Muy Caliente!

Spanish
wines are on fire, and the hottest new restaurant in town is
also Spanish.

It’s true that
wines from all over Spain are better than ever, but that
reflects a gradual process. They are, subject to
Euro-inflation, no longer so cheap as to engender guilt in
the purchasing consumer. It would severely strain
credibility to credit transfer of affection from things
French or to imagine such an effective subliminal PR
campaign. It remains una perplejidad. As part of the Spanish
tsunami, we have been visited recently by several vinous
conquistadores. Let’s examine what some of them have been up
to.

Bodegas
Montecillo, founded in 1874 in Fuenmayor in the Rioja, is
the region’s third oldest winery, and, appropriately,
preserves traditional winemaking practices while not being
rigidly bound by them. Maria Martinez Sierra, winemaker for
3O years, has presided over a few judicious innovations.
Once owner of the Rioja’s largest parcel of vineyards,
Montecillo sold them all in 1979, preferring to buy what it
considers optimal grapes each year. In the best vintages,
Montecillo buys all it can get of quality grapes; in the
worst, it may buy none. Not growing its own frees Montecillo
from the burden of using or disposing of inferior grapes. In
some years, it may purchase grapes grown only at certain
elevations. Consequently, production totals may vary widely
from year to year. In the best years, Gran Reserva is made,
in some years, only basic level Crianza. Martinez says, “to
make fine wine you need only a free hand and
money.”

There are other
practices that differ from those of the average Riojan
winery. The red wines at Montecillo are all 1OO percent
Tempranillo, considered Spain’s best indigenous grape
variety, only from Rioja Alta. Only untoasted French oak
barrels are used. Montecillo makes its own barrels and
corks, and controls the farming of purchased grapes, oak and
cork. Vine yields are limited, severely so for the more
exalted levels of wine.

In 1973, the
Osborne Group, family owned wine and spirit producer even
older (1772) than Montecillo, bought the property and built
a modern underground winery. Osborne, best known for Sherry,
brandy and the outsized black-bull silhouettes on Spanish
hilltops, also makes Port, liqueur and wine in Tierra de
Castilla on the central Spanish plain, an has effectively
nurtured Montecillo.

The founding
winemakers of Montecillo were trained in Bordeaux, and that
affinity continues. Martinez trained in Spain, then
Bordeaux. She was one of the first, perhaps the first, and
remains one of relatively few upfront female winemakers in
Spain. Although she laughingly and ironically refers to
herself as “queen of the Rioja,” she is highly respected by
her colleagues – smart, witty and, as the wines testify,
very talented. She is also an accomplished cook and a poet.
She is married to a restaurateur, now retired after a heart
attack. She told me her hardest trial was the loss of an
infant to crib death. She seems indomitable.

My own image of
Spain, now revised, a place once not at all welcoming of
women in positions of responsibility, was engraved during
the Franco era, which ended 3O years ago – intensely
conservative, rigidly Catholic, repressive, recalling even
such relics of the distant past as the Inquisition and the
expulsion of the Jews. The Spain of today, however, is a
creative liberal democracy under a socialist government, in
some respects more enlightened than the United States. Its
entrance into the European Union in 1986 probably was the
major enabler, and the summer Olympics in Barcelona in 1992
may have been an additional catalyst.

One can taste
the results of liberated creativity in the current wines of
Spain. Those like Montecillo and Torres (see below) are
recognized for their quality the world over and complement
cuisines of almost every stamp. Montecillo produces three
aged vintage red wines in appropriate years: Crianza,
Reserva, Gran Reserva. The last must be aged at least two
years in barrel and three in bottle, but in practice may
spend up to four years in barrel. Vines supplying the Gran
Reserva (remembered fondly as “Vina Monty”) are usually at
least 5O-years-old. Wines labeled Gran Reserva Seleccion
Especial come from vines 75- to 1OO-years-old. The wines are
long-lived; they grow as they age. The Crianza 2OO1 has just
been released; the Reserva will appear before long; Gran
Reserva waits, to sleep for perhaps another three
years.

