Wine in the cloister 2011

Last year I wrote about the highly pleasing public tasting organized by Vins Noe in my town’s Abbey cloister. Here we go again!

The Tast de Vins amb Ritme had this year eight wineries on display. One of them was a very promising Rioja: Tobelos. The other seven were Catalan: as usual, we will focus on them.

Three of them have been already reviewed in this blog. It was an opportunity to sample new vintages and, in one case, taste a novelty.

Can Feixes Huguet (DO Penedès and Cava), Gramona (Penedès and Cava) and Ferrer Bobet (DOQ Priorat) offered me the chance to revisit their wines and see that they continue to perform notably well, each one in their style.

In the case of Gramona, there was a surprise in the form of Frisant de Gel.

This 100% Gewurztraminer is produced by the selective cryoextraction process, exactly at the beginning as the Gewurztraminer Vi de Glass. As late autumn temperatures do not freeze grapes in the vineyard, Gramona has a cold chamber at minus 24 to freeze the already overmature grapes. Pressing renders a highly concentrated must that is slowly fermented. Additional fermentation in the final bottle produces a degree of gas that gives the Frisant its name. The floral aromas that are typical of the Vi de Glass evolve to white fruit, especially pear. A very unusual wine!

Acústic is a Montsant winery that can boast one of the outstanding reds of the DO. Auditori is a 100 % very old vine Garnatxa of very limited production that I was fortunate enough to taste some months ago.

Their white is called Acústic blanc and is a blend of Garnatxa blanca, Garnatxa roja, Macabeu and Xarel.lo, partly fermented in French oak. Pale yellow, with white and tropical fruit, fresh and silky.

Acústic negre is the simpler red, from Garnatxa and Carinyena vines some forty years old, and with ten months in French oak. Braó is the flagship of the winery, with a blend similar to Acústic negre but coming from older vines and with thirteen months of aging.

There were two wineries from DO Pla de Bages. One was Abadal, the most refined part of a large company with its main interests in the lower price segment, and the other was a newcomer, Collbaix (Celler el Molí).

Abadal was the main force behind the creation of the Pla de Bages DO (I must write a post about it soon) and leads the way with a drive to produce wines with personality, especially around the Picapoll white varietal. Indeed, there was on offer the Abadal Picapoll, a white made 100% with these grapes. Also Abadal 5 Merlot, a complex blend of Merlot coming from five different plots and aged for twelve months in American, Hungarian and French oak.

Abadal 3.9 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah coming from a single plot, with one year of aging. A new wine for me was Abadal 25 Aniversari, a special blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Syrah that celebrates the 25 years of the launch of the winery.

Collbaix is a new winery with organic farming and promising wines. Collbaix blanc is made from Picapoll and Macabeu: crisp and fruity. Collbaix rosat comes fully from Merlot grapes and boasts an attractive ruby shade and red fruits in nose and mouth.

The third wine on display was La Llobeta, a red with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and twelve months of aging in American, Romanian and French oak. Deep cherry red, with a complex nose showing ripe fruit, lactic and spicy notes.

The last winery was still newer: Herencia Altés, from DO Terra Alta. For the time being, their only assets are old-vine plots; the winery is still to be built and they use the premises of a neighbour.

However, their wines repay attention: Benufet is a 100% Garnatxa blanca, complex and dense. The red Garnatxa negre is young, very fruity and with mineral notes. L’Estel is old vine Garnatxa negra and Syrah with three months oak ageing; more complex and tannic.

These two last wineries are really worthy following; I will keep you posted!

http://www.vinsnoe.com/

http://www.cellerelmoli.com/en

http://www.abadal.net/index_ING.html

http://www.ferrerbobet.com/

http://www.canfeixes.com/
http://www.gramona.com/web/en/home.html
http://www.acusticceller.com/
http://www.dopladebages.com/index
http://www.doqpriorat.org/eng/index.php
http://doterraalta.com/esp/index.html#/home
http://www.dopenedes.es/en
http://www.domontsant.com/en
http://www.crcava.es/catala/flash.html



Carinyenes at Porrera

In my last 2010 post I explained my views on public wine tasting events and mentioned some of them I had already attended.

 

The Priorat and Montsant Wine Exhibition (Fira del Vi) in Falset mentioned there is a major mass attraction that is surrounded by smaller, more selective events that are worth attending. From Friday April 29th to Tuesday May 2nd the wine lovers (that can spare the time and cost) have their hands full with tastings, pairings, presentations and winery visits. I was able to attend a few of them, and in the upcoming posts I will endeavour to tell you about my experiences.

In the village of Porrera, already mentioned elsewhere in this blog, are located some of the oldest and finest Carinyena vines in the Priorat DO. In many cases, they are processed separately from other grapes, and the coupage is made just before bottling. Few Porrera wines, however, are pure Carinyena; usually the blend contains also Garnatxa and perhaps Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Syrah.

 

Porrera wineries offer a unique opportunity every year at the “Carinyenes a Porrera” tasting. They present their best pure, unblended Carinyena wines before the coupage is done. Of course, in many cases the wine comes directly from the cask, without any bottle aging; however, the potential is there, and is very rewarding to taste them and have an inkling of what the wines in which they take part will be like.

