I arrived late Thursday evening at Milan (Bergamo) airport and was initially surprised by what seemed to be chaotic transfer arrangements; a bewildering array of buses all touting for business. Having printed out my Ryanair bus ticket (although I really don’t understand why, when buying a ticket on my mobile phone I still have to print it out) I was luckily sent to the head of a queue for a bus which left almost straight away. The journey time is around an hour into Milan, but the driver was obviously on some sort of mission and we arrived in about 45 minutes!
My mobile then took its time to get its bearings but I was soon able to walk along to AccademiaVino to meet up with Flavio Grassi, my friend and host for the weekend. As he was running a two hour tasting on different styles of Syrah, my first glass of wine was not Italian but Australian, a rather delicious Penfold’s Kalimna Bin 28 Shiraz 2016.
Our first visit was on Friday, heading out more or less east of Milan to the Franciacorta region and specifically to Ca’ del Bosco, well known and respected Traditional Method sparkling wine makers, as well as some still red and white wines. Their basic non-vintage, or multi-vintage blend as it is referred to, is one that I buy from time to time here in Madrid and I love it. It can be said that Franciacorta emulates Champagne in terms of grapes and methods.
The visit started with a good overview of the region and its history. Keen to compare to Champagne, it was explained that whereas the Champagne region is 33,500 hectares of solid vineyards producing 350 million bottles, Franciacorta consists of isolated villages, vineyards and wineries dotted over the region’s 2,800 hectares, where 19 villages produce 15 million bottles. The whole of Franciacorta produces less than Moet et Chandon!
The soils of Franciacorta are poor and are basically post-glacial moraine. It’s a relatively young winemaking region and up until the 1960s it was families who made wines here for domestic consumption. In the early 1960s the quality of the soils was recognised by the founder of Ca’ del Bosco as being perfect for the production of high quality sparkling wines, which today have DOCG status (granted in 1995).
In 1964 Ca’ del Bosco was established (the name means “The House of the Wood”) and it has grown to 245 hectares, of which half are owned and the other half being controlled by Ca’ for grape growing. In terms of varieties, Chardonnay forms the bulk at 70%, with Pinot Nero (Noir), Pinot Bianco (Blanc), and a small quantity of Erbamat, which is an indigenous variety with very high natural acidity, and has been allowed since 2017.
The still wines are classified either as DOC Curtefranca or as IGT depending on the varieties. Other varieties planted include Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Carmenère for the production of two Bordeaux style reds, plus a Pinot Nero (Noir). The 2019 harvest began in the second week of August and was still going on when we visited on 20th September.
Bemused to be rushed through to the grape reception area of the winery, I was absolutely astonished to see the last of a batch of grapes going through what turned out to be one of four washing facilities. In everything I have learned about winemaking, grape washing has always been commented as not only unnecessary, but unwanted, as it washes off any natural yeast which may be present on the skins as well as potentially diluting the must. All grapes at Ca’ del Bosco are washed! All! It was explained as because the region is close to Milan, there are high levels of pollution, so washing removes this and then selected yeasts are added for cleaner fermentations. The process takes only five minutes from start to finish, the grapes being washed first in water with bubbles (like a huge grape spa), secondly in water, citric acid and bubbles, and finally in water with bubbles. They are then vacuum air dried in cold air.
There are 11 Wilmes pneumatic presses which are rendered oxygen free by flushing with nitrogen to reduce the possibility of oxidation during pressing. Three fractions are separated; the first 20% goes into the best vintage wines, the next 50% to the cuvée prestige and the final 30% is sold off as must. Yields are 83t/ha compared to over 100t/ha in Franciacorta (five year average). In 2017, over 40% of the crop was lost to a late April frost, catching the vines after bud break. The grapes on the lower altitude vines were all lost but those at higher altitudes escaped the frost, but with a consequent overall reduction in yields.
Ca’ del Bosco make 1,600,000 bottles which is about 10% of the total Franciacorta production. There are three big producers who make more than 60% of the total and 114 wineries altogether. The other two biggies are Guido Berlucchi, who are the biggest overall with a third of the DOCG at five million of the 15 million bottles, followed by Bellavista at about one million bottles and Ca’ with another million bottles. The industry is very fragmented, with lots of tiny holdings, no co-ops, and a few large producers. Franciacorta came into being in the 1960s as a result of the financial boom which was happening; the nearby town of Breschia made steel and people became rich. Wineries were playthings, with the best winemakers and agronomists hired not to make a living, but for prestige. Dubois came from Champagne to work for Ca’; money was no object. It remains a small, wealthy appellation, perhaps better known than it might otherwise be.
Art features heavily around the winery, from the “Hymn to the Sun” gate at the entrance, to the blue wolves on the roof and the hanging hippo in the vat room, which was explained as “Il peso del tempo sospeso”, or the weight of suspended time. This loosely translates as “patience”, which is needed in winemaking in general, but especially in traditional method sparkling wine making.
Franciacorta regulations require 100% hand picking (as in many other ways, heavily modelled on Champagne production), and at Ca’ this is into 14kg plastic crates. Grapes are classified by vineyard and the age of the vines. Monica talked about organic farming, it being a huge investment and the fact that many treatments are washed off in the spring rains. I remained unclear as to the actual methods employed in the vineyards, but deduce low intervention, responsible, sustainable viticulture.
