A really good red blend from Priorat DOCa

Sometimes, you just have to run away

No, I'm not entirely done with unpacking yet but life has to go on… 



Today, I’m going to talk about another Spanish wine that we repeatedly enjoyed with my in laws. It is called Mas d'en Compte 2009 (c.21 Euros) and hails from Priorat DOCa (Denominacion de Origen Calificada). 

Priorat (Priorato in Spanish and Priory in English) is a region in Catalonia, located in the north east of Spain (you can see a map of the wine regions in Spain here). Wine production started in the 12^th century by the monks and similar to the situation in France, became disrupted in the 19^th century when insects native to North American (phylloxera) travelled across the Atlantic and killed most of the grape vines. Widespread replanting started in 1950 and took off in the late 1970s/ 1980s and today, the region sits along Rioja and Ribera Del Duero as being a top quality wine appellation (reflected by its DOCa status which is the highest wine classification in Spain).  

Mountains surround Priorat and its ground is rocky: a mixture of black and red slates and quartz also known locally as “llicorella” (I found this write up useful when trying to imagine llicorella). The presence of the llicorella schist is an important factor for this region because it allows the vine to penetrate deep below the surface and retains water during the dry summer. Grenache and carignan/cariñena are the typical grapes planted in this region, usually blended with small quantities of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

The bottles of Mas d'en Compte 2009 we tried really opened up after an hour and provided a complex flavour of black fruits, jam, oak and minerals. Deep ruby in colour, it was full bodied, high in tannin and provided a sweet long finish. The wine had been aged in French and American barrels for 14 months - a blend of grenache (50%), cariñena (45%) and cabernet sauvignon (5%) - of which, the cariñena were derived from a 60 year old vineyard.

2009 bottles (rated 96 Parker points) seem to be sold out everywhere we looked online. However, the 2011s are still available. We have not yet tried them but note that Parker had given it 93 points, suggesting yet another bottle with very good "Euro-Parker points ratio" (to use Emilio Rubio's term). The bodega Celler Cal Pla (website in Catalan only) was founded 200 years ago and has undergone 7 generations of grape growers.

Unpacking and more unpacking

Yikes, where do I start?

The c.20+ foot container housing all the contents from our home in Sao Paulo arrived last week. Things have been especially hectic around here since then. Luckily for me, my parents in law were around to whisk the kids out of potential harm’s way: burly men lifting and assembling heavy furniture, a dazed woman completely overwhelmed by boxes that were packed in haste…

Note worthily, we were allowed to bring into Switzerland 200 bottles of wine which would be free of import tax. Unfortunately, we only found out about it a few days before the packers came and by then, didn’t have sufficient time or energy to stock up. We bundled the 22 or so bottles stacked in the kitchen: A few of our favourite Spanish red that a friend kindly transported for us from Europe (after we saw that they cost about six times more in Sao Paulo!) and a number of decently priced Argentinian Malbecs that we had started enjoying. They include the likes of Rutini, Las Perdices, Nieto Cadus and Las Moras which I wrote about here. 

Hopefully, I will be able to talk about some of them in the posts to come. Also, a few yummy ones we've been sharing with my in laws these past days, that is, assuming that I can get some time to myself.

Agreeing to disagree - A Spanish red wine from Bierzo DO

Emilio had pointed to a car which he later told me was a Maserati

It's not often that Emilio and I disagree: On wine that is. For the most part, I tend to like the wines that Emilio favours. He takes it as given thus that I will be delighted with the wine he is extremely partial to and bombards me with lots of 'QUE DICES?!' when I disagree and proclaim something as 'ordinary'. On certain days, this is accompanied with some Spanish expletives. As was the case last Valentine's Day. I really wanted to tell him that I found the wine fantastisch but…

The controversial wine in question was a Paixar 2009 (32 Euros) that incidentally received 92 Parker points. Emilio found it ‘deliciously spicy, nicely tannin with a round body and a long finish’. Also a ‘sophisticated nose and may even be a very good fit to the often difficult to pair Asian food’. I only remember it as providing a nice medium length finish. The wine, made from Mencia grapes in Bierzo DO, had been left to age in oak barrels for 16 months.

