SPANISH WINES

This article first appeared in my wine column in
Specialty Food Magazine.

Get out the castanets, put on the flamenco music, and start savoring the many new exciting Spanish wines that have burst onto the scene in recent years. It's about time.

Though he died a quarter century ago, the effects of Francisco Franco's dictatorship on Spain's wine industry continued long after his passing. "Spain was a closed society. But in the last five years or so we've seen the flowering of the fall of the Franco regime. Now Spain is finally becoming a big player in the international marketplace," said Julio Baguer, former director of Wines from Spain, a government agency that promotes Spanish wines.

Despite the fact that Spain has more acres of vines than any other country (and is third in wine production after Italy and France), for many years our exposure to Spanish wines was confined to red wines from Rioja, cheap cava or sparkling wine from the Penedes, and Sherry.

"Value," as in "fine-for the money," was always a word attached to Spanish wines. "But," says Jorge Ordonez, owner of Fine Estates from Spain, a wine importer in Dedham, Mass. "if you sell cheap, someone is always going to sell more cheaply." (Can you say Chile?) So quality became part of the equation and about six years ago, higher quality Spanish wines erupted like a volcano. According to Impact Databank, sales of table wine to the United States went from 558 thousand cases in 1993 to 1.1 million in 1998. Another example of the quality wine explosion is the doubling of the number of regions achieving the status of Denominación de Origen (DO)-the wine classification system patterned after the French Appellation d'Origine Controleé.

A major force behind the revolution in Spanish wine was a new generation of Spanish winemakers educated not only in Spain but also in places like Bordeaux and the University of California at Davis. The result was a willingness to try new styles of wine and not to be constrained to make "your father's Rioja," Ordonez says.

This did not mean indiscriminate use of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, though both are used in blends. Rather, Spanish winemakers have often transformed native varieties, like the workhorse red grape Tempranillo, into more international styles with exuberant fruit, deeper colors, and greater use of new oak.

The region that best exemplifies this is Ribera del Duero, which sits on a high plain in north central Spain with the Duero River running through it. Ribera del Duero is not new to great wine. Vega Sicilia, the Tempranillo-based wine (called Tinto del Pais or Tinto Fino here), has long competed in quality and price with the great wines of the world.

But it wasn't until Alejandro Fernandez received rave reviews for his rich and powerful Pesquera wine in the early 1980s that wine writers started noticing Ribera del Duero as a region. Since then the wine scene has changed dramatically from one dominated by local cooperatives to a haven for independent producers. Because the region is relatively small, demand far exceeds supply and prices have skyrocketed. For example, the 1996 Domingo de Pingus, which received a 95 rating in Wine Spectator magazine, goes for $220. Fernandez's 1996 Condado de Haza sells for $100. More reasonable options include the Bodegas Y Vinedos Alion from Vega Sicilia, and crianzas from Valduero, Boada, Cillar de Silos, Ibernoble, Rodero, and Pesquera.

Crianza wines are often cheaper because they are the youngest of three categories of red wines, the others being Reserva and Gran Reserva. Crianzas are generally aged at least one year in wood barrels and one more in the bottle. Reserva wines must be aged in wood at least one year and two years in the bottle. Gran Reservas have to be aged at least five years with at least two of them in wood.

The aging system was patterned after one created in Rioja, which, despite the hype given to other regions, remains the preeminent red wine region of Spain. But the red wines of Rioja, along the Ebro River, not far from France, while often graceful and stylish from aging, just as often suffered from too much time in wood. Such wines were paler in color with muted fruit and an old wood (sometimes moldy wood) or leathery quality that appealed to Spanish but not American tastes.

So producers began focusing on minimum aging in wood to retain fruit character. Increasingly the wood was new small French oak barrels versus the more traditional American oak. Steve Metzler of Classical Wines, a wine importer in Seattle doesn't think it's always for the better. "It's a fashion statement," he says. "The sweetness of French oak dominates Tempranillo, which has its own sweetness. Tempranillo needs more astringent character of American oak."

The use of new oak combined with more grape ripeness and more color extraction from extended skin contact during fermentation can get out of hand, creating "screaming type of wines" says Vincent Friend of CIV USA, a Sacramento, CA importer. "They get a 96 score but they're so big they hurt your teeth."

