Falset Wine Fair

Falset, Priorat's capital, with some 2'800 people, is not exactly a large metropolis, but has a charming old quarter and is, above all, the hub of a fascinating wine zone. Well, two.

Falset is the political capital of the Priorat comarca, a unit similar to a county or canton. Within the Priorat comarca we can find the DO Montsant and the DOQ (Denominaciò d'Origen Qualificada) Priorat. Most of Falset ground is in Montsant DO.

In the first weekend in May, Falset hosts the Fira del Vi on Saturday and Sunday, a public tasting where many wineries of both zones pour their wines, along with many activities for the whole family.

Interesting as this is, allowing to sample many wines, a number of parallel, more focused events in Falset or the surrounding villages easily steal the show. I have already mentioned some of them in previous posts, but I think that a general overview is needed.

Friday evening is the starting point.

At Capçanes the cooperative organizes the Garnatxa Night, with their own Garnatxa wines and others from guest wineries (DO Terra Alta this year), together with live music and tapes from nearby Michelin-starred restaurants.

At Falset takes place the only white wine event. After all, most of the Priorat & Montsant wine is red. But still two prestigious wine shops in Falset, Aguilo Vinateria and Vins i Olis del Priorat, convene most of the whites from the comarca and a handful of guests from other places. Oysters and artisan cheeses are offered along with the wines.

Still on Friday evening, at Porrera Carinyena wines are the star. This village has excellent old-vine Carinyena plots, but most of the wine coming from them reaches the market as blends with Garnatxa or other grapes. In the Tast de Carinyenes tasting, wineries pour the unblended Carinyena wines, usually from unlabeled bottles just filled from the barrels. All this in the town square, with a cold buffet available. This is really my favorite tasting of the weekend, as it offers wines that can not be found elsewhere, and the quality and variety (for such a small village) are stunning.

On Saturday morning, the Gratallops restaurant Les Figueres hosts the Tast amb Dones, or Tasting with Women, which is in fact a tasting of wines made by women oenologists (do not get the wrong ideas). A number of interesting wineries are represented.

Also on Saturday morning, and this year for the first time, Poboleda wines are on show in the premises of the Perinet winery.

On Saturday late afternoon, another of the classic tastings: Tast amb Llops, featuring the wines from some of the top wineries in Gratallops and organized by the Cal Llop (house of the Wolf) hotel. This is the event to taste wines from the Priorat pioneers: Perez, Barbier, Palacios, Glorian.

And on Saturday night, the Hotel Mas Figueres at Marçà puts together Vi de Nit, a dinner-cum-tasting usually featuring an impressive roll-call of Priorat and Montsant wineries, giving the best overview of the comarca output. If I had to take somebody to an introductory tasting of these two zones' top wines, this would be it.

A simpler, more relaxed alternative is to be found in Vi-Night at Les Figueres in Gratallops: tapes, wines and music.

On Sunday morning, and in the beautiful halls and terraces of the Cal Compte Hotel in Torroja, there is an event where the main features are the wines from the village. But also the two other archetypal Mediterranean crops are tasted in parallel: hand-made breads and Extra Virgin olive oils from the zone, often produced in small quantities by the wineries themselves.

The other event on Sunday morning is the Tast de les Mines (Tasting of the Mines), which ows its name to the mines that used to be worked in Bellmunt del Priorat. That is a vertical tasting of three vintages of the main wines from Bellmunt, El Molar and El Lloar.

On Sunday afternoon there are no significant events.

Not all wineries are present in the events. We must remember that in many cases they are family run, and they are spread thin in this weekend.

In most of the tastings live music is played and selected food is offered, apart from those that include dinner outright. It is also common that a few wineries from other zones are invited.

Which are my favorites? My schedule in the last editions has been Tast de Carinyenes, Tast amb Dones, Tast amb Llops, Vi de Nit, and Cal Compte, although I always have doubts about missing other events.

This is really a hectic weekend, tasting some 100 - 150 wines, but the opportunity is too difficult to resist, and I can only recommend it warmly to anybody with the desire to delve into Priorat and Montsant.