Between 2005 and 2007, the new, modern winery, including washing facility, was constructed to resemble a barrel, being built from wood and steel and going from 3 to 14 metres underground. It was needed for the production of the multi-vintage Cuvee Prestige Brut (one million bottles) and the Rosé, these being the most difficult to make since they must taste the same year on year. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel vats, whereas all other wines are fermented in French oak barrels. Selected yeasts are used and alcohol reaches 10.5% in the base wine. There is a huge stainless mother tank with a capacity for half a million bottles or 375,000 litres, used for homogenisation, and a wine elevator enables two tanks of wine to be lifted 16 metres to allow subsequent gravity filling and avoid the use of pumps, which can stress the wine. The wine is then bottled for the second fermentation; the liqueur de tirage has been grape sugar since 2016 when the style was changed to reduce sugar in all styles apart from the MV blend, the latter having 8g/l RS. There are 45 vats in differing sizes, a large barrel room and a comprehensive laboratory with three technicians. The lab analyses everything from grapes, wines to bottles and corks. Corks are all natural Amorim, tested on site, and Ca’ achieve a TCA contamination percentage of only 0.9% compared to 4% in Italy overall.
The barrel room is kept at 12-14ºC and 75%RH, all computer controlled. French oak (as wood, not barrels) is bought and seasoned for three years using two coopers. Standard Bordeaux 225l barrels are used for the Bordeaux style wines containing Merlot, Carmenère, Cab Sauv and Cab Franc and 228l Burgundian pièces for a Burgundiany style Chardonnay (including battonage) and Pinot Noir. Barrels are first used up to five times.
The MV blend spends 2 years on lees (vs min 18 months Franciacorta regulations) and the vintages 4 years (regulations minimum 36 months). Reservas are hand riddled over 5 weeks and disgorging is à la glace using liquid nitrogen. Nitrogen is injected into the space at the top of the bottles at filling, before corking to reduce the need for SO2, whose use is limited in all production during winemaking. The bottling line is a feat of engineering ingenuity. There is no dosage on vintages but liqueur de expedition is added to all MV blends. The brut vintage has 6g/l RS.
Stefano Capelli, the winemaker, completed his university oenology degree work experience at Ca’ and then returned to work there after graduating.
Tasting
Brut 2014; 55% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Nero, 20% Pinot Bianco, first fermentation takes place in barrels and where the wine remains for 7 months. Four years (48m) on lees, 3-5g/l RS (Brut rather than zero dosage), 54 mg/l SO2. Beautiful mid gold colour with delicate bubbles. The nose shows complex ripe fruit aromas, some citrus, peach, tropical and spice from oak. The palate is long, yeasty, patisserie, balanced and complex. Mango, peach, red berries and herbs. The mousse is rich, dense and creamy. It’s extremely pleasing! Approx 45€. Vine age 20-25 years.
Anamaria Clementi 2009 (all bottles are hand dressed and packed). Zero dosage since 2008. Disgorged 2018. 53mg/l SO2. Vines 28-35 years old, 55% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Bianco, 20% Pinot Nero, MLF completed. Anamaria Clemente spends 9 years on its lees! More gold in colour than the Brut 2014, much more complex nose, Danish pastries, icing sugar, ripe fruits, amazing baked apples and honey. The palate has it all, balance, length, intensity and complexity, ripe, dense creamy mousse. It’s absolutely delicious, 93€. Anamaria is the founder’s Mother’s name.
Maurizio Zanella 2015, named after the founder and current CEO. Bordeaux style red, IGT Sebino Rosso, 50% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Cabernet Franc, vines over 50 years old. Aged for 14-18 months including 8-9 in barrel, falls outside DOC rules. Very youthful ruby colour, pronounced, complex nose, dominated by the CS, green bell pepper, black pepper, blackcurrant, ripe black fruits. The palate is very pyraziney, lots of green pepper, complex mix of red and black fruits, spices, cedar, long and balanced with good acidity; beautiful. 55€
Pinot Noir 2013 (requested by me J) 100% PN, harvested end of August, aged in not new, pièces for 14-17 months, skin contact 48 hours. The nose shows raspberries and mushrooms, undergrowth and earthiness, the palate soft fine tannins, crisp fruit, really elegant, concentrated. Just lovely. 61€.
Ca’ del Bosco export 17% of production and the Franciacorta as a region exports 15% of its production. Huge thanks to Monica Faletti, Hospitality and PR, who is a sommelier amongst other skills, and a very adept and knowledgeable communicator!
……………………………………………
We then visited Bergamo and I had a fruit sorbet (great for the dairy intolerant!).
We made a special trip to Cantina Isole before dinner; a small and very popular wine bar where most of the action takes place outside on the pavement! Highly recommended!
………………………………………………….
On the Saturday we drove over to the Langhe, to see one producer in particular. This being my first visit to the region, I was pleased to see mist, which is what you read about in all wine books on the Langhe region, especially as the most famous grape, Nebbiolo, is named after the word for mist. The Langhe, as it was explained to me (although I have to confess that the region for me remains a confusing series of overlapping appellations which I have never got to grips with), can be divided into two areas separated by the River Tanaro; Roero on the left and the Langhe on the right.
