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



Can Feixes, a château in Penedès

The Can Feixes seal

Fifteen years ago I visited Can Feixes. For some time I had appreciated the quality of their wines, and I wanted to see the source. The owner, a delightful old school gentleman (he was an architect by training), showed us his property with enthusiasm and explained his plans for the future.

 

Fifteen years later, Mr. Huguet is, regretfully, no longer there to steer the course of the winery

 

It is easy for the successors, in these cases, to either let the enterprise languish and eventually die, or to completely change the spirit and philosophy, with uncertain results and the assurance of losing the former charm. The fact that not one heir, but three, have to take decisions makes all even more difficult.



Old and new together



 

However, his three sons have come up to scratch splendidly. The Can Feixes philosophy remains; they concentrate on their land and grapes, respect the environment both in the vineyard and the construction of the winery, and stick to their six proven and mastered wines. Josep Maria looks after winemaking; Joan is in charge of the vineyards and Xavier takes on administration.

 


The old winery



The name comes with the property. Can Feixes means house (the physical building) of the Feixes family. And it was so at least from the late fourteenth century till beginning of the twentieth, when the Huguet family took over after the Feixes extinguished. The property has some beautiful old buildings, including the one that houses the old winery, now a showpiece, with the door with the seal that can be seen on bottles.

 

The Huguets respected the complex and have enlarged the winery mostly underground, with room for cask and bottle cellaring; in this way, the buildings look from outside pretty much the same as a century ago.



Bottle cellar



 

In the rear, the distinctive peaks of Montserrat

The estate, in the hilly northern part of the Penedès DO, has over 350 hectares, 80 of them under vine. Medium height over sea level is 400 meters, and soils mainly rich in limestone, with varying slate and clay additions. Temperature, being the estate higher and farther from the sea than most of Penedès, shows a bigger difference between day and night, beneficial for slower maturing of the grapes and better acidity.



Old parellada vine



Old Parellada vineyard



On the selected plots most suitable for each, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Malvasia de Sitges, Ull de Llebre and Petit Verdot grow on trellises, together with older (70 year) bush grown Parellada and Macabeu old vine plots. Wines are organically farmed and produced; the seal of the Catalan Council for Ecological Production (CCPAE) will start appearing on the 2010 bottles.

Vineyard with planted vegetation in between rows

 

The estate can be compared with a Bordeaux château, with the winery sitting in the middle of the vineyards. In this way, the grapes, manually harvested and having undergone a first selection in the vineyard, reach the winery in minutes where they are again selected and enter the processing stage. The white varieties are fed into the pneumatic press without breaking the grains, so the first must to come out is of the highest quality.

 

The still wine range has four items: 

• Can Feixes Blanc Selecció, a white made from Parellada, Macabeu, Chardonnay and Malvasia de Sitges (40/30/20/10), unoaked, light and fruity with citric notes 
• Can Feixes Chardonnay (100%) fermented and aged for eight months in new French oak and twelve months in bottle. White fruit and well integrated wood. 
• Can Feixes Negre Selecció, a red Merlot, Cabernet, Ull de Llebre and Petit Verdot (40/25/25/10) aged for seven months in tank and twelve in French oak. Dark red, with minerality and red fruit to balance more tertiary wood and coffee aromas. 
• Can Feixes Negre Reserva Especial, the top wine made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (80/20) especially selected grapes and only in the best years. Aged for 14 months in new French oak and at least four years in the bottle. Dark cherry, elegant and complex aromas of ripe red fruit, balsamic, spice and wood, and a long finish.

 

Like many other Penedès wineries, they also produce Cava, with the Huguet brand. In fact, although in the market you can find both Huguet Gran Reserva Brut and Huguet Gran Reserva Brut Nature, it is essentially the same wine: a rather uncommon Parellada, Macabeu and Pinot Noir blend (50/26/24) aged for six months in tanks before second fermentation and at least thirty months after. Brut receives a small quantity of sugar after degorjat and Brut Nature does not. Both have the distinctive small, persistent bubble and creamy aromas of Gran Reserva Cavas; the degree of sweetness (not at all or very slight) will determine the choice.

 

A finishing point: wines leave the winery ready to drink; no further cellaring is needed; all bottles are numbered, and those of Cava show the date of degorjat, something which is, unfortunately, not mandatory, but shows compromise to quality, in line with the philosophy of Can Feixes.

