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Presenting the Rioja 2014 Vintage (plus bonus track: how to make en rama fino)

This is the best time of year to visit Rioja. The harvest is in, the sun is shining (this year much more warmly than usual) and the leaves have changed colour so that the region looks more like a fantastical carpet rather than vineyards. You can see below the tapestry of colours with vibrant reds, oranges and yellow dominating the landscape. If you haven't visited the region then do it in Autumn when the sun is shining, crisp mornings are invigorating, and the vineyards are at their most beautiful.

This time of year is also the best time to get a real feel for how the harvest played out: all the grapes are picked (I arrived the day after the last bunches were brought into the wineries) and it's possible to taste some of the earlier picked fruit while im various stages of fermentation in tank. So what did I learn? We've all heard there was a lot of rain towards the end of the hearvest period in Rioja, some torrential that nearly destroyed entire vineyards, but that doesn't mean it's a story of doom and gloom. The vignerons and winemakers had to work very hard to pick at the right moment and to select carefully when the grapes arrived. But there is very good quality, better than last year, and some of the higher vineyard sites of Rioja Alta and Alavesa have produced stunning results. Sure there will be some variable quality but I suspect this might end up being rated as a Very Good vintage (fingers crossed after the difficult 2013 harvest). I tasted a lot out of tank, both white and red, and there was lovely concentration and sweetness of fruit. A lot to look forward to.

But let's not forget that there are wines ageing in barrel and bottle about to be released into the market. 

OK so maybe not this old... But the exciting thing for me this year is the release of many 2010 Reservas. 2010 was rated an Excellent year by the Consejo, and tasting some of these wines last week, I can understand why. They are showing everything we love about great Rioja Reservas: vibrant red fruits, vanilla and spice, and silky smoothness. With a lack of great vintages from other parts of the world over the last few years, 2010 Rioja Reserva releases are something to celebrate...already looking forward to sorting out my Christmas drinking in 2016!

So for those of you who have read this far, there is a bonus track. Yes more to read! Well actually it's more to watch. A couple of weeks ago I was in sherry country and had the chance to take some video of a proper "en rama" bottling. "En rama" is very trendy at the moment with some of the best restaurants in the world making their own special selections of their favourite barrels in the sherry houses of Jerez, Sanlucar and El Puerto. But basically all "en rama" means is that the sherry is not filtered: it tastes just as it does straight from barrel with all the lovely flor flavours and complexity. 

I was lucky enough to be able to taste through 10 different barrels of fino and choose the one I liked best. To be honest after the fifth, I'm not sure I was being all that discerning! But they all tasted great so it doesn't matter!

Step 1: get the wine out of the barrel. The simple old-fashioned way.

Step 2: pour carefully into the bottle. Very carefully!

Step 3: stick a cork and capsule on it.

Step 4: hand-label.

Bodegas Colosia actually bottle all their en rama fino in this way. That day they had to bottle a further 36 bottles by hand: a task which would take 3 - 4 hours. I'm just looking forward to savouring mine one Friday night soon!

Back to the Source

Most of the time in the wine trade we get really carried away with things like soil, climate, trellising, pruning, picking dates...the list goes on. Lost you already? While all of this is crucial to the wine, what is the basic thing we all really want? A delicious glass of wine at an honest price. If we can also trust and appreciate the source, even better. In an age when we are more and more concerned about knowing the origin of our food, supporting our local fruit and veg guy, our local butcher, why not also our wine? We should be talking about the growers. The guys who sweat in 40 degree heat and freeze in gale force winds in winter. These are the people whose livelihood can be wiped out with one bad storm. Sometimes we get so distracted by the technicalities of the vineyards and winemaking that we forget to talk about where it all starts. Without these passionate and, more importantly, stubborn and perservering vignerons we wouldn't be able to enjoy some of the greatest wines, the ones that don't come from big corporate brands or famous château. When you're on holiday in France, Spain or Italy, don't you ever drive past vineyards and wonder who they belong to and where you can drink their wine?