The Brangero estate is in the village of Diano d’Alba, in the Alta Langa, and literally only a stone’s throw from the Barolo appellation. The winery stands at 550m, was built in 1836 and is a registered heritage property within Diano d’Alba. It was easy to be able to appreciate the landscape from this privileged hilltop winery, with nothing but hills all around offering a multitude of altitudes and aspects for the vineyards. Amongst the varieties planted on the estate are Nebbiolo, Dolcetto, Barbera, Chardonnay, Riesling and Arneis. The estate comprises 13 hectares of which eight are vines and five forest. The soil is marne, with lime and tufa, it has a high chalk content and is white/grey in colour (compared with Barbaresco where the marne is blue and Barolo where the marne is grey).
Marco Brangero is the fourth generation of family winemakers. His grandfather planted several plots 50 years ago, such as 2.8ha of Dolcetto, and some Barbera and Nebbiolo in 1992.
The Dolcetto harvest had started on the 20th September, the day before we arrived,
Vines are trained high, Nebbiolo at 2.4 metres with 2 metres for whites. Yields here are about 8t/ha, with Riesling at 9t/ha and Arneis at 10t/ha (1t/ha ≡ 7hl/ha [OCW], so 8=56hl/ha, 9=63hl/ha and 10=70hl/ha approx). The Chardonnay yields only 1kg per plant and spends 10 months in oak. Arneis is a floral variety and so spends no time in oak. Everything is hand harvested; the slopes here are nothing short of heroic in places and machines would be impossible.
We were then taken on a 4×4 trip down into the vineyards, where vertiginous drops at the side of tracks and which are not for the fainthearted, seem to be the norm! It was great fun but I can only imagine it being unnerving in the wet or snowy winter weather. We visited a couple of young plots, two year old Barbera and a 3000m2 Nebbiolo plot, this latter having been replanted five years ago following a landslide and 2019 will be its first harvest.
We tasted a lot of grapes, and it was plain to see, well, to feel really, the grip of Nebbiolo’s famously high tannins, despite its being a thin skinned variety. It also ripens very late; Marco’s would be harvested about three weeks after our visit, in mid to late October and his Barbera about ten days after our visit. He explained that Barbera has very high levels of anthocyanins in its skins hence producing deeply coloured wines. He explained the importance of orientation and aspect, with his vineyards facing south-east, south and south-west. And his main predators are birds, deer and boar! But he also explained how he manages other diseases over what is essentially one huge vineyard divided into different plots and varieties. Flavescence Dorée has no cure so its control is about managing insect pests which are vectors and worrying about neighbours who do not manage their vines effectively. Esca is a problem for Barbera and Cabernet Sauvignon and Marcos has devised an ingenious approach; he cuts off the top of the vine and wedges a stone into the cut and the sun dries out the sugar in the wound.
Back to the winery, white grapes are pressed, spend one night in stainless steel and are then transferred to barrels. For the Chardonnay, three new French oak barrels are bought every year and he uses 225L and 500L. His production is 55,000 bottles a year plus 5,000 from his winery in Barolo and 40,000 from the one in Liguria.
Three large 3500hl French oak vats (made in Italy) for Nebbiolo fermentation and the 2018 is still inside at the moment. His Nebbiolo has two months skin contact, which is quite long compared to a more usual 10-25 days by most producers. Nebbiolo stays its whole life in the oak vat, being pressed after fermentation and returned to the vat.
The 2017 Nebbiolo had been bottled two weeks previously, labelled Langhe Nebbiolo as the winery is just outside Barolo. Marco has his own bottling line. 2019 has been a good year.
Marcos and Flavio explained that “Sorí” means cru and starts at Diano d’Alba. There are four regions in Italy which have certified crus, Diano d’Alba since 1975, Barolo since 2010, plus Barbaresco and Dogliani and also Prosecco (Rive). Piemont also has no IGT regions.
Tasting
Langhe Chardonnay 2017, 90% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Bianco, 10 months in barrel, MLF completed after alcoholic. The wine was racked to stainless steel three times for two hours and battonage performed twice a week. The nose showed butter and spices and the palate was delicious; ripe mango, peach, spices and ginger. A long concentrated finish with lovely acidity. Marcos explained the importance of the PB. Full bodied and elegant, 5,000 bottles, approx 18€ and I absolutely loved it (always a sucker for a decent Chardonnay).
Pigato 2018, “La Ginestraia” (from the Brangero Ligurian winery near the coast), 6 months in barrel, no MLF, schist soil, lovely complex nose, floral and smoky followed by a palate with good mouth-watering acidity and then a soft palate, rounded and aromatic, herbs “garrigue” and a lovely saltiness. Pigato is another name for Vermentino. Approx 25€
Dolcetto 2017 Sorí Cascina Rabino Soprano (Cru). 100% stainless steel, no oak. Tons of fruit, red and black, berry and Stone, a hint of smoke, firm present tannins; 2017 was a very dry year and the tannins are drier and greener than usual. It’s a lovely wine showing Dolcetto’s natural tannins. €?
Barbera 2017 from La Soprana vineyard, bottled in April, this wine is yet young. Fermented in tino then 10 days settling in stainless steel and eventually racked to barrels. This is a very serious wine, still far too young. The alcohol is apparent on the nose, before I knew it was 15%, lovely concentrated fruit, balance, good acidity, fine tannins and long. The high acid wines from the region pair well with fatty food and the spread laid out for us while tasting was wonderful; cheeses and bread which I wasn’t able to try, but also a delicious salami, which I did.