 

 

http://www.canfeixes.com/

http://www.dopenedes.es/en

http://www.crcava.es/catala/flash.html

 




Managing complexity: Penedès

Just 30 km west-south of Barcelona, Penedès is a world in itself. Within its borders we can find four different landscapes: the Garraf limestone massif that borders the sea closer to Barcelona; the coast south of Garraf; the foothills of Montserrat and the plain that stretches between Garraf and Montserrat mountains. Altitudes range from 0 to 800 m. Soils are generally poor, with clay and limestone as main ingredients. Montserrat shelters the vineyards from cold North winds, and the Garbí wind blows from the see to cool the hot summer afternoons.

In many Catalan DOs there are wineries that produce still wines under their DO and also Cava as a side business. But in Penedès is where most of the Cava producers are found and many of them produce still wines as a side business. So most of the wineries in Penedès produce both still wines and Cava, in varying proportions.

Winemaking in Penedès can be dated back to 500 BC when the indigenous Iberians grew vines. From Roman times to the 18th century Penedès was a land of red wine mainly, until a trend started to grow white grapes in order to produce brandy. With these white grapes in 1870 the production of Cava started in the region, and Penedès most sought-after still wines were the whites till around 1970.

At that point in time, after the work of pioneers like Miguel Torres and Jean Leon (fascinating person; an entry about his life and winery to follow soon) foreign varietals (Merlot, Cabernets, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc...) were introduced, modern equipment and techniques became widespread and the quality of the red wines leapt forward. Quantity as well: Penedès is the DO with highest production.

As a result of the vast range of climatic conditions explained above, the high technological level, and an unusual willingness of the DO Council to admit foreign varietals (while in other DOs only 10 to 20 varietals are allowed, in Penedès the count soars to 121), Penedès wines are extraordinarily diverse. In the same winery you can taste white, rosé, red, sweet, and sparkling, with several variants of each type. On one hand, that is good as it increases the offerings to customers, but on the other hand Penedès wines do not have a defined personality. Some efforts are being done, for instance, to promote Xarel.lo as the “traditional” Penedès white grape, and also in research to save and clone the last remnants of varieties long forgotten, with Sumoll as a rising star among the reds. However, there is still a long way to go.

The dominant force in Penedès, and indeed in Catalan still wines, is Torres. They have a massive production, but their quality is adequate at least, and very high in some special wines. More on Torres in the future.

The other big company is Jaume Serra, part of a large Spanish group, competing only on price with a low quality range.

My personal choice of Penedès wineries:

• Albet i Noya
• Alemany i Corrio
• Can Ráfols del Caus
• Gramona
• Huguet – Can Feixes
• Jané Ventura
• Jean Leon
• Juvé i Camps
• Mas Comtal
• Torres

So close to Barcelona, Penedès is a constant temptation for the wine lover to go and discover some new, surprising wine.

http://www.dopenedes.es/index.php?lang=en

http://www.crcava.es/catala/flash.html

http://www.albetinoya.com/eng/index.html

http://www.canfeixes.com/

http://www.canrafolsdelscaus.com/en/

http://www.gramona.com/web/en/home.html

http://www.janeventura.com/angles/principal.htm

http://www.jeanleon.com/eng/index-eng.html

http://www.juveycamps.com/ingles/index.htm

http://www.mascomtal.com/eng/index.php

http://www.torres.es/

Is Cava a Catalan wine?

This question, coming from a Swiss friend of mine some years ago, is entirely appropriate. The official answer is “not always”. The Cava DO growing area is scattered all over Spain as well as in Catalonia, usually overlapping other DOs.

However, over 95 % of Cava is produced in Catalonia, and most prestigious brands are Catalan. And a last detail: only in Catalonia it is widely regarded as a wine fit not only for celebrations but also for drinking with a full meal or standalone.

Cava is a sparkling wine made with the traditional method (aka Champenoise) of double fermentation, the second one in the final bottle, using approved grape varieties grown in the Cava DO land. When the DO Cava was created, the de facto situation was officially recognized, granting Cava status to most quality sparkling wine produced in Spain at that moment, taking as the defining factor the use of traditional method.

How is Cava elaborated?

The traditional method starts with a dry base wine produced from approved grapes in a normal way, this being the first fermentation. This wine is filled into the Cava bottles (tiratge), together with a portion of tiratge liquor, containing must or sugar and yeast. The bottle is then closed with a crown cap or, in the more traditional houses, a Cava cork.