I tasted Gran
Reserva Seleccion Especial from 1975, 1981, 1982, 1985,
1991, 1994, and Gran Reserva 1998. The oldest wines are calm
and settled, without any hint of senility. All are fragrant,
in some cases stopping conversation even before they are
poured. Elegance, balance, complexity and length are
possessed by all. The 1981, Martinez’s favorite “baby”, has,
she says, only recently become drinkable. It is rich, fine,
very long. The 1982 is fragrant, full of fruit, elegant,
very long, and beautifully integrated. The 1991 is of a more
austere character. Deep, ripe, rich and clearly still
developing, 1994 is most impressive. The wines are still
available. (I’d happily drink any and all.) Montecillo also
makes a white Rioja, from the viura grape. I’ve not tasted
it yet.

Torres is our
most familiar high-quality Spanish wine. Based in
Catalonia’s Penedes, just southwest of Barcelona, the Torres
family company, headed by Miguel A. Torres, is expanding and
developing elsewhere within Spain, in Curico, Chile, in
China (the Great Wall Torres Winery Company in Zhangjiakou
northwest of Beijing), and in California, where Miguel’s
dynamic sister Marimar (to whom I am indebted for
illuminating my perspective on Spain ) produces superb
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Miguel’s brother, Juan Maria, is
responsible for Torres’s public relations. Daughter Mireia
is the technical director, equivalent to winemaker here. Son
Miguel Jr. is marketing director for Spain and manages the
firm’s esteemed Jean Leon brand. Penedes has supported
vineyards for thousands of years, first planted by the
Phoenicians, later expanded by the Romans. The Torres family
has produced wine in the town of Vilafranca del Penedes
since the 17th century or before. The commercialcompany was
founded by Don Jaime Torres in 187O.

The more than
17OO hectares of vineyards owned by Torres in Catalonia are
located in three different climates. Indigenous varieties
are grown in the warm coastal strip along the Mediterranean,
including garnacha, carinena and moscatel. In the central
area, at elevations of from 2OO to 4OO meters, are grown
fine varieties: cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, tempranillo
(traditionally called ojo de liebre, or, in Calalan, ull de
Ilebre, “eye of hare”, in Catalonia), merlot, garnacha
blanca. The famous Mas La Plana (about which, more later) is
located here. The higher vineyards inland, at up to 8OO
meters, are cooler. Here one finds the native parellada
vine, and Torres has planted riesling, gewurztraminer and
sauvignon blanc. Here also are notable single vineyard
sites: Gran Muralles, 32 hectares of ancient red Catalan
varieties; Mas Borras, 1O hectares of pinot noir; Milmanda
Castle, 15 hectares of chardonnay; and Fransola, 25 hectares
of sauvignon blanc. Vine density of 4OOO to 5OOO per hectare
is higher than most Spanish vineyards. Torres carries on
with environmental consciousness, and reinvests 95 percent
of its proceeds.

The wineries are
modern, clean, capacious, and open (no walls). When
appropriate, oak aging is accomplished in American and
French oak: there are more than 2O,OOO barrels in two
kilometers of underground galleries. Torres makes more than
5O distinct wines. We are seeing 17 from Spain in our market
right now (not counting different vintages). A liqueur and
four brandies are also available. Prices start at about
$8.5O, and go way up for the two or three most
elite.

We recently had
a visit from Toni Batet, one of Torres’ three sommeliers, to
conduct a tasting focused on a vertical array (1971 to 2OO1)
of Mas La Plana vintages, flanked by eleven other wines. The
evolution of Mas (which means “country house” in Catalan) La
Plana is interesting, and may be said to parallel the
emergence of Torres among the elite on the world stage. Many
of us will recall the Torres wine called Gran Coronas Gran
Reserva Black Label. This was what Mas La Plana was called
until 1996, when it began to be named for its exclusive
vineyard source, a historic site planted to cabernet
sauvignon in 1966. At 25O meters, it is favored with very
cool nights, and is protected by surrounding mountains. The
first vintage, 197O, won the famous Gault Millau wine
Olympiad in Paris in 1979 as the best Cabernet Sauvignon
against olympian competition. Starting in 1978, only
cabernet sauvignon has been used (previously 2O percent
tempranillo and ten cabernet franc). Initially matured in
American oak, then a mixture of French and American, the
wine has rested in French oak only starting with the vintage
of 199O, all new Nevers and Troncais since 1994. Mas La
Plana is not made when the vintage is judged
unsuitable.