Arneis 2018, 14% Langhe, the 2018 was 100% but is sometimes blended with Riesling, which he also makes a 100%. Arneis has high acidity so doesn’t need the acidity which it sometimes needs from Riesling. The nose is floral and peachy, grapefruity, lovely ripe and fresh fruits, mouth-watering, crisp acidity. It’s made for drinking young at 1-2 years old. Lovely. Approx 15€- While we were tasting, a couple of Germans arrived who had drunk this wine the night before in Milan, loved it, looked up the winery, and made a detour to buy a case as they were driving back north to Germany!
Langhe Nebbiolo 2016 Quattro Cloni. Two months skin contact, matured in 500L old oak tonneau. Pale ruby, beautiful perfumed nose, typical “tar and roses” for which Nebbiolo is famous, dark fruits, floral, fruits, spices, burned tyres. Powerful, high levels of fine and elegant tannins, very good acidity, balanced, very long and concentrated. It’s exceptional value for money at 16€. Eating it with fatty salami the tannins are immediately smoother and more tamed.
Langhe 2016 Tre Marzo, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 barrels from1000m2 500 vines planted in 2000, 15%. Fermentation in SS then racked to new barrels where it remains for 24 months, no racking, bottled a year ago. Langhe = terroir. The name comes from 3rd March (Marzo) is Marco’s birthday, first made in 2004. The Cabernet gives pepper on the nose with cassis, spice, smoke, and huge complexity. The palate is huge, having high levels of firm but fine tannins, again cassis, a smoky touch, elegance, concentration, balance, and a long and complex finish. It’s fantastic and Marco only makes it in the best years when the Cab ripens well; in other years it’s blended into the Langhe classic red wine. Approx 28€.
Barolo 2016 Monvigliero cru, 14.5%. This cru is in the north of Barolo, 23 winemakers work it. This is made from 60-70 year old vines from a 1ha plot, 5000 bottles. Fermentation is in stainless steel, two months on the skins then racked to tonneau, 15% new and 85% second use. The nose is very Burgundian to me, herbal, red fruits, concentrated and complex, and the palate shows high tannins, high acidity and red fruits. This is a good year which needs time; 2010 was very good). It was really lovely, spicy, tarry, complex and structured, concentrated, smooth and rounded. It got a star ֍. 35€
Alta Langa 2015 Metodo Clasico Brut Sparkling wine, 60% Pinot Nero, 40% Chardonnay. Traditional method with 30 months on lees, and only disgorged a month ago, which might have explained why it underwhelmed me. The nose was lovely and yeasty, with lots of sweet patisserie and doughs, the bubbles are dense, creamy and persistent, a soft palate with great acidity and some lemony, meringue, sherbet flavours, and more Danish pastry. Somehow the palate just doidn’t deliver, b us its recent disgorgement is probably the reason why. It’s a very small appellation, Alta Langa DOCG only for Traditional Method Sparkling wine ,ade from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Brangero made their first in 2010. Marco talked about a 30€ bottle being too expcnsive for ylounger drinkers and ar €15 that’s who he’s aiming it at
Brangero export 90% of production. #1 USA (California, Florida, New York and New Jersey) followed by Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium. None to Spain or UK unfortunately. Huge thanks to Marco for his time and generosity today!
After this great visit and some lunch, we drove around the hazy, misty, watery sunlit Langhe so that I could drool at village and winery names, such as Fontanafreddo, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglioni Falletto, Monforte d’Alba, Barolo, La Morra, Renatto Ratti with its grassed roof, and the many crazy patchwork vineyards on all manner of exposures, orientations, altitudes, cliffs, erosion and at times surrounded by hazelnuts, for which the region is also famous; Nutella and Ferrero Rocher are both made here. The topography provides for some privileged sites where amphitheatres form and act as real sun traps. Many villages are perched on hilltops, surrounded by protective walls, and often with a castle in the centre. Just beautiful.
A visit to Milan would not be complete without a visit to Lake Como (Sunday) including the funicular train and a bracing uphill walk all the way up to to Volta’s Lighthouse, built in 1927 on the centenary of his death, and of course up that too! I had delicious gnocchi here, wheat free and with an excellent onion free Bolognese sauce. That, followed by a Kamut Marinara pizza in the evening meant, along with another dairy free sorbet in Milan on Monday meant that I managed to eat Italian things which I imagined my dodgy digestive system would not permit; happily wrong!!! I wound up my trip with a visit to Milan’s Duomo cathedral including the rooftop tour, on the Monday before heading to the airport. The Duomo is made of marble!
The gallery, Starbuck’s new, flagship coffee house is in Milan and despite my lack of enthusiasm for Starbucks in general, I have to say that it is definitely worth a visit!
I can’t thank Flavio enough for being such a fantastic host and showing his homeland to such advantage as well as driving us everywhere!
