In recent years, white wines have led the largest increase in wine consumption in Spanish homes.
While the consumption of red and rosé wines has been falling slightly, the consumption of white wines has increased by 9% in volume and more than 30% in value, according to data from the Spanish Wine Market Observatory (OeMV).
The current moment is exciting. Magnificent white wines are being produced and the autochthonous white varieties are being revalued in different denominations of origin. Both the best-known varieties (Verdejo, Garnacha Blanca, Xarel Lo, Macabeo, Albariño, Godello…), as well as other minority white varieties that are being recovered (Trepat Blanco, Giró Ros, Hondarrabi Zuri…).
Do not miss these unique bottles that are included in The Wine Guide 2023, directed by LluÃs Tolosa with the collaboration of Ferran Centelles, Meritxell Falgueras, MarÃa José Huertas, Alicia Estrada and Zoltan Nagy.
The most representative white wine from Torre del Veguer. Deeply Mediterranean. The muscat (or muscat) is one of the oldest varieties that exist. There are more than 200 identified varieties, with many crosses and synonymies.
Its common root is Vitis Apiana, so known in Roman times because its sweetness attracted bees. Hence the name of this wine, abellerol, a species of birds that feed on bees, wasps and other flying insects.
Muscat is still cultivated throughout the Mediterranean, from Turkey to the Iberian Peninsula. Despite their great diversity, they all have a common feature, their aroma of pure white grapes and fresh white flowers. It is noticeable only when the nose appears in the glass, even more so in the mouth. It is because of the high concentration of monoterpenes in these grapes, as well as in the volatile essences of many flowers. Up to 40 types of monoterpenes have been identified in Muscat, as in other aromatic white varieties, Riesling and Gewürztraminer, surely you have noticed.
Muscat de grano pequeño is considered the oldest variety, or muscat de Frontignan, by the French area of ​​Lenguadoc where sweet wines from this variety are made. Abellerol is born from three vineyards in Torre del Veguer, with a winemaking tradition in Sant Pere de Ribes since 1413. The vineyards of Can Parès (1986), Mas de les Catalunyes (1993) and Les Abelles (2006), in the interior of the Garraf Natural Park. It is an unmistakable muscat, dry and with varietal notes of peeled and fresh white grapes, green apple and orange blossom. Very seductive / LluÃs Toulouse
One of the best tastings that I have enjoyed this year doing wine tourism was given to me by the sommelier Javier PaadÃn at Bodegas MartÃn Códax. We already know that he comes from a good breed, because Luis and Alejandro PaadÃn, his father and his brother, are the authors of the Galician Wine and Winery Guide. But he has taken another path. And it is already known that when one takes his own path, he ends up expressing himself in all his fullness, an excellent wine communicator.
He forms a great team with Pepa Fuertes, responsible for Wine Tourism. So it is highly deserved that Bodegas MartÃn Códax has been chosen as the best Winery Open to Tourism in the Wine Routes of Spain 2022 awards, which are awarded each year by the Spanish Association of Wine Cities (ACEVIN).
Of the wines we tasted, I especially liked the MartÃn Códax Arousa. It was born from a selection of plots located at the mouth of the Umia river in the Arousa estuary, permanently caressed by the sea, in the San Tomé area, in Cambados. They are vineyards historically cultivated by winegrowers with a long seafaring and fishing tradition, so Galicia is breathed everywhere.
MartÃn Códax Arousa 2019 expresses very well the influence of the Arousa estuary and the singularity of the granite soils that give these Albariños a marked Atlantic character. It is left to rest for 18 months in stainless steel tanks, thus concentrating its saline and iodized nuances, its fine citrus and mineral notes, and its balsamic and enveloping finish on the palate acquires greatness, with those memories of seaweed and those sensations of Low tide. / LluÃs Tolosa
Cesca Vicent is 80 years old and is still at the foot of the canyon. Just the year she was born, in 1942, her father, CecÃlio Vicent, left the Gratallops Wine Cooperative to make his own wines. At that time, the statutes of the cooperative only allowed the withdrawal of wine for own consumption and he wanted to send his wine to his hometown, Vilavella (Castellón).
CecÃlio arrived in Priorat during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), met Francisca Robert and they got married. He dedicated himself to recovering and replanting the family lands, studied oenology and, in addition to sending his wines to his hometown, he also began to sell them at the winery itself.
Cesca inherited the land in the eighties. Together with her husband, Luis, she expanded the vineyards to the current 11 hectares, all with CCPAE organic certification. They are vines on steep slopes and terraces typical of Priorat, with a wide variety of Ilicorella, quartz, gravel, granite and pebble soils.
They mainly grow Garnacha and Cariñena, the two typical red varieties of Priorat. The uniqueness of this Cabaler is that it comes from a single estate, Mas d’en Corral, where they have white Garnacha and Macabeo. Made together, they give a fresh and intense wine, very fruity, floral and mineral. Its complexity is due to three factors: slow maturation due to the great temperature fluctuations day-night in Priorat, gentle maceration with its skins and partial fermentation in 300-litre oak and chestnut barrels, with the lees providing fat, volume and unctuousness. A great white from Priorat, only 1,200 bottles. / LluÃs Tolosa
Xarel-lo of a historic farm located at the foot of the Montserrat mountain. The winemaking tradition of the Ca N’Estruc estate dates back to the year 1548. It is one more of the historic estates that can benefit from a denomination of origin thanks to the DO Catalunya, since in the area of ​​Esparreguera (Barcelona) there are none another denomination of origin.
