produced from Garnacha, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carinena. It's fairly tannic, but drinkable now with decanting and red meat to keep it company.
Moving on to Rioja, one of my perennial favourites, the Ostatu Crianza, is back with the 2003 vintage ($26). This is a decidedly modern-style Rioja, offering notes of black cherry cola and soft fleshy tannins, a great wine for short-term pleasure.
Spain arguably has the hottest wine culture in the world right now, and -- in most cases -- you don't have to spend a fortune to discover it. Cheers!
Geoff Last is a longtime Calgary wine merchant and writer and a regular contributor to Orange Life and City Palate magazines. He instructs on food and wine at the Cookbook Company Cooks.
Best cellars
Wine: Venta La Ossa 2005
Country: Spain, from La Mancha
Suggested retail price: $26, GST included
Availability: Select wine and liquor stores
Tasting notes: La Mancha has turned out its share of ordinary wine over the years, but now the quality pendulum is starting to swing in its favour, and here's a good example. Venta La Ossa is produced from old vine Tempranillo and offers loads of blueberry/plum fruit with a little pipe tobacco and milk chocolate. It is a big fruit bomb of a wine with soft supple tannins, well suited to things like burgers, barbecued ribs or steak.