Recommended traditional wines from southern Spain and bubbles from Catalonia Photo: Abel Valdenebro.
The third article of wines to taste in 2022 is mainly devoted to sparkling and fortified wines. They are made in tiny quantities, but we like the fact that all of them add somethign extra be it the origin of the grapes, the winemaking, the ageing times or a combination of several of these aspects. Most of them are available at affordable prices too.
Among the Generoso wines, we have centred our attention on new releases from the Sherry region, as well as on a producer with a large collection of old wines in Montilla-Moriles.
Celler Dumenge (Sunday in Catalan) was born almost as a weekend entertainment for three friends with strong ties with Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, one of the main sparkling wine producing towns in Penedès. They are a winemaker (Laia), a wine grower (Oriol) and a photographer (Jaume). Everything started to prevent Oriol from throwing away a batch of Xarel.lo Vermell grapes sourced from very young vines. As the resulting pét-nat proved successful among their friends, they decided to take the plunge and set up a garagiste operation. Dumenge Xarel.lo is their second wine.
Grapes are sourced from a 70-year-old plot with a northern aspect and stunning views of the Montserrat mountains that they have been recovering over the last two years. After an early harvest, the grapes are cold-macerated with their skins and the destemmed bunches are fermented spontaneously. The wine is aged for about 10 months but the bottles only remain three months horizontally on the riddling rack –the trio look for freshness rather than autolysis. The wine displays citrus and herbal aromas; skin-contact isn’t too evident avoiding tannins or bitterness on the finish. This is a direct, easy-to-drink pét-nat with refreshing acidity. We like the simple, lively label and find that the name is really inviting. Who would’t want to spend a Sunday uncorking fun pét-nats? €15.5. 800 bottles. Distributor: La Natural.
Agustí Torelló Roca is the third generation of a sparkling wine producing saga in Penedès -his grandfather is Agustí Torelló Mata; and his father, Agustí Torelló Sibill. He is actively involved in AT Roca, the family winery set with his father to produce sparkling wines under the Clássic Penedès seal, but has also found the time to make his own low-intervention still wines and pét-nats under the brand Ánima Mundi.
Camí dels Xops (poplar tree path) is his flagship pét-nat. Grapes are sourced from four plots on chalky soils, two of them planted to Macabeo and the other two to Xarel.lo. Vineyards lie next to the family property in San Sebastià dels Gorgs and the path lends its name to the wine. After direct-pressing, 70% of the grapes were fermented in stainless steel tanks, the rest in barrels. The wine was transfered to bottles with 30 grams of sugar per litre and was aged for just six months. It is released without filtering, fining or added sulphites. Given its quality and packaging, this is the kind of pét-nat that adds value to the category. We love the tension and purity of flavour. We believe sparking wine lovers will appreciate the know-how behind the wine and its distinctive character. 15,000 bottles. €15
María Rigol Ordi is a small family winery from Sant Sadurní d'Anoia that produces around 60,000 bottles a year, all of them Brut Nature, Cava's driest style. With no vineyards of their own, they rely on long-standing ties with suppliers. Microtiratges is a highly original project, a kind of experimental range that pushes them to step out of their comfort zone.
The sixth Cava in this range gives prominence to Parellada, a delicate variety that usually has little presence in extended ageing Cavas. Here it accounts for 70% of the blend, while reducing Xarel.lo, the regular backbone of most age-worthy sparkling wines in Penedès, to 30%. The secret is an excellent batch of Parellada from Fontrubí, a village at 500m elevation with sharp temperature variations between day and night. They have been able to extend ageing times to 60 months. This is a different style of Gran Reserva, with less volume and creaminess on the palate than the standard in the category. Instead, we find baked bread and delicate notes with acidity acting as a reliable backbone. 2,060 bottles. At €24, we find this is a great retail price considering that is has been aged for five years.
Artisan and organic from the start, Alejandro Narváez and Rocío Aspera have been working their vineyards in Balbaína since 2014. From these vines they make a dozen wines, mainly from Palomino grapes for the whites, and from Tintilla and some French varieties for the reds.
In the case of the ancestral sparkling wine, made with Palomino from Pago de Añina with tough albariza tosca soils, Alejandro and Rocío keep it for eight months in contact with the lees. The bottles are disgorged "a la volé", removing the cap from the bottle with a quick movement, and refilled with the same wine. Refreshing and lively on the palate, with citrus and sapid notes and pleasant, well-integrated bubbles. Long and very fresh finish. Perfect to drink at leisure during this hot summer. 1,500 bottles, €21
The new range of Osborne en rama sherry includes Coquinero, a Fino that captures like no other the distinctive character of El Puerto de Santa María and which was worthy of having a prominent place in the bodega's range of wines; the 22-year-old, ultra concentrated Amontillado La Honda; and La Honda Fino, a wine that is aged for an average of 12 years and released at that fascinating stage when the veil of yeasts (the flor) is fading away and the wine is on the verge of becoming an Amontillado.