Wine in restaurants 1.4: wines in Mas Mariassa

This year’s holidays we did not fly abroad, but rather spent ten days in a small hotel (seven rooms) in the Catalan countryside. Mas Mariassa, a former farmhouse perched in the Serra de Llaberia hills that separate Priorat from the Mediterranean, is a haven of peace and silence. The nearest village, Pratdip, with picturesque remains of walls and castle, was haunted by vampire dogs (the dips) in the Middle Ages, until heavenly intervention rid the village of the scourge-or so say the legends. Anyway, the dogs in Mas Mariassa showed no vampirical inclinations, but were extremely friendly.

Not a vampire!

I can recommend Mas Mariassa for the place, the nice premises, the excellent cooking, and the personalized, professional service, but this blog’s focus is on wine. The wine list is a very good introduction to the wine zones around the hotel (DOQ Priorat and DOs Tarragona, Montsant, and Terra Alta), featuring a nice blend of well known warhorses and more independent, out of the way wines. In addition, a sprinkling of interesting wines from other zones.

Francesc, the owner and chef, is very knowledgeable and gives sound advice. Good glasses and prompt decanting in many cases. Temperature perhaps a little on the warm side.

We enjoyed several remarkable bottles, including a Cava one while in the candle-lit outdoors Jacuzzi, late after dinner under the stars and with strawberries. Here some details about them.

L’Heravi criança from the Vinyes d’en Gabriel winery in DO Montsant is a blend 50/50 of old vine Garnatxa and Carinyena, organically farmed. After one year in oak, l’Heravi is deep cherry red, with red fruit still dominant over cedar and spicy notes. Fruity and well balanced in the mouth.

From the relatively undistinguished DO Tarragona, Serra de Llaberia is a winery not far from the hotel. A family project. Their Elisabeth 2003 red has mainly Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with a little Garnatxa and Syrah. Twelve months in French oak. Deep red, shows little evolution in the rim. Ripe red fruit in the nose, cocoa and balsamic herbs. Big in the mouth, with well-rounded tannins and long. A Pleasant surprise.

Clos Nelin is one of the greatest whites of Priorat. Crafted by the master hand of René Barbier of Clos Mogador, he mixes, on a base of Garnatxa blanca, small parts of Viognier, Macabeu, Pinot Noir, Marsanne, Escanyavelles, Roussanne and Pedro Ximénez. The varietals are processed separately and in different types of container (stainless steel, concrete, oak) and aged for nine months. Pale yellow, with noticeable legs, shows a very full palette in the nose: white flowers and fruits, the mineral touch of Priorat, citrics, butter, hazelnuts. All these come again in the mouth, with a velvety yet crisp sensation.

Another interesting Montsant was Terròs, from La Cova dels Vins of winemaker Sisco Perelló. Garnatxa, Carinyena and Syrah aged for fourteen months in French oak, giving a deep cherry red wine, with lots of red fruit, minerality and tobacco and leather notes. Wide and long in the mouth.

The Cava in the Jacuzzi was Agustí Torelló Mata Gran Reserva. The testing conditions were not what could be termed scientific, but this is a great wine from one of the best Cava producers. A Brut Nature with no less than 36 months of ageing, and from a blend of the three classic Cava grapes: Macabeu, Xarel•lo and Parellada. Comparatively light and flowery (for a Gran Reserva), perfect for the moment.

A perfect place to make trips to the wine zones around and then relax and, with a good dinner, enjoy a nice bottle.

http://www.masmariassa.com/index.php?lang=eng
http://www.domontsant.com/

http://www.doterraalta.com/#/home
http://www.doqpriorat.org/eng/index.php
http://www.crcava.es/catala/flash.html
http://www.serradellaberia.com/?page=portada&idioma=en
http://www.agustitorellomata.com/en/
http://www.vinyesdengabriel.com/



Down from great-grandmother Bàrbara Forés.

Sometime in 2001, my friends from Vins Noè, knowing my partiality to good reds, told me to taste a new wine. It came from Terra Alta, a comparatively obscure DO better known until then for strong, partially oxidized whites.



House entrance



The wine, Coma d’en Pou, was outstanding, and the first of a series of bottles from this and other wines made by the Bàrbara Forés winery that I have enjoyed in this last decade.

The winery is in Gandesa, relatively far (two hours drive) from Barcelona. This may explain the fact of having waited for ten years, until spending holidays in the Tarragona parts, to visit them.