Obscure Mencia from remote Bierzo: Bierzo DO is a rustic area in the northwest of Spain, in the corner of Castilla y Leon that is near to Galicia. As for the grape, I didn't come across a lot of remarkable factoids except that firstly, it is native to Iberia (its Portuguese alias is “Jaen”) and secondly, it was only in 2003 that the varietal was determined to be unrelated to the well-travelled Cabernet Franc. It has received a few glowing reviews ("hidden gems" and "quality, potential-laden" for instance). Snooth lists it as typically tasting of 'red and dark berry fruit, occasionally vegetal, can be savory with good acidity and tannin'. Elsewhere on the web, it is also portrayed as having spicy and mineral like features. 

Paixar, the winery: I've also not had much luck in finding a dedicated home page but from here, I see that it started of as a dream which was materialised by four thirty-somethings after discovering small blocks of 80 year old, low yielding vineyards in a tiny village (with only 60 inhabitants) high up in the mountains. The four are Gregory Perez, Alejandro Luna, Eduardo and Alberto Garcia. Stop Press: A stunning discovery! The latter two are sons of the Spanish super star wine maker Mariano Garcia who was/is responsible for creating great tasting Spanish wines like Alion, Aalto, Mauro etc. Alejandro Luna meanwhile owns another Bierzo winery. (Emilio, maybe I need to taste this wine again?) 

Guest post: Emilio writes for the first time

The dreaded flu: First, it hit Emilio over the weekend. He stayed in his pjs all day Sunday and appeared miserable, staying awake only to self-medicate and watch an episode or 2 (or 6 or 10 or 20) of Game of Thrones on his computer (I continue not to understand how someone can be so sick and still be able to watch television series!). I was confident that I was made of sterner stuff and would escape the dreaded lurgy but was shown to be wrong when I collapsed into bed on Tuesday afternoon, in my day clothes, after putting Baby Koala to bed.  I am feeling tones better today but have a lot to catch up on. In the meantime, here is Emilio's notes on a wine he drank recently which I'm only allowed to cut and paste and not edit. 

With this entry we start something that our blog lady leader would like to continue with some more of you guys… The guest posts…

Basically these posts can contain anything regarding eating or drinking or any combination including party!

As a first guest “poster” I will introduce myself as Emilio… Yes, the Emilio Azura cannot stop talking about. She is so cute… In this entrance I want to draw your attention to a region in Spain that is starting to gain momentum , although Azura does not particularly like it, and to a wine of that region, that surely not many of you know (I did not know it until I bought it).

The region is called Toro, and is situated a little bit west, not far away from Ribera del Duero. The traditional grape of this region is called tinta de toro, and as tinto fino (or tinta fina) is the variety of the tempranillo that is cultivated there. The wines of this region are very characteristic of strong bodies, although not extremely high in tannins.  It is becoming a very famous region as several actors, including Gerard Depardieu, invested in bodegas and wines from Toro.

The wine that I am going to talk now is called Juan Rojo, from 2006, manufactured with grapes from the area called “Pago de Matarredonda”. This was the second time I tried the wine, being the first one like a year ago, and it greatly surprised me, as I did not remember it being that complex.

It took the wine around 45 minutes to open, and when it did, I could perceive delicious aromas to butter, toffee and a touch of leather. I thought to myself… Surely it is because it is a reserve, which tends to fit better this description, but when I read the label I saw that it had only been 8 months in a French wooden barrel. And then I remembered the first time that I tried it and did not recall it smelling like this. The bigger surprise came when I tried it, as I was already expecting it to be aged and buttery, but to my surprise, it was very fruity. Primarily red berries, not much black fruits. 

It was a very nice tasting, and surely I will buy another bottle, even more considering that the price is quite doable (slightly over 14 euro transport included), but surely I will let it rest at least six months, before I give it another go.