I went to Georgia primarily to experience amber wines made in traditional Georgian qvevri (sometimes spelt kvevri and both pronounced /kwevri/). These are handmade, fired clay pots of anything between about 150 and over 2,000 litres which are buried up to their necks in the ground, usually in a roofed winery building, however humble, but sometimes outside under an open sided roof, or simply under the stars. My interest was – is – in amber wines (sometimes called orange wines but in Georgia referred to as amber; personally I prefer the term amber too), which are wines made from white grapes but vinified in the same way as red wines; by fermenting the grapes on their skins and then keeping the wine on the skins for up to 6 months after fermentation has completed. Production is generally from organic worked vineyards although generally not certified, but without use of pesticides and herbicides, and in the winery wild yeasts, no inoculation for either alcoholic or malolactic fermentation and no (or very little use of) sulfur. The resulting wines have lots of tannic structure and autumnal fruit and spice flavour profiles, with honey and nuts.
Qvevris are fragile in transit; all sizes have the same wall thickness so a 200 litre qvevri will be stronger than a 2000 litre one, which is why so many break in transit and no-one breathes until a new qvevri is safely buried in the ground. Very few qvevri makers remain these days, mainly as a consequence of the so called “Soviet Era” (1921-1991) and the many prohibitions of the time. Neither winemaking nor grape growing were permitted, unless for the soviet “wine factories” pumping out semi sweet reds for the thirsty soviet bloc. It is a miracle that many traditions have survived, at the risk of imprisonment if discovered, including old vineyards, indigenous varieties and the qvevri tradition.
Georgia is also a beautiful country, dominated in many ways by The Greater Caucasus Mountains along its northern limits, with an isolated language and tremendously delicious food, even for a digestively challenged person like me!
I had read several books in preparation for my trip, but nothing would have prepared me for trying to pronounce the language out loud! However, it helped me in recognising people, place names/regions and grape names, thankfully!
Any mistakes are mine and inadvertent, all written in the best of faith and from on-the-go, handwritten notes!
Itinerary
I arrived after a fraught journey, which took 12 hours longer than anticipated thanks to my flight from Madrid to Amsterdam arriving nearly an hour late. This meant that I missed my connection to Tbilisi. Instead I had to wait 5 hours for a flight to Munich taking about 2 hours, then another 5 hour wait for the 4.5 hour flight to Tbilisi. Suffice to say I was shattered when I eventually got to my hotel/guest house room at 5am on the Sunday morning with the sun coming up and birds singing all around!!! And imagine my joy at seeing my suitcase come off the luggage conveyor despite the extra flights and country!
The Sunday was to meet up with my brother, walk a little, take the cable car up to the Mother of Georgia statue and then walk back down and find Ghvino Underground, the very famous natural wine bar, but which was closed until 2. So we had wine further down the road (a lovely Kisi) and then went back. As we walked up the road I really couldn’t believe my eyes to see John Wurdeman standing outside (he’s one of the owner partners), and then his amusement as I explained who I was and my delight at meeting him! He has been instrumental in turning Georgian winemaking from a family affair into a global demand for these special wines. All boding well for a fantastic week ahead! We tasted a flight of four amber wines and I was in heaven, and then each chose our favourite to have a glass. Then it was over the river to meet my Georgian family and have my first of many typical Georgian spreads for dinner. Great first day!
My hotel, Gomi 19, was an excellent choice as I was looked after like family, always a treat when travelling alone! Mari fed me carefully and well!
Packing up on the Monday morning to begin the road trip I met Beqa, my guide, translator, and driver for the next 5 days with his big 4×4 truck (happy me!) and off we went out of Tbilisi and towards Mskheta.
Tbilisi to Mtskheta to Kutaisi (Monday 15th April 2019)
On the way we stopped at Svetitskhoveli Monastery and then Jvari Monastery, the first of several beautiful old monasteries we visited, fascinating me with history and stories. There is evidence of the grape and the vine in old church architecture, reinforcing Georgia’s claim to 8000 vintages and the longest living wine tradition in the world; also archeologically proven!
JIGHAURA EXPERIMENTAL VINE NURSERY (SAGURAMO)
Jighaura is home to 437 varieties of Georgian grapes, both wine and non-wine varieties, established about 10 years ago in order to recover varieties which were excluded by the Russians during the “Soviet Period”. It is a government funded institution and employs between 15 and 50 people depending on vineyard tasks. Vines are collected from all over Georgia, from old family vineyards which survived the soviet grubbing up of most varieties and to be replanted with other crops or the productive grape varieties. Their genetic status is then tested to determine whether the variety is already in the nursery or is another old, lost one for propagating. Wine quality is tested on a small scale, with there being as few as only 25 vines of some varieties. Although most varieties are Georgian, there are also 350 foreign varieties from all over the world. Small wineries in Georgia can request plants but this is not a commercial venture.
Website mostly in beautiful Georgian script but some English; srca.gov.ge
IAGO WINE CELLAR AND RESTAURANT FOR LUNCH (CHARDAKHI)
Iago Bitarishvili used to be the national Georgian expert for ecological (organic) agriculture, firstly in general then specifically for vines. He has 2 hectares of organically farmed Chinuri vines, a white variety planted in 1998. He makes 5-6,000 bottles a year now, up from 600 in his first bottled vintage, 2003 and anticipates increasing to 8,000 maximum. In total he has 22 qvevri, 15 inside and 7 outside with the biggest having a capacity of 2,000 litres and three being over 300 years old.