My wife and I approached the unprepossessing house in the centre of Gandesa, only the placard on the wall announced we were on the right track. However, after entering, the interior was beautiful and airy, and hid some surprises. Underground, the glazed tiled underground tanks once used for wine production now harbour oak barrels.



Barrels underground



But first to the vineyards. Carme Ferrer, great-granddaughter of Bàrbara Forés (born in 1828), explained en route that Bàrbara’s pharmacist son, Rafael Ferrer, inherited her mother’s love for winemaking. He built the house and winery, and wine production continued with ups and downs until in 1994 Carme and her husband Manuel Sanmartin upgraded the winery installing state-of-the-art technology.

In the meantime we arrived to La Cometa plot, where we could see the Garnatxa blanca vines that were planted there 60 years ago, grown as bushes in the calcareous, sandy soil.

We then moved closer to the Pàndols hills, where the Garnatxa negra and Morenillo vineyards grow in a soil with higher clay content, fenced to avoid attacks of wild goat.

Close to Pàndols hills

And we finished the tour at the magnificent Coma d’en Pou vineyard, in the lower lands at the feet of the Cavalls hills near Corbera d’Ebre (a coma is a shallow depression). Here grow the red varieties mainly (Garnatxa Negra, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot) along with some Garnatxa blanca in a calcareous soil.

Grapes are harvested by hand and placed in small boxes after a first selection. The winery has a number of smallish tanks that enable separate processing for different grape / plot combinations.

The wines are as follows.

Bàrbara Forés blanc is the young white, Garnatxa blanca with 5% Viognier. Shows the typical citric aromas, very fresh.

Garnatxa blanca

El Quintà, a 100% Garnatxa blanca white from old vines, is fermented and kept for six months in French oak. Pale yellow with white fruit aromas, along with vanilla and toast notes. Unctuous and long. One of my favourite oak fermented whites.



El Quintà's Garnatxa blanca vines



Bàrbara Forés rosat, a rosé with body, from Garnatxa negra, Syrah and Carinyena. Raspberry red, with red fruit aromas, and a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Bàrbara Forés negre, the basic red out of Syrah, Garnatxa negra and Carinyena and with fourteen months of Allier oak. Deep cherry red; nose rich with red and black fruit, well structured and long in the mouth.



Tasting room



Coma d’en Pou is the red mentioned at the beginning. Garnatxa negra, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot aged for sixteen months in Allier oak. Cherry red, with lots of red fruit and balsamic reminiscences of the flora around the vineyard. Wood and tobacco as well. Wide and full in the mouth, but still elegant and long.



Coma d'en Pou



El Templari is a red wine that, contrary to normal Catalan practice, it is actually termed as red (vi vermell) and not black (vi negre). Half of it is Garnatxa negra, but the other half is Morenillo, a variety close to extinction. The vines are quite big in all their parts, including the grapes, and perhaps due to that the colour of the wine is a bright cherry red. Cherries also predominate in the nose, along with other red fruits, and the mouth is acid, light and elegant, rounded by sixteen months in oak. The name (The Templar) is a homage to the warrior monks that protected the zone after it was fought back from the Muslims in the Middle Ages.

Morenillo

Bàrbara Forés Dolç Natural is a natural sweet white from overripe Garnatxa blanca. Deep gold, not very sweet and well balanced with acidity, and white fruit aromas. Production limited to ca. 500 half-litre bottles.



Garnataxa blanca for sweet wine at Coma d'en Pou



All together, Carme and Manuel produce some 50’000 bottles each year. Look for them; they are good, personal, with excellent QPR and a great introduction to Terra Alta, a DO that is finding its place in the sun.

http://www.cellerbarbarafores.com/fores-en.html

http://www.doterraalta.com/#/home
http://www.vinsnoe.com/

Lo Jaume's wines at Topik

Ten days later, in the Topik restaurant in Barcelona, I had another pairing led by Lo Jaume.

Topik is a restaurant with a blend of Catalan and Japanese cuisine. The owner, Adelf, having trained in Japan for some time, is able to dish out surprising combinations and a master rice cook.

The wine list shows a fair balance of Catalan and rest of the world wines, with many well chosen labels from small producers or less-than-glamorous zones. Prices are perhaps at a 50% premium over wine shops. Adequate service and glasses.