Friend imports the wines of Martinez Bujanda, which are good examples of the fresh and fruity approach taken by some Rioja winemakers. Bujanda also makes a single vineyard wine (another developing trend in Rioja) called Finca Valpiedra. Other Rioja producers to look for are La Rioja Alta, Montecillo (which makes a dandy crianza called Vina Cumbrero that's routinely one of the best buys among Spanish wines), Marqués de Cáceres, Marqués de Murrieta, Muga, Remelluri, Cune, and San Vincente (another single vineyard wine). Also look for wines from Tempranillo, Inc., a Mamaroneck, NY importer.

As for other emerging wine regions in Spain, Priorato is a miniature version of Ribera del Duero-very small production of very intense and fruity wines. Garnacha (Grenache) is the principle grape used followed by Carinena (Carignan). Alvaro Palacios is the name to look for along with Costers del Siurana, Mas Martinet, and René Barbier. Less pricey are the wines of Jumilla on Spain's southeastern coast, where Monastrell (Mourvedre) is prolific but Syrah may be the grape to watch, particularly from Agapito Rico. Bodegas 1890 Jumilla Mayoral is also a best buy. Rueda, just southwest of Ribera del Duero, is another popularly priced region.

Because of its proximity to Ribera del Duero further east on the Duero River, the region of Toro is attracting a lot of attention from such luminaries as Vega Sicilia and Alejandro Fernandez. Wines based on the Tempranillo grape, called Tinta de Toro here, can reach high levels of richness and alcohol.

Navarra, next to Rioja, is hardly a new. It was a favorite of Ernest Hemingway who loved its Garnacha rosados or rosé wines. But as Spanish wine authority Gerry Dawes notes, Navarra is the wine region to watch because of the recent modernization of its wine industry coupled with an incredibly diverse geography and climate and the authority (from Navarra's DO) to produce wines from a variety of grapes, from Chardonnay to Tempranillo. Names to look for are Julian Chivite, Compania de Vino de la Granja, and Magana.

Even though it is known mostly for its cava, Penedés, along the northeast coast, produces a fair amount of still wine. Much of it comes from juggernaut Torres whose wines rarely disappoint.

The recent success of Spanish wines has primarily been focused on reds. But some white wines have made significant progress too. "Six years ago you couldn't get arrested with a Spanish white wine. Today we sell more Albarinos to the United States than any place in the world," Baguer says. (The United States is the fifth largest importer of Spanish wines.)

Albarino hails from cool, damp Galicia on the Atlantic in northwest Spain. So it's not surprising Albarino goes superbly with shellfish. Known as Alvarinho in nearby Portugal, Albarino reaches its apex in the Rias Baixas region of Galicia. Slightly spritzy with peachy aromas, it has been likened to Viognier, the white wine of the northern Rhone. Since Albarino loses much of its bright acidity when it ages, it should be consumed within two years of the vintage. Producers to look for are Burgans, Martin Codax, Fillaboa, Lusco, Morgadio, and Organistrum.

The 1994 and 1995 vintages were both excellent throughout Spain, while 1996 was variable, though particularly good in Navarra and Rioja. The 1997 vintage was iffy but 1998 rebounded nicely.

Spanish Wine Update

What company produces the most sparkling wine in the world? If you guessed a French or American company, you'd be wrong. Freixenet, the Spanish producer of cava (which is what the Spanish call sparkling wine) is the winner. Now Freixenet has taken some of those sparkling wine profits and plowed them into The Heredad Collection of still (table) wines.

In May 2001, I and several other wine writers traveled to four wine regions in Spain as guests of Freixenet. The first stop was Ribera del Duero in the heart of Old Castile, about 120 miles north of Madrid. This region has become enormously popular in recent years as a producer of world-class wines-the number of wineries has increased from 100 to 150 in the past two years. As we got further and further from Madrid, the landscape became rockier, more parched, and more elevated. Altitude is important because it allows the vines to cool dramatically at night following hot days. This gives the wine aroma, concentration and high levels of acidity.