So here are just a few of those stories. After spending a week in the Roussillon, it's clear there are so many fantastic wines yet to venture out of this corner of France. Here's the place I'm talking about (thanks Wine Atlas!):

Think hot hot summers, gusty winds and the sun-baked Catalan coast lined with vineyards that almost plunge into the sea. And two distinct styles of wine: predominantly rich inky dark reds, and wines in the style of Port or Madeira, Vins Doux Naturels, that can rival the best of this style of wine. There's nothing subtle about this area, and neither are the wines: honest, warm, enticing, hedonistic, just like the people. Designed to be enjoyed in the best southern spirit of convivialité and joie de vivre. Made to be shared.

Here is a snapshot of a few very different producers from Maury down to Collioure and Banyuls. The Catalan corner of France.

Jean Charles Duran has spent his life in the vines. Once selling his crop to the local cooperative, he decided to go it alone and make his own wine, believing he could produce something really special and distinct. His vines have been in his family for generations, many are nearly 100 years old, and are located in some of the best sites around Maury. He's practising organic viticulture, even if he's not actually certified: it would be a nightmare having to sort out all the documents for certification, and he'd rather spend that money on the vineyards and making better wine. Given how much time it takes to look after the vineyards, probably best he doesn't bother with the paperwork. A lot of his vines are on steep slopes and require a lot of care and intensive attention. It's obvious he spends most of his time with them - he's a shade of brown I'll never achieve living in England (or even out of a bottle!).

You can see that no money is wasted on a fancy building or high tech equipment. The wines are made in a space not much bigger than a garage with just the necessary machinery. But Jean Charles doesn't need anything else: with dark powerful Grenache, Carignan and Syrah, he doesn't even need to worry about barrels. The wines are so big and rich that the fruit speaks for itself. Full-bodied and fruity, yet brilliantly complex, these reds are of a quality that would sell for twice the price from a region like the Châteauneuf-du-Pape. I tasted everything he had in tank and would happily drink these as my go-to drop of choice at home. But without a route to market, Jean Charles may not be able to keep his vines. He can't afford fancy marketing or travel to international fairs to drum up business (language also being a barrier) and besides this would take up precious time when his vines need him to be there. He needs a helping hand or we'll soon see old vines disappear, and with them the diversity and character that producers like Jean Charles offer. In fact, Jean Charles is so understatedly charmant that I volunteered to help with the harvest on the spot! I've since checked my diary...not sure I can make it (I hear it's super hot and very hard work...).

From the hot baked inland area around Maury, we now move to the picturesque seaside towns of Banyuls and Collioure. Made famous by impressionist painters who appreciated the light and Mediterranean way of life, the towns should be equally famous for both the dry and port-like wines that have been made here for a long time. The AOC Collioure is used for all dry wines, and the AOC Banyuls designates the Vins Doux Naturels of the region.

In the picture above you can just make out a vineyard on the headland that reaches almost all the way to the sea. In years gone by, the harvest would be collected on boats and shipped to the wineries for vinifcation. This may not be the case anymore but you can see why it is still perilous to make wine here: with harvesting done by hand and steep slopes, one false move and it could be an unrehearsed dive into the Med! Luckily Mas Blanc hasn't lost anyone yet, and they've been in the business for a long time.

Jean Michel Parcé is the latest of many generations to make wine under the Domaine name. It has been a family property since 1639, not a bad run! Jean Michel's been at the helm since 1976. People in the know might recognise this producer: at over 2,000 euros, Mas Blanc's top wine (tiny production) is the Roussillon's most expensive bottle. I wasn't lucky enough to taste it - understandably they don't open a bottle every day - but I did get to taste their wonderful Collioure reds including some brilliant single vineyard wines. And this is where preceptions need to be challenged. Often thought of as a region producing rustic, baked, hot wines, there is so much elegance and freshness offered by the best producers with the best vineyards. Some of Mas Blanc's wines would easily be picked as Burgundies in a blind line-up, and smart ones at that. Here you find finesse and wines capable of great aging. I've been told it's all about the schist but we won't go into all that business about soils right now...