The white Vall Novenes blanc, from Algramar Celler in DO Terra Alta, was the first wine. A coupage of Garnatxa, Sauvignon blanc and Chenin, it was fruity and crisp.

The Parellada 100 % 2010 from Celler Carles Andreu, one of the leading wineries in DO Conca de Barberà, is rather unique. Parellada is often waved aside as the lesser part of the Cava trinity (Xarel.lo, Macabeu and Parellada). But properly grown, with lower yields, and using carbonic maceration and batonnage, this white shows a very fruity nose, acidity and creaminess in the mouth, and is a wine to have in mind.

From the same winery, Carles Andreu Rosat Brut, a rosé Cava with aging for fifteen months, made with Trepat, a red variety typical from Conca de Barberà that gives elegant, medium bodied, spice-scented wines. Perfect for the spicy dish it matched.

Later came Clònic 2008, a DO Montsant red from Celler Cedó Anguera. Carinyena, Cabernet and Syrah aged for eight months in new Allier oak. We tasted with the same dish Gènesi 2006, also from Montsant, the older brother to Petit Gènesi mentioned in the previous post. Old Garnatxa and Carinyena vines, aging for twelve months in French and Hungarian oak give a wine with more elegance but less structure than the Clònic.

The last course, rice with duck, also featured two reds. La Guinardera 2006 from Celler Balaguer Cabré is already described in my previous post. Celler Aixalà-Alcait from DOQ Priorat was represented by Destrankis 2009, Garnatxa and Carinyena with nine months in oak. Red fruit, chocolate, balance.

The sweet Algramar Dolç, again from Algramar Celler in Terra Alta, comes from overripe Syrah grapes, with a controlled fermentation and twelve months in oak. Not too sweet and with noticeable acidity.

An evening to remember; with a avocado-raw blue fin tuna-caramelized foie combination as culinary highlight and the balance of the wine choice.

http://www.domontsant.com/
http://bonviure.blogspot.com/
http://www.doterraalta.com/#/home
http://www.doqpriorat.org/eng/index.php
http://www.crcava.es/catala/flash.html
http://www.algramar.com/english/index.html
http://cellerbalaguercabre.blogspot.com/
http://www.cavandreu.com/en/index_en.html
http://www.vermunver-genesi.cat/en/qui_som
http://www.cedoanguera.com/english/history.html
http://pardelasses.blogspot.com/
http://www.topikrestaurant.es/index.php
http://elsvinsdeltopik.blogspot.com/

Public wine tastings

As in most winegrowing zones, in Catalonia amateur wine tasting is an activity not only to be done individually or around a dinner table. There are many options, from the private wine tasting group or visit to small cellar, to the public wine exhibition with thousands of wine lovers.

My general position in this case is, yes, I like to attend these exhibitions. It is a good opportunity to:  

• know interesting new wines
• taste different vintages of those I already know
• perhaps most important, chat with winegrowers.

The extent to which these three activities can be done depends on several variables: cost of the fee, popular appeal, and focus of the exhibition. In the very popular, unfocused events like the Mostra de Vins i Caves de Catalunya (Catalonia Wines Exhibition), held annually in Barcelona, the selection of wineries is not very rigorous, being official and, therefore, political. Also part of the large numbers of people who attend are not always interested in the quality of the offerings but rather in its alcoholic content. Catavins in Sabadell is less crowded and with a better selection.

However, often this bigger exhibitions include smaller events, often labelled as "for professionals", with greater interest (and price), such as a sideline of the Priorat and Montsant Fira del Vi (Wine Exhibition) in Falset: the Tast Presentació. In this case the top wines of ca. 60 wineries from Priorat and Montsant can be sampled just after leaving the barrels; in 2010 the wines from the 2008 vintage. All wineries complain that thewir wines should not be tasted yet, but all share the same problem and that evens things out.

The Fira del Vi in Falset is similar to other DO events, held in the DO capital, like ViJazz in Vilafranca del Penedès, Mostra del Vi  de l'Empordà de Figueres , or Festa del Vi Gandesa (DO Terra Alta). They are often paired with other food exhibitions, like olive oil or cheese. Local restaurants are also on display.

Other opportunities arise in the local festivities. I have already written about the event in my own town, Sant Cugat de Vallès (Wine in the cloister) and in many winegrowing villages a wine tasting is one of the highlights. I was recently in Porrera (DO Priorat) for the TastaPorrera (TastePorrera) where over thirty wines of sixteen local producers could be tasted.