A Crianza from DO Ribera Del Duero

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Alor, so we move on to another one of our favourite Spanish wines, this time with a DO Ribera Del Duero label (Olé!). The name of the wine is Pago De Carraovejas Crianza. Crianza means that the wine must be left to age in a barrel for a minimum of 12 months and another year in the bottle.

It is rumoured that this wine (retailing at c.25 Euros transport included) is popular with the Spanish royalty. How true this is I don't know as the gossip rags I read only tend to focus on Brangelina (will they break up before getting married?) and Mariah Carey (Mimi loves Dem Babies but will fire nannies who are threateningly too good). I do know however, that it was Emilio's brother who introduced this particular wine to him years ago and that Emilio most likely had stashed a bottle or two of this in his suitcase when traveling to Hong Kong, believing that the price/quality ratio is reasonable and quality consistently good. We sampled a 2010 bottle a few days ago (We meaning just Emilio and I, as a reward for sticking to our diet you understand) and found this to remain true.

The 2010 Crianza is a blend of 95% Tinto Fino (Ribera del Duero's fancy name for Tempranillo) and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon (2011 contains 2% less Tinto Fino -  replaced by Merlot). As suggested by the label, we tasted wild berries and agreed it was smooth but could not conclude on its intensity or more to the point, how tannic it was. A discussion of what "tannin" really meant led us to take swig after swig to compare how dry the wine made our mouth feel. Emilio rated it as very high; I found it moderately so. Emilio thinks an apt description of tannin is 'earthy' akin to "dusty" while I identified most with the explanation I heard somewhere of "the bitter taste of drinking cold strong black tea".

The bodega which produces this wine (Pago de Carraovejas) was established in 1988 by a Segovian  chef named Jose Maria Ruiz apparently with the intent of creating Ribera Del Duero wine which would perfectly match his star dish of "Cochinillo". Aside from the Crianza, the bodega also produces Reserva (left to age for 36 months),  El Anejon and Cuesta de Las Liebres. I will talk about these wines in time to come. In the meantime, have a GREAT weekend!

A family favourite from Castilla y Leon

A man with a suitcase after my heart

I have to admit here that I paid little attention to the Spanish reds before I dated Emilio (otherwise also known as the Great Champion of wines from the Denominacion de Origen (DO) of Ribera del Duero). Sure, I enjoyed a glass of chilled white Spanish wine from the DO of Rias Baixas (which uses mostly Albarino grape) but typically preferred a Bordeaux or Barolo when it came to reds, thinking that most Spanish wines were lacking body and balance. How wrong I was! Emilio kept showing up in Hong Kong (where I was then living) with a suitcase full of remarkable treasures and I soon realised that there were numerous full bodied, well rounded, deliciously fruity and earthy vino tinto waiting to be indulged!

On that note (and fast forward by a few years), let me share with you, one of our family's trusted go-to blended red wine: Abadia Retuerta Seleccion Especial. It is full bodied, rounded and has a yummy taste of plums and berries.  The 2010 bottle, which we enjoyed just last week with Emilio's parents in Zaragoza contained the best of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (some other years include Syrah).

The bodega that makes the wine, Abadia Retuerta, is located in the North-ish of Spain, in a village called Sardon de Duero, which is about 185km from Madrid, to the west of Ribera del Duero and in the region of Castilla y Leon. The bottles are not labelled 'DO of Ribera del Duero' despite being also situated by the River Duero but they really do not need to nor is at a disadvantage given their already strong brand.

Do all the roads lead to Basel? Curiously, Novartis, the Swiss company which is headquartered here in Basel, owns the bodega and we have found out that it is almost more cost effective to buy the wine from their supermarket here than in Spain (the 2010 bottle is currently retailing at about 18 Euros, transport included). Having said that, this does not mean that we would not be paying a visit to the bodega - indeed it seems like a must do (after the kids have been handed over to the doting grampies and Emilio persuaded to get out of his pajamas/parent's home). We need to sample all their other selections and at the same time check out their historical grounds and the restoration of their 12th century monastery into a lush 5 star hotel and restaurant.