There is great intensity both on the nose and palate and a sapid, saline depth that lingers long on the finish. The wine has the characteristic seaside influence of El Puerto (petrol notes, low tide aromas), and is nutty and creamy offseting its pungent character. The bottling date (14/07/2021) is printed on the label. 10,600 bottles of 50cl. €25
With their own vineyard in Pago Miraflores, the Del Río brothers, fourth generation of growers and almacenistas (wholesalers), finally took the plunge in 2022 to sell their wines. They operate from a winery that used to be a sawmill in Bonanza, a suburb in the north of Sanlúcar, right on the banks of the Guadalquivir river, where the sea breeze from the beach caresses the wines that this family has traditionally sold to other wineries and the odd négociant.
During their official presentation last June at Vinoble —Club Contubernio members had a sneak preview a little earlier— the del Río brothers brought two wines: their lively Manzanilla Fina Solera Playa, with four years of average ageing (with the blue label in the photo), and the Pasada, also called Solera Playa but with a gold label, which we review here. The latter stands out for its iodine, saline and fresh notes despite its eight-nine years of average age and has pleasant bitterness and a long, full-bodied mouthfeel. An interesting new project to follow closely. 1,200 bottles €18.
After more than two decades at González Byass, Jaime Carvajal decided that the time had come to start his own project. In 2014, along with his two sons, he created Carvajal Wines, following the négociant model, bottling since 2018 selected wines from bodegas in the Sherry region, mainly Delgado Zuleta in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
With the words "welcome to the show" on the labels in reference to the circus, the Carvajal family sells a manzanilla, an amontillado, an oloroso and this medium, a blend of oloroso with Pedro Ximénez, which is bottled en rama. It comes from 18 butts with about 16 years of static ageing that include 7% of Pedro Ximénez in the blend, hence the name Shipping Solera (Solera de Embarque), as wines that were aged already blended were called.
Medium, generally a commercial category destined for export, does not usually figure among the quality wines of Jerez, but this Carvajal is a notable exception. With candied notes of mahogany and toffee, it has the deep nose of an oloroso and the silky, smooth aromas of a sweetened wine but with greater length, finesse and complexity compared to the standard wines in this category. 900 bottles in a single saca. €28
When the Pérez family bought in 2013 El Corregidor, an estate in Pago El Carrascal in Jerez, they began to develop a project of single-vineyard and vintage wines in which terroir and ageing would go hand in hand. Almost 10 years later, La Barajuela is now a fully fledged brand with a wide range of bottlings made according to the conditions of the vintage and the different stages of maturation go the grapes in the vineyard.
From that first vintage a new bottling will be released this year that is destined to be, in the words of Fran López, sommelier at Bodegas Luis Pérez, "the fine wine of the property". Villa Marta 2013 comes from a single butt, formerly owned by Domecq, from the dozen casks that were filled in that first vintage of La Barajuela. It is a fino amontillado, bottled at the limit of biological ageing, "in the style of Agustín Blázquez's Carta Blanca", which combines intensity, power, sapidity and elegance. Only 300 bottles will be released so if you are lucky to get hold of one, do enjoy it slowly —each will set you back €150
It is difficult to choose just one wine from the extraordinary range of Bodegas La Inglesa, a winery that has been present in Montilla-Moriles since the 19th century but whose wines have hardly been touched since they were destined for family consumption or for very special clients such as the Royal Family, the US Embassy in Spain or El Corral de la Morería, where we tasted it for the first time thanks to sommelier Santi Carrillo.
Founded by the ancestors of the Alvear family, the La Inglesa palace and its lagar were sold in 1965 to Antonio Doblas, a bull breeder, olive grower and wine producer from Cordoba, who converted it into his home. Today it is his son and grandson, with whom he shares the same name, who manage the bodega. After many years as an almacenista, the family recently released some small quantities of these old wines and have started to produce three different finos —all aged between 6 and 18 years— with grapes from Moriles Altos.
We tasted the entire range at Vinoble -including the powerful and radical 110 butt of old amontillado that will be released in 2023 to honour the centenary of the birth of the first Antonio Doblas and the refined and elegant Palo Cortado with an average age of 80 years. As we have to choose one for this article, we recommend the Amontillado. Aged for about 25 years, it combines complexity, roundness and persistence at an accessible price for the unquestionable quality of this wine, which is refreshed with an old fino (16-18 years) from Moriles Altos. 2,500 bottles of 50cl. in seasonal sacas. €31