Hand harvested grapes are placed into the qvevri. Fermentation depends on the ambient temperature as well as the quantity of grapes in each qvevri and usually takes place at about 25ºC over three weeks with punching down. The CO2 produced during fermentation protects the cap from oxygen. All bar about 5% of Iago’s production is skin contact, with the skins settling out towards the bottom of the qvevri after between 4-6 months. This depends to a certain degree on the ripeness of the stems; shorter time if stems are less ripe, longer for riper stems. Fermentation generally finishes towards the end of November when it has turned very cold. The malolactic fermentation would not normally occur under ambient temperatures but as the qvevri are buried and the heat from fermentation has penetrated the ground, as well as there being no use of sulfur, the MLF takes place naturally straight after alcoholic.
He uses some very educational pictures of the qvevri winemaking process and what happens to the skins.
He also makes a small amount of pet nat and (obviously here in Georgia) distils his own chacha from the pomace; nothing is wasted!
We tasted his 2018 without skin contact and 2017 with skin contact over lunch (which is very common here!).
The 2018 is floral, off-dry (without skins and therefore their yeast cells, the fermentation does not always complete, leaving some residual sugar and alcohol of 11.6%). It is pleasant, clean and crisp but didn’t fulfil my reasons for being there!
The 2017 with skins is delicious, citrussy orange, honey and hazelnuts, fine tannins and full bodied. The nose is quite delicate, timid, but the palate much more concentrated. It is balanced with good length and intensity, lovely.
The chacha was fiery (about 45% alcohol), but much more floral when I (shame on me) diluted it with a little water, but it’s not for me I’m afraid!
Chinuri is apparently unique here in that maintains high natural acidity even when ripe.
Lunch was amazing, as I was to see and experience even more Georgian hospitality and food along the way; caramelised onion balls, jonjoli (fermented bladdernut tree buds, delicious), home cured bacon, rolled aubergines with walnut paste (this dish quickly became a favourite of mine on the trip), roast new herbed potatoes in cold pressed sunflower seed oil, roast vegetables, barbecued pork chunks, mushrooms and the ever present tasty tomato and cucumber salad, and breads which I couldn’t eat here but looked wonderful. Everything was adorned with fresh coriander and flat leaf parsley plus mint and dill and accompanied by walnut and green plum sauces. Followed by very delicate black tea and really lovely local sweets which included preserved walnuts.
Iago sells to 11 countries and has no stock left!
We then drove, well, Beqa my guide, driver and translator extraordinaire, drove further west towards Kutaisi. The valley starts wide open and fertile with the snowcapped Greater Caucasus in the distance on our right (impossible to capture in photos!) and eventually narrows to the 800m long tunnel into Kartli. Two lane dual carriageway becomes one, the crazy driving continues and I was grateful over and over again at not having chosen to even attempt to drive myself. The road now runs through forest, a river by the road, the Dzirula, and spring reveals many colours of green in the trees coming into leaf. Roadside stalls sell bread, fruit, honey, churchkela and earthenware items from plates and cooking pots to tone ovens (/toornay/) for baking bread and even some small qvevris.
Eventually we drive past Zestaponi, a seemingly sad place with many huge, now derelict and blackened, Russian factories, having taken their industry with them when they left between 1991 and 1993. There remains some metal ore processing in the town though.
And then, rather excitingly, on towards meeting Ramaz Nikoladze!
I had read a lot about the Georgian amber qvevri wine movement before I visited and Ramaz Nikoladze was logically on the list of hopeful visits; mission accomplished!
He was waiting for us, muddied and smiling in his dungarees from working the vineyard behind the winery. The soil is very heavy clay and he uses a “manual mechanical” plough to work it. A small plot of grafted vines planted only two weeks ago was already showing tiny signs of life. Ramaz has 1.5 hectares around the house and winery as well as family vineyards in the nearby village worked with his wife and uncle, all at about 150m altitude. He produces about 6,000 bottles. His two varieties are the white grapes Tsitska and Tsolikouri, which he vinified together until 2015, and since then separately. The main problems he has are fungal diseases due to the humidity in this region. He is organic uncertified and uses some copper, some sulfur and some biodynamic tisanes in the vineyard. The clay soil contains high levels of lime and the other vineyards are clay with flint stones.
Inside the winery there are three 500l qvevris, one 800l and three 1,000l, the smaller ones for ageing and also stainless steel vats for holding wines. All grapes are destemmed, as there can be under-ripeness in them, and then lightly crushed before putting them into the qvevri. All wines are fermented in qvevri but not all have skin contact. Yeasts are natural/wild.
The 2018 Tsolikouri from the family vineyard on limestone soil in the village has no skin contact and was fermented for two months in a 900l qvevri, then kept in a 1,000 litre variable capacity SS. Tasted from the vat, it is floral with peach and hazelnut aromas and has a soft palate.
The 2018 Tsitska is also without skins and fermented for two months, also tasted from the vat, and is more appley, but closed, then revealing floral notes with time. The palate is more ample and mineral. The vineyards are Ramaz’s own, being over 80 years old (very unusual as the Soviets ordered most to be grubbed up, so surviving old vineyards are not common) and on flint stone.