Production in Ribera del Duero is almost exclusively red wine, primarily using the Tempranillo grape, which produces deeper color and more concentration than it does in other areas such as Rioja. Bodegas Valdubon is the name of Freixenet's winery. The Valdubon 1999 Roble, aged 3 to 5 months in oak, shows an earthy quality with decent firmness and good fruit. The 1998 Crianza spends a year in oak and a year in bottle before release. (Because Spanish wine rules require a certain amount of bottle aging, which you don't see in most other countries, wines are ready, or closer to being ready, when released.) The Crianza has a deep color and a cherry-vanilla nose with rich, mouthfilling black cherry and black raspberry fruit, and good structure. The 1999 Crianza is not as impressive. The 1998 Riserva is a bigger, more brooding wine with chocolate and black cherry notes. It has good structure but lacks depth.

Though some liken it to Viognier, I've often thought that Albarino was more like Riesling. Both are vastly underappreciated. (Some theorize that Albarino has Riesling ancestry.) If anything, my regard for Albarino increased on this trip. That's because Freixenet's crisp, fruity and spritzy Vionta Albarino seemed perfect with every kind of seafood we had here, and we had a lot: camaróns, cold baby shrimp in their shells, succulent Dublin Bay prawns, giant spicy crabs, seafood empanadas, local scallops stewed in olive oil, crab croquettes, and anchovy empanadas. After lunch one day, we took a boat ride to mussel, scallop, and oyster beds in one of the many fiords that line the coast. For my money Albarino beat the pants off Champagne, Chablis or Sancerre as the ideal beverage with oysters on the half shell. In fact, you don't need any lemon because the wine has all the acidity you need.

In addition to its superb affinity for seafood, Albarino's lower alcohol content (the Vionta has 11.5 percent alcohol Vs 13.5 or so for many California Chardonnays) keeps you from being overwhelmed. While the Vionta is fermented in stainless steel, some Albarinos are fermented in oak, which gives the wine a creaminess but reduces its vibrancy. I hope this trend doesn't become too widespread because I believe Albarino should be clean and fresh tasting. Drink it within the year of its release, ideally six to 12 months after bottling. The 2000 vintage of Vionta is more aromatic than the 1999, which had a nutty aroma and a taste of wet stones. (That's not negative in my book.)

Priorat, about 100 miles from Barcelona in northeast Spain, is figuratively and literally Spain's hot wine growing area of the moment. It is not uncommon to see temperatures soar to 110 degrees and wines selling for $60 to $70 a bottle or more. Wine isn't new to this area, however. Vines were first planted in the 12th century. But until recently, this small region (only some 2000 acres are under vines now, after a decade of active replanting) produced undistinguished wine used primarily for blending. Now Spain and the rest of the world have discovered that rich, concentrated red wines can be made here from Garnacha (grenache), Carinena (Carignan), and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Priorat is a rustic, unspoiled region. After leaving the highway, we took a series of the winding, mountainous roads to get to the Morlanda winery. Along the way hillsides dotted with olive and hazelnut trees reminded me of Italy and southern France. (This region also produces L'Estornell, one of my favorite Spanish olive oils.) Modern windmills (not the Don Quixote kind) on hilltops produce electrical power.

Garnacha and Carinena vines, some of which are 80 years old, are low to the ground and must be hand picked. Newer Cabernet Sauvignon vines are trellised. The heat produces extremely ripe, dense wines with high alcohol. Some wines can go as high as 17 percent alcohol. The 1998 Morlanda Crianca (the Catalonia way of spelling Crianza) is 14 percent alcohol. This big, brooding wine has earthy tones, cherry fruit and chocolate notes and sells for $46. The spicy 1999 Crianza, which has beautiful color and more exuberant fruit than the 1998, has not yet been released. The 1998 Riserva, which was bottled in January (and won't be released until next year, probably at around $75) is an absolutely delicious wine, big and earthy but still approachable. The tannins are firm but flexible and the balance is excellent.

Freixenet is also producing still wines under two more recognizable labels. René Barbier Selection Cabernet Sauvignon is a firm, nicely balanced wine with good fruit. It sells for $14 as does the René Barbier Selection Chardonnay, with which I was less impressed.

Finally, I'd like to give Spain itself a plug. It's still a great place to visit with great food, wine, history and natural beauty. Prices continue to be remarkably low. Even at tony restaurants in Barcelona-which is right up there with Paris, London and Rome as far as I am concerned-entrees were almost always under $20. Even if don't make it to Spain, be on the lookout for an increasing influx of excellent Spanish products from cheeses to anchovies to the best hams in the world. And plenty of good wines.