Domaine San Sébastien is the new kid on the block in terms of producing wines under their own name but in fact Remould's family have been vignerons in the region for generations. Using all this family know-how he has embarked on a project to make full bodied powerful but elegant AOC Collioure wines. He's bought an old winery up in the hills around Banyuls, hidden away up gravel roads among bushland and old vines. And down in Banyuls itself, he has a cellar door where you can taste and buy all of his wines. He talks quickly, I'm sure to keep up with all the projects he has racing through his mind: he seems to be a whirlwind of activity. 

I really liked the 2012 Domaine San Sébastien, AOC Collioure. The wine spends one year in oak but it is not at all dominating. It is a complex wine where the fruit shines through: black cherry and dark berries, a hint of black olive. It packs a punch but there is an underlying freshness which makes you want to keep on drinking. 

And to round off the week, we popped in to taste all the wonderful old vintage Banyuls at Cave l'Etoile. You can't visit this part of the world and not fall for these luscious old Vins Doux Naturels packed full of caramel, dried fruits and christmas pudding. This is the cooperative in the region: it started in the 1920s when nine relatives and friends pulled together their resources to make the wine now synonymous with the area. Now there are more growers providing grapes to the coop but they are all small holders who rely on the harvest to survive.

These old vintage Banyuls were so good that I actually fainted (ok maybe it was the heat but it sounds better if we blame the wine!). There are younger paler versions with more rancio flavours, and then there are the older vintage rimage style wines. We tasted wines over 30 years old which still have a remarkable liveliness that makes them much easier to drink than something like port. 

Whatever style of wine, this south west tip of the French Med coast offers wines worth a lot more than their price (something i should never say as a buyer...shhhh...) Not all the growers have the money to invest in marketing or entering competitions to get the medals they deserve, instead spending all of their very hard earned cash investing in the vineyards, the best barrels and producing wines that more of us should be drinking.

Vega Sicilia: an altogether Único experience

I often write about new wines, undiscovered wineries, and lesser-known regions. Not this time. Vega Sicilia is one of the best known names in Spanish wine, if not the best, and in fact one of the most respected wineries in the world. But I am so excited after my first visit here that I will now add my own impressions to the litany of reviews of Spain's number one estate.

Vega Sicilia is an iconic winery. The wines attract high prices and allocations are fiercely fought over. It's one of those wineries on the bucket list of places to see, and driving past the signs pointing to the estate encourages the same feeling of excitement as seeing the great vineyards of Bordeaux or Burgundy for the first time. But actually the recipe for success here is very very simple and doesn't rely on any en primeur hype or clever marketing: the whole operation relies on some basic principles, even if no expense has been spared to reach this level of perfection...even the drains are branded!

So yes, there's no denying that there is some very shiny expensive kit in the winery. And I'm guessing this helps - just a little! - to produce such precise and technically brilliant wines. But if we were only to focus on the machinery, tanks, barrels, and impressive architecture of the bodega, we'd be ignoring the two key factors that really capture the spirit and tradition of the estate: the vineyards, and the history of the estate, now carried forward by Javier Ausas, the technical director of Vega Sicilia. 

Pictured above (he's the one on the left!!), Javier describes making these wines like creating a beautiful painting. You can't paint the sky with just one type of blue; you need to create definition, depth, shades of interest. You need to start with a full palate of colour. And so the same for these wines. There are 81 parcels of fruit that are harvested and vinified separately to make Vega Sicilia's Ribera wines. From these individual parcels come all the nuances, subtleties  and complexities that warrant the wines' reputation. There is minimal intervention in the winemaking process in order to keep a fresh fruity character, and a great amount of attention is paid to the type of oak used to ensure perfect integration (there is even an on-site cooperage). 

And then there is the aging: Único is only released 10 years after the vintage. So there's no secret winemaking technique to produce this level of quality; rather, there is a reverent respect for the vines, patience and the 150 year history of the estate. As Javier says, they've learnt a bit about their vineyards over that length of time!