Even the
35-year-old 1971 Mas La Plana is still very much alive and
very good. The 1981 has more fruit and finish; 1991 is
tannic, vivid, flavorful, and long; 1994 has very good
youthful fruit and structure and uncommon length; 1997 is
young and oaky, but the fruit and length are promising. The
2OO1 is beautifully balanced, with abundant blackberry fruit
and a great future. A shared and appreciated thread of, as
near as I can get it, smoke and earth runs through all six.
And, amazingly, like the Montecillo Gran Reservas, these are
still available.

Two other
single-vineyard wines were shown. Fransola Sauvignon Blanc
2OO3, grown at nearly 8OO meters in iron-rich soil,
partially fermented and aged in American oak, has fine
bouquet with tropical fruit, full body and good length. It
is heavier and has less verve than, say, the New Zealand
style of Sauvignon. It contains five percent Parellada.
Milmanda Chardonnay 2OO3 is fermented in new oak, and
remains on the lees for nearly a year. It is full and, at
this point, perhaps too young to show its stuff.

Space
limitations preclude descriptions of most of the rest of the
array of familiar and well-made wines, but three new ones
deserve mention. Nerola White 2OO3 (Xarel-lo and Garnacha
Blanca) and Nerola Red 2OO3 (Syrah and Monastrell), from
vineyards in Catalonia, are both fresh and fruity. Celeste
2OO3 is Torres’s first entry into Ribera del Duero, made
from tempranillo, there called tinto fino. It is dark, ripe,
full of berries.

Classical Wines,
based in Seattle, owned and operated by Steve Metzler and
Almudena de Llaguno (interrelated by marriage), has been
importing Spanish wines since 1984, concentrating on
high-quality, individual family vineyards. Some German wines
are also imported. The current complement of wines was
exhibited recently, among which nearly four dozen from
Spain. I have selected four I particularly liked that came
from other than the usual internationally recognized and
familiar production areas.

Tempranillo
seems to change its name whenever it crosses a Spanish
regional border. In La Mancha it’s called cencibel. Instead
of tilting at the numerous windmills in the village of Campo
de Criptana, Alejandro Fernandez, famous for Tinto Pesquera
(also imported by Classical Wines) in Ribera del Duero, also
tempranillo, in 1999 marshaled old head-pruned vines,
invaded an abandoned winery, and enlisted American oak
barriques to produce wine previously unknown in the region.
El Vinculo Reserva 2OO1 is fragrant, elegant, rich, and
long, with oaken notes. Don Quixote would have never left
home had he such wine to drink. Fernandez again: this time
in the who-ever-heard-of province of Zamora west of Ribera
del Duero; tempranillo again: brought from Pesquera, planted
in part without grafting in the sandy soil. The large
rundown La Granja estate was acquired in 1998 and
rejuvenated. Oddly, both it and the La Mancha property were
once used to raise fighting bulls. Dehesa La Granja
Seleccion 2OOO, a selected lot raised in new Allier oak, has
fine nose and good stuffing. It is still tannic.

We’ll close with
a place and a grape that are both new to me. El Bierzo, the
DOC, is a widening of the Sil River Valley in northwestern
Spain on the border separating Castilla y Leon from Galicia.
It is high, has soil rich in minerals, including slate, and
a climate with mixed features of Atlantic and continental
influence. The predominant local grape variety is the
mencia, regarded by some as the precursor to cabernet franc.
The producer, Dominio de Tares in the old town of San Roman
de Bembibre, is new, having been formed in 2OOO. The wines
are interesting and tasty. Albares Mencia 2OO3 is a rarity,
a red wine made without any oak. The hillside vines are over
4O years old. The fruit is captivating. Only 1OOO cases were
made. The low price doesn’t hurt. Exaltos Mencaa Cepas
Viejas 2OO3, which was called Dominio de Tares Cepas Viejas
for previous vintages (Spaniards seem to like to change
names – it’s probably the marketing people), is a couple of
steps up. From vines at least 6O years old, hand harvested
and selected, spending nine months in new barriques (half
American, half French), the wine is elegant and age-worthy.
Production was 9OOO cases.

With more land
under vines than any other country, and well-capitalized and
intelligent energizing of production preserving the worthy
and replacing the stodgy with vibrant wines, Spain will
continue to be loudly heard from.