Ramaz is experimenting with a five year old barrel which he has had since the end of January, the wine having spent two months in qvevri, two more in SS and two in the barrel. It has a slight hint of vanilla on the nose and the palate is slightly rounder.
His skin contact wines spend 3-4 months on the skins (“with the mother”), the seeds fall to the bottom first and collect in the narrow base, then the skins fall after about a month post fermentation and the lees lastly. He decides when to separate by tasting, when he racks the wine to another qvevri where it clarifies naturally. No sulfur, fining or filtration is used on the wines, and moon cycles are important for vineyard tasks such as pruning and harvest as well as racking, where possible, and some biodynamic principles are used. Ramaz has recently insulated an area within the winery for wine storage and with air conditioning as the summers are getting hotter, reaching over 40ºC at times with high humidity.
The wines are exported to over 11 countries (including Spain; Ramaz’s delicious Tsitska/Tsolikouri was the only Georgian wine I had found in Madrid before travellin) the first vintage sold abroad being the 2010.
Ramaz also explained an Imeretian winemaking technique whereby the grapes are pressed to release the juice and then between 5-15% of the skins are added to the must resulting in a partial skin contact fermentation.
We then had a splendid tasting dinner with wines picked from Ramaz’ cellar; the menu included:
bread and corn bread, cucumber and tomato salad, aubergines with walnuts, roast and herbed baby new potatoes, green beans in walnut sauce, rice and beef, roast quail, blackberry and plum sauces, all prepared by Nestan, Ramaz’s wife and all absolutely delicious! The wines just slipped down very easily! And the very cute cat almost stole the show (rescue cat, broke leg badly, expensive vets bills, eventually called Garrincha, after a Brazilian footballer who had one leg longer than the other!). Ramaz and Nestan are involved in the Slow Food movement.
Three wines were chosen to accompany dinner.
Tsolikouri semi skin contact, only 200-300 bottles a year, not exported but sold locally, Nestan’s family wine, called Amiran from the time when Ramaz was dating Nestan! Baked apples, fine tannins, spices and coriander seed. Really lovely.
Tsolikouri called Solikouri in honour of Ramaz’s friend and mentor who died recently. Full skin contact, deep amber colour, orange marmalade, baked apples and spices. Again lovely.
Dzvelshavi 2017, 11.5% (Dimi) pale ruby in colour, 3 months on skins then racked to barrel, floral, cherries and elegant. Dzvelshavi is a rare and ancient variety with possible parentage to several European varieties.
We left, me very happy beneath the rain, and went back to overnight in Kutaisi.
Kutaisi to Samagrelo (Tuesday 16th April 2019)
We first visited Gelati Monastery en-route, built in the 9th century by David the builder, more amazing stories and history, the original gates came from a the town of Ganja in Azerbaijan, an ancient tradition being to remove the gates from a town when conquered.
We also visited the 8th century Motsamehta Monastery, the “tortured brothers” who were tortured for not relinquishing their territory in a battle and depicted on the church door. And after which we drove on.
NAKED OJALESHI (ODA HOUSE) WINERY and lunch
Keta (Ketevan) Ninidze is one of few (but a growing number of) female winemakers in Georgia. She met us outside her traditional house built in 1935, which is above the ground floor winery, but she commented that the Samagrelo tradition is to have qvevris outside. Keta makes about 3,000 bottles a year from the rare local variety Ojaleshi and her wines are called Naked Ojaleshi, with the label revealing a naked woman as a statement and also as the wines have no skin contact they are therefore naked. The main problems here are fungal diseases; mildew and oïdium. She has 0.15 hectares and skilled partner growers across the region who grow old Magrelian varieties from the state nursery. Her vines were planted in 2016 and last year was her first vintage, in both SS and qvevri. She has three 500l qvevris and one 100l plus two 700l and one 300l variable capacity SS vats, primarily but not exclusively, for storage.
She has some Tsolikouri, an Imeretian variety which is very resistant and can age for 5-6 years, some with, some without skin contact. Her flagship Naked Ojaleshi is a rosé which ferments for one month followed by 6 months ageing in qvevri. And she makes chacha of course!
Keta employs three people plus herself and her husband, Zaza Gagua also has his own, separate winery, Vino Martville. The brand name Oda comes from the architectural style of the houses, which are on legs with the living space upstairs.
Lunch and tasting
We ate and I tasted outside under the new open-sided, roofed area; blankets were needed as it was fresh, but great to be out in the fresh air.
Lunch was another wonderful spread and included mchadi maize breads for me spread with carrot, coriander and walnut paste, cucumber and tomato salad, home-made red adjika (very spicy chilli paste), roast potatoes and roast carrots, chicken with walnut sauce.
Naked Ojaleshi (rosé, no skin contact) 2018, fermentation and ageing in qvevri for 6 months, 12%, cherry and hazelnut nose with a balanced, dry palate, nice soft acidity and very refreshing and bottled only two weeks ago.
Tsolikouri 2018, full skin contact and 6 months in qvevri, 250 bottles and Keta’s only Amber wine. Bruised apples and honey, soft palate, medium body.
Orbeluri Ojaleshi 2018 (means “The Magrelian One”), a very small vineyard at 900m on rocky limestone soil, she has been pafrtners with the grower since 2015, organic vines of 25-30 years old. It’s red, fermented in SS with 20% skins and one month for fermentation, followed by 6 months after pressing. Red fruits, spices and pepper on the nose but it’s very closed and needs time and aeration in the glass. Real character and very interesting.