Siscu MartÃ, partner of Quim Vila, soul of the distributor Vila Viniteca, owns 22 hectares in a very special microclimate area, protected from the cold north winds on the southern slope of the Montserrat mountain. With his daughter, Anna MartÃ, they make wines in small stainless steel tanks and in barrels of different sizes and origins.
L’Equilibrista Blanc is a xarel-lo from 60-year-old vines grown organically and biodynamically. Its volume and complexity stand out, thanks to its fermentation in oak barrels with native yeasts and its aging for 6 months in large 2,500-litre French oak foudres. This is how they control the integration of fruit with wood, one of the great virtues of this wine.
On the nose it expresses stone fruit, floral notes and nuances of lemon peel. On the palate, the fruit is wrapped in complexity, nuts, toasted, and smoked fruits appear, all very balanced, sometimes with slight saline nuances. A born tightrope walker, perfectionist, serene and harmonious in all its vintages, without ups and downs or imbalances. Very gastronomic, safe bet for any occasion. Ready for consumption and also with great aging potential. / LluÃs Tolosa
La Val is an Albariño from Condado de Tea, a southern and inland region, neighboring the Ribeiro wines and bordering the south with Portugal. Here the Atlantic climate is dressed as continental with cold winters and very hot summers, and the vineyard tames the extreme acidity that some Albariños can display when facing the sea. The friendlier climate for the vineyard also allows the wine to be endowed with an alcoholic degree and characteristics that favor aging in barrels, which is not always easy in this denomination.
A good wine is born in the vineyard, but defending a vineyard philosophy on smallholding lands carries risks of lack of control, which is why La Val has chosen to work exclusively with its own vineyard and breaking with the most Galician tradition, it concentrates all its production in three large farms. The Albariño for this La Val comes from the Arantei estate, a 32-year-old vineyard that nevertheless maintains the classic structure of arbors. Let’s see who is the smart one that mechanizes this! Once in the winery, the wine ferments in French oak and remains in those same barrels for six months, growing in complexity and enriching itself in nuances.
Undoubtedly, a great wine for those looking for Albariños endowed with a pleasant acidity without losing an iota of freshness. A gastronomic white to bring to the table even with foie gras and a great find for lovers of long-lived wines. La Val will grow over the next five years. As Cunqueiro said: “Albariño really is the April of wines…” / Alicia Estrada
The first time I had the opportunity to taste this wine was in 2014. The winery team had selected two different expressions of its main variety, Hondarrabi Zuri, to bottle and follow its evolution apart from its higher volume brands.
The paths had been so different that Itsasmendi came to bottle the same wine and the same brand with two different bottles. If the bottle can help us predict the content, I have to say that we tasted Artizar in a Burgundy bottle and Artizar in a Rhine bottle. They were two great wines, but I was captivated by a Burgundian-format magnum.
This wine is not made every year. The favorable circumstances occurred again in 2016 and this time only the Burgundian bottled txakoli was bottled. How much distance from that wine that was vinified in the farmhouses to this
Absolutely gastronomic artizar, fusion of tradition and modernity! It would also have been unthinkable to grant anniversaries to a txakoli and now we enjoy it after years in the bottle, still very lively, very fresh, powerful on the palate, saline, with volume, even with those hydrocarbons that are reminiscent of the great European white wines.
The success of Artizar, the name of the star Venus in Basque, is the commitment to quality, the management of the vineyard, the discovery of the exceptional. There is no other secret. The wine ferments in 600-liter barrels and there it rests on its lees for about a year. Moral: Stay with whoever kisses your soul, anyone can kiss your skin! / Alicia Estrada
Edetà ria celebrates its 20th anniversary by demonstrating “more garnacheros than ever”. The reference winery of the DO Terra Alta has come a long way since 2003 when Joan Angel Liberia began to recover the old native Garnachas.
To celebrate, Joan Angel and Carmen Fuentes organized an extraordinary tasting of their wines paired with a tasting menu at the Atempo restaurant (Barcelona). They presented two novelties, two very different wines. Lo Mas Edetà ria 2019, a high-end red wine made with Garnacha Peluda and Cariñenas over 60 years old, and Edetà ria Dolç de Garnatxa Blanca 2021, a late harvest that reinterprets the rancid and mistelas classics from Terra Alta.
The tasting also included other wines. Via Edetana, white and red. Two whites, Edetà ria Selection Blanc and Finca La Terrenal. And two reds, Finca La Genuina and Edetà ria Selecció Negre, the latter of which is Qualified Finca Wine, the highest official category for wines in Catalonia.
There were more expensive, more sophisticated and more limited production wines in the tasting, but I really liked the Edetà ria Selecció Blanc. Ferran Centelles also commented on it. I thought it was a tremendously expressive and elegant white Garnacha. It comes from eight plots of old vines on honeycomb soils, they are fossil sandy dunes. It is a perfectionist white Garnacha, complex and delicate, with mineral notes, very well structured after aging for 8 months in new 500-litre French oak barrels. Perfect for it to come out in its third year, I’m sure it will still evolve very well in the bottle. / LluÃs Tolosa