So what a privilege to taste some of the latest releases. Pintia 2008 is my personal favourite vintage to date. Javier talks about taming the wildness of Toro and the very thin line they have to walk to pick the fruit at just the right time. Half a day, even an hour too late might mean the difference between the lovely fresh fruity character of the 08 Pintia, and an over-ripe Toro, too powerful and difficult to drink. In contrast, the 2011 Alión is the "civilised version" of Pintia according to Javier. This is a much more complex wine, meatier and very powerful but there is an underlying elegance which will ensure this ages perfectly. Where I would be happy to drink the 2008 Pintia soon, the 2011 Alión needs a lot of time to come together in bottle but then it should really shine.

  

So onto the two flagship Vega Sicilia wines... 2009 Valbuena and the 2004 Único. The 09 Valbuena is already beautifully integrated: the youthful expression of a difficult terroir as Javier explains. It is more accesible and approachable than the "grown up" partner Único. But what a surprise, the 04 Único is already clearly a very great wine. Again another explanation from Javier...Often this wine needs a lot of time to reach its potential and is difficult to approach when young. But Javier likens the 2004 to a young toreador: from a very young age it is clear when a boy has the skill to become a great bull fighter, if he has natural ability. The 2004 Único already demonstrates that this is an exceptional wine. They say that this is as good as the mythical 1970 vintage. Time will only tell but from what I tasted, I'd say that it has a good shot!

Another interesting point that Javier makes is about Tempranillo. Could this be the great grape? OK so Alvaro Palacios may say it's Garnacha, and I'm sure there are a few Burgundians and Bordelais who have different opinions. But it is worth considering for a moment, and certainly adds to my opinion that Spain is the most diverse winemaking country in the world. Where else could one grape produce so many different expressions of wine? Just look at the Vega Sicilia range: Toro, Ribera, Rioja. All made from Tempranillo and yes there is an element of a "house" style. But the differences are all clearly defined from the varying terroirs of three very distinct regions.

For me it is very important to highlight these sorts of wines from time to time. It's true, I always like to emphasise the amazing value found in Spain, and normally I'm sourcing wines at the more "affordable" end of the scale. But Spain should be proud of the extraordinary producers found there, like Vega Sicilia, that truly rival the best found anywhere in the world. And even at this level, the value is astonishing. I'd rather buy a case of Alión than one bottle of expensive Bordeaux. So if you're looking to fill your cellar with wines that will continue to surprise and delight in years to come, you know where to look.

I tried to take a souvenir with me but the barrel was too big for my handbag...

The King of Varieties and the Return of the big Red

In the North-East, extending right up to the French border, Aragon has one of the most complex histories in Spain. It was declared a kingdom back in the 11^th century and remained as such up until the 18^th. The Kings and Queens of Aragon are some of the best known and most colourful characters in Spanish history. Add to that the influences of Islamic traditions, especially in the Mudejar architecture of the region, and the myths and legends of magic and local folklore, and you soon see why this is a cross-roads of various cultures and époques.

While the history is dense, this area of the country is actually the second least populated after La Mancha. The sense of space is inspiring. From thick forested areas in the north, to nearly desert-like conditions in the south, one thing is common throughout: altitude, dramatic landscapes, good food (sorry can’t escape a food mention!) and Garnacha. Well ok so the vineyards don’t cover the entire region but there are some stunning old sites - even of pre-phylloxera age – throughout this former kingdom. And the key fact to point out here is that there is significant evidence to suggest that Aragon is the origin, the birthplace, of this variety.

 

Just like the landscape, the Garnacha here is big, confronting and full of complexity. Sweet red fruit, powerful, it packs a punch. We know our customers love rich, full-bodied reds, and I can’t think of many better regions to find this style of wine (at a good price!).  The high altitude and old bush vines produce Garnacha of unrivaled quality.

During the last decade the region has lost a lot of its precious old vine resource: the government was actually giving out money to rip up vineyards and ridiculously the older ones were the first to go! But some growers hung on and thank goodness they did! There are still pockets of really old bush vines making enormously rich and spicy reds. In fact, some of you might remember a wine called Altogrado: an intense Garnacha from Calatayud. Well it’s on its way back. The 2013 will be from Cariñena, just down the road from the original source but each year I´ll be looking out for the best possible grapes from all over Aragon to make the biggest richest fruitiest Garnacha we can find. The 2014 should be ready for summer (perfect to celebrate the end of a wet winter!).