One surprising aspect of this event is that is somehow illegal. Not that tasting wine is forbidden in Priorat; rather what is forbidden is the commercial use of the word Carinyena to name the grape varietal, because there is an Aragonese village, Cariñena, in the DO of the same name. Silly enough, but the wineries usually have to resort to the name Samsó, which is in fact another grape (some say the one named as Cinsault in France) or devise misspellings such as Caranyana. But if you ask the old winegrowers basking in the sun in the village square, they will tell you they have farmed Carinyena vines since childhood…

 

There were over twenty-five wines from eighteen different wineries; it was not the time or place to take down detailed notes of each, but I can name the ones that pleased me most:

• Ardévol i Associats
• BalmaPrat 
• Celler de l’Encastell 
• Cims de Porrera, with three different, outstanding wines 
• Clos Dominic 
• Ferrer Bobet 
• Joan Simó 
• Mas Martinet 
• Trosset de Porrera

Many wines, but all of them different, as a result of the microclimates of each plot, the age of the vines and the winemaker skill. A feast for Carinyena lovers, showing that this variety, often despised as unrefined, when in proper conditions can yield great wines.

 

http://www.cellerardevol.com/

http://www.roquers.com/index3.html

http://www.grupperalada.com/cimsdeporrera/index.htm

http://debrujasyvino.blogspot.com/

http://www.ferrerbobet.com/

http://www.cellerjoansimo.com/

http://www.masmartinet.com/

http://www.cellersdeporrera.com/

http://www.doqpriorat.org/eng/index.php

 

Ferrer Bobet and Joan Simó: two strategies

In the village of Porrera, as in the rest of Priorat, there are few wineries, apart from cooperatives, that have been in business as such for more that twenty years, when the Priorat revolution started. Modern Priorat wineries can be divided in two groups, which I think are well represented by the two Porrera enterprises I will now describe.

Ferrer Bobet winery

Ferrer Bobet is a joint venture between Sergi Ferrer-Salat, owner of one of the largest Catalan pharma companies and acknowledged food and wine enthusiast, and Raül Bobet, famed oenologist at Torres. They purchased land over the winding road that leads from Porrera to Falset. There they planted 20 hectares of Garnatxa, Carinyena, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier, and built a spectacular, if discrete, cellar with a distinctive semicircular glass walled tasting room with fabulous views.

Stunning panorama from Ferrer Bobet tasting room



Grapes from these new plots are not yet used: vines are too young. Rather, Ferrer Bobet buys grapes from selected vinegrowers that organically farm costers planted with old Carinyena and Garnatxa. Grapes are harvested manually in small boxes, taken immediately to the winery and stored at 3 ºC. Grapes are then selected manually before destemming and after.

Inside of the cellar, and mainly underground, the latest technology and stainless steel combine with the best wood to enable organic winemaking with gravity powered wine movements. The pharmaceutical background of Sergi Ferrer (I am also in the pharma industry) shows in the attention to cleanliness and the careful choice of materials in contact with wine.

Ferrer Bobet

Fermentation takes place in smallish oak vats, allowing separation of individual vineyards. Later on wine ages for fifteen to eighteen months in new French oak and twelve months in bottle.

Ferrer Bobet

Ferrer Bobet produces only two reds, both coming from the old vine costers:  

• Ferrer Bobet, with about two thirds Carinyena and on third Garnatxa, with the occasional sprinkling of Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah
• Ferrer Bobet Selecció Especial, with over 85% Carinyena and the balance for Garnatxa.

The winery produces a total of around 25’000 bottles of these intense, elegant, mineral and fruity reds.



Joan Simó is a winery located in the centre of Porrera, in a two hundred year old house, complete with sundial. Gerard Batllevell Simó, the owner, farms land from his family and also other plots more recently purchased. In 1999 and 2000 he planted Garnatxa, Carinyena, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah in La Garranxa, a plot that had been barren since the phylloxera onslaught.



Joan Simó winery



Winemaking facilities are located in the lower part of the Porrera house, with the dimensions of a garage winery. Still active, Gerard's uncle gives advice and produces a superb ranci, or oxidized wine, that unfortunately is not for sale.

Gerard makes three wines, all red: 

• Sentius, from Garnatxa, Carinyena, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah from La Garranxa. Fifteen months in French oak. 
• Les Eres, the flagship of the winery, is made with grapes of four different plots, using Garnatxa and Carinyena eighty to ninety years old, and some younger Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is kept for eighteen months in new French oak. 
• And since 2006, Les Eres Especial Els Carners, 550 bottles coming from the Els Carners plot, planted ninety years ago with Garnatxa and Carinyena (75/25). Two barrels, one of Allier and the other of Tronçais oak, hold the wine for eighteen months.

All three are dark, concentrated, complex examples of Priorat. Total production of around 20'000 bottles.

Joan Simó

The two different ways are clear. On one hand the external money from a wealthy wine lover that is invested intensively, starting with a spectacular winery and building the wine later. What we call in Catalan to start building the house by the roof. On the other, the local step by step approach, using money only when needed and not before, utilizing old village houses and vines from the family or purchased at the cost of personal involvement.

