Wines for Christmas
A wine writer’s job is a tough one. “Review some wines for Christmas in Spain” said Nick, clearly ignorant of the fact that the deadline was only a few days away. No time to get samples from any of the Spanish bodegas, much less have an in-depth tasting session, so it was off on my bike for an against-the-clock tour around the local outlets. This is despite the fact that, as always, I am ill-prepared for Christmas in Spain and need (so my wife says) to do some shopping that is not Spanish wine-related!
Fortunately in Marbella we are blessed with more specialist wine shops than you can shake a stick at. There are some notable specialists such as Casa Pablo, Vinacoteca La Cartuja, Casa Santi, plus several newbies that may rise or fall, and the wine department at El Corte Inglés is no slouch either. The wines selected here are mostly Spanish with the range intended to cover a wide selection of regions.
No Christmas celebration would be complete without champagne or cava, and a very popular example of the former is the wonderfully-priced Jacquart at €22 the bottle. Much better and cheaper than the truly awful Möet et Chandon that is usually served by social climbers and wine snobs, who consider it the epitome of good taste without realising it is a mass-produced wine the quality of which varies according to demand.
Spanish cavas just keep getting better and the above-referred-to wine snobs that stupidly believe that it is more acceptable to serve a bad champagne than a good Spanish cava should be condemned to drinking M&C from here to eternity. Since people started boycotting Catalan products the Spanish cava producers have suffered badly (they will never admit it – but it’s true), which is why you can now get cava from almost all the other wine regions. Juve e Camps (Catalan) is a reliable producer, but to try a Spanish cava from another area. The Yllera-produced Cantosan brut nature is a good buy at €11.50
The king of Spanish wines, sherry, must have a place in any festive occasion, and since the weather may not be sunny I recommend a classic oloroso, Rio Viejo from Domecq. Typically this is drunk in a Spanish bodega as a first copita, before embarking on a lengthy fino session; sherry-lore says it is supposed to line the stomach. Rio Viejo is dark in colour, beautifully smooth (and strong) and bone dry. At around €8 it is a gift from above, and I am glad to see they have gone back to the cork stopper having had a brief flirtation with a metal cap. It will always be a mystery to me how a vintage wine, made by blending with other wines that can be up to 200 years old, is sold at a price roughly equivalent to that of a run-of-the-mill red wine.
Time for a Spanish white wine, and the Granada-produced Calvente is a real find. Made from Muscatel grapes it is surprisingly dry and fruity and a great deal at €11.50. Nekeas Chardonnay is dazzling value at €4, and Cantosan Rueda from Yllera has few rivals at €6. However, the Spanish white wine of the year for me is the verdejo launched recently by Ribera del Duero landmark winery Protos: truly outstanding value at under €6
Spanish rosé wines, like cava, are getting better all the time, and even traditionally non-rosé drinkers are at least beginning to give them the time of day. Navarra is the home of Spanish rosados, although Cigales is catching up fast, but be adventurous and try any of the rosado wines from Somontano. This up-and-coming wine region tucked away in the foothills of the Pyrenees is the only region in Spain that manages to produce excellent red, white and rosado wines. Enate, Viñas del Vero and Bodegas Pirineos (this last now owned by sherry-maker Barbadillo) are reference points.
Moving on to the reds, where to begin?. Most boring drinkers will stick to Rioja and the marginally less boring ones may opt for a Ribera del Duero, but what about the Bierzos, Prioratos, Castellanos, y muchos etceteras that are out there. (To be fair a restaurant owner recently told me that the most stuck-in-a-rut wine drinkers are the Spanish. Not only do they insist on a Rioja or Duero, but it must be a known label and preferably expensive. Not the best message to send to the burgeoning wine business in the bubbling-under regions).
Something for quaffing with that bit of cheese or terrine? A Ribera del Duero? If you can’t afford Vega Sicilia (who can and anyway its on quota) try Alion, VS’s poor cousin although the bodega is actually owned by VS. The 2005 will set you back €45 but you won’t regret it. Still in the vinous stratosphere and heading into outer space, Flor de Pingus 2005 can currentyly be had for an immodest €950.
For a better-than-average Ribera del Duero, Page de Capellanes is good and the 2007 costs around €18. Nor can you go wrong with practically any wine from the Emilio Moro stable; this is the Spanish bodega that rejects the (to many people antiquated and pointless) crianza, reserve and gran reserve classifications, and in true French fashion sells its wine by vintage year. A good vintage will cost no more than between €17 and €20.
It is generally recognised that Spanish wine from the Rioja can be classified as ‘new’ and ‘old’, referring to the method of production and the grape varieties. The ‘new Riojas’ are giving the old a run for their money, and going a long way to stem the trickle of drinkers changing allegiance from Rioja to Ribera del Duero. A classical example of the old type isViña Real Crianza 2005 at a fantastic €7, while Izadi Crianza is only €8, and the Reserva €15. It’s saying a lot but in my experience you can never go wrong ordering an Izada wine.
Moving to other regions, Secastilla from Somontano’s Viñas del Vero bodega has nothing to fear from more classic competition and the 2004 at €22.50 is worth the money. Spanish wine from the Bierzo region is moving up the scale and so are prices, so buy the oddly-named Pittacum (€10) while it lasts ,since it keeps winning prizes and getting high points from Parker and his sad clones.
And, if you invite me to Christmas lunch (some hope – I am sometimes quite rude about other people’s wine tastes), well, I would try to bring you a bottle of one of my greatest favourites, Pago de Carraovejas, a Ribera del Duero that I ‘discovered’ 20 years ago when it was unknown outside its region and now you cannot get it for love or money, unless it’s a lot of the latter. I would also like you to run down to the local wine store (not supermarket, note) and pick up a few bottles of Ronda-based Cortijo de los Aguilares’s Pago el Espino, or even its world-beating Pinot Noir.