There are also specific wine festivities, especially around grape harvest. One of the nicest is Poboleda’s Festa de la Verema a l’antiga (Old Way Harvest). Apart from actually harvesting and treading grapes (a method no longer favoured by Poboleda’s wineries), more than 25 Priorat wineries offer their wines from the large halls of the beautiful houses that line the Carrer Major (High Street).

And then there are focused events, like the Fira dels Vins de Torrelles de Llobregat, with many small, organic producers.

Needless to say, these are not opportunities for what I may call scientific wine tasting, but wine must be seen as a source of happiness and merriment, and it is good to let go of the tasting notebook and just enjoy the infinite variety of the fermented grape juice and the sound, enthusiastic people that perform the miracle.

I would like to close this post with a wish of happiness and luck (and nice wines!) in 2011 for all of you that have taken the time to go through my clumsy prose and travel with me in this exciting adventure in the net. Thanks for your support and till next post.

http://www.festadelvi.cat/ca/index.htm
http://www.figueres.cat/eng/index.html
http://www.firadelvi.org/
http://mostradevinsicaves.cat/
http://www.vijazzpenedes.com/defaultvijazz.asp?idi=en
http://www.adictosalalujuria.com/2010/10/fira-de-vins-de-torrellas-conclusiones.html
http://catavinssabadell.com/

What can we find in Catalonia?

Catalonia comprises a wealth of different landscapes and climates, from the Mediterranean coastal hills to the Pyrenees, including the inland plains. Soils are similarly varied. This means that very diverse conditions for vine growing are available. Paired with the many different grape types used we find as a result a huge assortment of wines: white, rosé, red, sparkling, sweet, fortified.

Regarding grapes, local, indigenous varieties are on the rise after many years of neglect when it was fashionable to plant the ubiquitous Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or Syrah. Now there is a quest for local character, and many wineries are looking back to traditional grapes like Garnatxa (Grenache) in its many forms, Carinyena (Carignan), Monastrell/Mataró, Ull de Llebre (Tempranillo) for reds, and Xarel·lo, Macabeu, Parellada, Garnatxa Blanca, Moscatell (Muscat) for whites. Fortunately, lots of old vines (over 50 years old) have survived to yield excellent, if scarce, grapes used to generate many of the best and more personal wines.

Wine regions are organized as DOs (Denominació d’Origen, Appellation of Origin). There are 12 of them: 

• Alella
• Cava, for sparkling wine produced following the traditional method used for Champagne, with land scattered all over Catalonia and usually overlapping other DOs
• Catalunya, blanket DO covering the whole country except Priorat
• Conca de Barberà
• Costers del Segre
• Empordà
• Montsant
• Penedès
• Pla de Bages
• Priorat, a DOQ (Qualified DO), with more stringent quality rules
• Tarragona
• Terra Alta

Winemakers in Catalonia are in many cases heirs of a family tradition that may span centuries, although frequently winemaking has been revived recently in the wake of the increase of demand for quality wines. Also a number of celebrities have turned winemakers; some of them are really engaged and active, while others only show up in the more glamorous occasions. In most cases, if you visit a small producer you will find an energetic, enthusiastic small team that will proudly show you their vineyards and premises and make you taste their wines. An experience radically different to visiting one of the bigger companies displaying videotapes, hostesses and a shop at the end.

Catalan people personality is usually defined as a balance between seny (Catalan for common sense, reliability, dependability) and rauxa (craziness, originality, creativity), which can tilt either way (you may remember Antoni Gaudí or Salvador Dalí for instance; more solid, conventional Catalans are obviously less well-known). Catalan wines also show this duality: it is every wine lover’s choice to tend to favour one or the other, perhaps each at different moments.

http://www.doalella.org/index_eng.php

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

http://www.do-catalunya.com/
http://www.doconcadebarbera.com/
http://www.costersdelsegre.es/eng/index.php
http://www.doemporda.com/index.php?action=home
http://www.domontsant.com/
http://www.dopenedes.es/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
http://www.dopladebages.com/index
http://www.doqpriorat.org/eng/index.php
http://www.dotarragona.cat/
http://www.doterraalta.com/index.htm#