The yeast eats up the sugar in the second fermentation, generating the carbon dioxide that remains in the bottle. After second fermentation, bottles are left to age at least 9 months, with their necks down. They are then gradually moved (riddling) into an almost vertical position so as to deposit the lees in the neck next to the cap.

The last phase (degorjat) is freezing the neck and opening the bottle. The pressure of the carbonic (usually 6 bar) expels the frozen lees and the bottle is refilled with the expedition liquor, one of the best kept secrets of any Cava producer. It can contain sugar and other ingredients mixed with the wine itself. The final cork is then inserted and secured with a capsule and a wire cage.

Some selected wineries execute manually the degorjat, without freezing and with the aid of highly skilled personnel.

Lesser, easier methods used for the production of sparkling wine elsewhere include second fermentation in large tanks or simple carbonic injection into the still wine, the same process used for soft drinks.

  

What kinds of Cava can we find?

First of all, colour. Most Cava is white, but rosé is becoming increasingly fashionable, with some remarkable wines.

The amount of sugar present in the final wine is used to categorize Cava as Brut Nature, Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Sec, Sec, Semi-Sec and Dolç. Most prestige Cavas are Brut Nature or Extra Brut, and there are cheap sweeter Cavas of disappointing quality, but in principle sugar content is not a direct factor in Cava quality.

Another classification is according to aging, calculated as time between tiratge and degorjat. Standard Cava needs a minimum of 9 months; Reserva implies 15 months, and Gran Reserva 30 months. Gran Reserva Cava must come from a single vintage; standard and Reserva can be produced from wines of different vintages.

With such a geographical definition it is easy to understand that Cava is anything but uniform. The method may be the same, the grape varieties, to a certain extent, are also common, but the diversity of climates and soils is considerable.

On top of that, there are other variables, not mutually exclusive, that come into play to differentiate Cava producers. Let us examine the two main ones: 

• Big vs. small: in the Cava world there are two giants, Codorniu and Freixenet, which dominate the market in terms of quantity. A handful of other companies aim to join them at the top, but usually through mass production of lower quality Cava. On the other hand, most high quality Cava comes from the smaller wineries.  
• Innovative vs. traditional grape varieties: some producers use Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, while others stick staunchly to Parellada, Xarel•lo and Macabeu, the trinity of Cava varieties, on the grounds that the use of the Champagne varieties detract from Cava personality. Some other local varieties, like Trepat, are now finding their way to Cava bottles.

Which are the best producers?

Codorniu and Freixenet, the two giants, have interesting wines hidden among their vast medium quality range. However, best quality can be found in smaller wineries. This would be my personal selection of Catalan Cava producers:

• Agustí Torelló 
• Albet i Noya 
• Alta Alella 
• Can Ráfols dels Caus
• Gramona
• Huguet Can Feixes
• Juvé y Camps 
• Llopart 
• Mestres
• Recaredo

When to drink Cava?

The first idea that comes to mind is a celebration with Cava. However, Cava is much more versatile than that. Not only can we drink Cava (perhaps a Brut or Extra Brut Reserva) with many fish-based foods; a Brut Nature or Extra Brut Gran Reserva will be excellent with red meat and fowls, respectively, and a quality sweet Cava is perfect for dessert as well. And in a hot summer day, a light, fruity, crisp Brut can be delicious and refreshing.

Tips 

• Drink Cava within the first year after degorjat. Some quality Cavas will show the date in the label
• Check the cork. It should lose its mushroom appearance and revert to its original cylindrical shape minutes after opening (otherwise degorjat was too long ago, see picture below), and show a four pointed star in the face in contact with the wine
• Use long, thin glasses, not short, wide ones
• Experiment with different foods and Cava types

http://www.crcava.es/catala/flash.html

http://www.codorniu.com/home.html?wlang=en

http://www.freixenet.es/default.asp?lang=3

http://www.agustitorellomata.com/torello3.html

http://www.albetinoya.com/eng/index.html

http://www.altaalella.com/eng/index.html

http://www.canrafolsdelscaus.com/intro.html

http://www.gramona.com/web/english/home.php

http://www.canfeixes.com/

http://www.juveycamps.com/ingles/index.htm

http://www.llopart.es/index_eng.html

http://www.mestres.es/mestres.php

http://www.recaredo.es/#en/welcome