Which is best?

 

I tend to judge them looking at two variables mainly: the impact on the land and its economy and, of course, the quality of the wines. For the first group, respect to the environment and to free trade, trying not to dominate the market, and contributing to local economy can have a very positive impact. The second strategy permits in the long term local accumulation of wealth and better prospects for the young.

Ferrer Bobet

I think we can find examples of better and worse wineries in both groups. In the first, I find that much depends on the personality of the capital provider. If he is personally involved, has not invested a critical part of his wealth and has the good sense to listen to expert professionals, chances are good. If some of these conditions are not met, and a crisis pushes the market down, chances of survival are slim, as can be seen just now in some sad cases. 



In the second group, chance of survival is more linked to the quality of the wine and the way it is marketed, often the great weakness. 



Ferrer Bobet



A third way is when foreign winemakers invest, but I think they tend to be more cautious and mimic the step by step approach of the locals, I do not know if out of experience or lack of money.

For me, a good blend of strategies is likely to benefit Priorat (or any other zone in a similar situation) and the wine lovers. Ferrer Bobet and Joan Simó do.

http://www.doqpriorat.org/eng/index.php

http://www.ferrerbobet.com/

http://www.cellerjoansimo.com/

Priorat, the hidden phoenix

In the 70’s, when I was in my teens, my father would sometimes bring home a demijohn of Priorat. It contained a dark, strong, sweetish red wine. In a nutshell, that was the definition of Priorat in those years: wines were rough, very alcoholic (perhaps 16 – 19 %) and usually unbottled. And in many cases, exported elsewhere to give body to less muscular wines.

Priorat boasts a long tradition in winemaking; indeed, the name itself comes from the Carthusian Priory at Scala Dei that fostered winemaking in the area since the 12th century. And before that, wines from the Tarraconensis had been on high demand at Imperial Rome’s best tables.

However, Priorat villages, once rich and prosperous when French wine production all but disappeared due to Phylloxera, were sinking steadily into nothingness due to the high cost of vine growing and low prices of the final product, as it was then. Population had shrunk by half in 100 years.

Suddenly, at the end of the 80’s, a small group of pioneers (Barbier, Glorian, Palacios, Pastrana, Pérez), with great winemaking know-how and even greater faith in Priorat’s potential, started 5 tiny cellars and spawned a handful of wines (Clos Mogador, Clos Erasmus, l’Ermita / Dofí, Clos de l’Obac, Clos Martinet) blending grapes of old Garnatxa and Carinyena vines with younger ones of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.

With their winemaking prowess they created wines that were dark, big and strong, but also mineral, well rounded, with the alcohol (13.5 to 15%) well integrated in the structure, and showed that Priorat could supply world class reds that, additionally, had a distinct personality.

Just a remark: I said “world class reds”. Curiously, while in most languages red wine is called red (rouge, rosso, rot...) in Catalan it is called black (negre). Has it something to do with Priorat’s rich colour? Who knows...

After the pioneers others came, mostly following their pattern, which was further blessed with excellent ratings from the international wine gurus.

Twenty years later the initial wines are still among the best, and with the bonus of consistency throughout these years and the fact that the first vintages have aged well. In the meantime, new stars have appeared: for instance, Cims de Porrera, Clos Dominic, Ferrer Bobet, Mas Doix, Mas Sinén, Nin, Terroir al Límit, Trio Infernal, Vall Llach, to name only some of those whose wines I have tasted. And a number of outsiders to be followed with care.

Apart from the reds, some whites are available, usually based on Garnatxa Blanca with the addition of Macabeu, Pedro Ximenez and Moscatell. And a few winemakers produce natural sweets and rancis, reds oxidized for long years in their casks to a golden, complex finish.

The quality factors at work are several:

• poor soils of llicorella (slate pieces that reflect light and give good draining)
• old vines growing in costers (steep slopes in the rocky hills), with optimal sun exposure
• Mediterranean/continental climate with lots of microclimates due to the hilly countryside, but in general with hot summers with big differences in temperature within the day, very cold winters (for the area), and low rainfall

All this combines to yield very low quantities (around of or less than 1 kg of fruit per plant) that have to be harvested by wholly manual methods. Indeed, some growers still use mules for some of the steepest properties.

With this quality potential and the high costs associated with such kind of vine growing, the best value is found, as I see it, in the upper levels of quality, where production cost is not so critical in final price. However, in the lower quality ranges, although Priorat offerings are excellent, their price makes them comparable to medium-high quality wines of many other regions.

All in all, the development of Priorat has been astonishing for anybody that did not know its potential. My father would have liked to see it now…

http://www.doqpriorat.org/eng/index.php

http://www.closmogador.com/

http://www.costersdelsiurana.com/en/index.asp

http://www.masmartinet.com/

http://debrujasyvino.blogspot.com/

http://www.masdoix.com/english/index.html

http://www.ferrerbobet.com/

http://www.massinen.com/

http://www.terroir-al-limit.com/

http://www.trioinfernal.es/

http://www.vallllach.com/