We left the lovely house, garden and dining area as it began to spit with rain and decided to make a quick detour to the Martilivi Canyon complex; fascinating waterfalls and a quick trip upriver in an inflatable to see the way the water has carved the rocks over millennia, and the rail came down just as we got out of the boat!
That evening in the “Sapere” winebar in Kutaisi I drank one of my favourite wines of the whole trip, Jakeli 2017 Rkatsiteli-Kisi Amber, which I managed to buy at Ghvino Underground before leaving and stash in my case.
At this point, the hot sunny days of Sunday and Monday have become much cooler and rainy and the puddles can hide many potholes in the road!
Kutaisi to Tbilisi (Wednesday 17th April 2019)
ARCHIL GUNIAVA WINE CELLAR
Not far from Zestaponi, in a small village called Kvaliti we eventually managed to find Archil Guniava and his wine cellar, although Mrs. Google was intent on us not finding him; several full circles and one trip into a field gate! And boy was it raining! Beqa was much my needed translator here as Archil doesn’t speak much English and Georgian isn’t yet within my capabilities!
Archil and his family have 1.5 hectares of Tsitska, Tsolikouri, Krakhuna (whites) and red Otshanuri Sapere and Mgaloblishvili vines. The vines are either about 50+ years old or some are much younger at 5-8 years old. The vineyards are on heavy clay soil and face south. Winemaking is a family tradition starting before his grandfather. The qvevris are minimum 200 years old and his grandfather and brothers took some qvevris each and moved them to nearby houses about a hundred years ago! He has 17 qvevris from 50l to 2,000l in size and bottles directly from the qvevri, no fining, filtering or SO2 the wine falling bright in its womb over time. He says the qvevri does everything; it knows how to make wine!
He farms organically without certification and harvests generally from the end of September to mid October, but the Otshanuri Sapere is later, into November and, like others, at this scale all by hand. He makes both skin contact and no skin contact wines, the Imeruli (Imereti) wines are mostly semi skin contact, de-stemmed and gently crushed, 20-30 days fermentation (20 days skin contact, 30 days no skins) followed by 7 months to one year in qvevri depending on style sought. The maximum is February followed by up to 8 months off skins. MLF takes place in the qvevri. He also bottles by hand like most others and makes about 6,000 a year. He sells everything, even the 2017 is sold out, and he has no stock. Exporters came to him about eight years ago and since then most of his wines are generally exported; to the USA, England, Denmark, Canada and the Netherlands.
Tasting, direct from the qvevris! All 2018. All go through MLF.
Tsitska, no skins, one month fermentation then 4 months in another qvevri. It’s pale lemon yellow in colour, and the nose is light, floral and nutty, about 12.5% alcohol (not yet tested). Balanced with an appley grip. Archil says it’s very young yet and that harvest was 20 days early because of the heat.
Tsitska & Krakhuna no skin contact, pale lemon colour, very delicate nose, timid, Archi says it’s about 13% alcohol, super clean and fresh but difficult for me to capture in words.
Tsitska & Krakhuna with skin contact, much deeper colour, now really amber. The nose is smoky, baked apples and custard, four months on skins then four months without, tannic grip, young yet. Nice!
Gmalobishvili, a very rare variety removed by the Soviets and sourced from Saguramo (Jighaura). One day skin contact rosé, then the skins are removed from the qvevri (they are floating thanks to the fermentation process) although last year’s was for 9 days and was therefore deeper in colour. My note says “WOW NOSE!” Cherry and red fruits and berries, raspberries, complex palate, red fruits, fine tannins, black pepper, a hint of marzipan and nuts. He was afraid it still had some residual sugar and would re-ferment in the bottle so was pending having it tested.
Blend of red and white grapes, a traditional technique, 30% red and 70% white. If the Otshanuri Sapere is vinified separately it can be very high in acidity and tannins and the white varieties soften it. It’s purple in colour with smoky and plummy aromas, very young, very grippy tannins, quite a difficult taste! But it was rather cold, about 8 or 9ºC in the qvevri at this time of year, slowly rising to about 15º in the summer, and these wine show best at about 15-16ºC.
We left as we had arrived, in heavy rain and headed back east towards Tbilisi again.
Lunch was at a roadside restaurant well known to the travel guides, great food, pickled cucumber, chillies and jonjoli (delicious), a herbed beef stew, “kebab” (minced spiced pork), tomato and cucumber salad dressed with walnut sauce and herbs, bread (not for me), and an amazing view from our restaurant window, high up on stilts on the valley side, looking up the valley and river in the pouring rain, wind and chilly!
On towards Tbilisi and calling at CHATEAU MUKHRANI wine cellar on the way. I wanted to visit one large winery to contrast my visits. The lovely Nana showed me around. Mukhrani is a well respected venture, with a wealth of history and which I’m not going in to here, just some basics. Established in 1878 it has a chequered history of ownership, loss and function. One of the facts that stood out for me was learning what the soviets did to wineries which they wanted out of action during their era. Many large cellars were destroyed, many others filled with concrete (therefore obviously impossible to recover) and some filled with soil. Chateau Mukhrani was “lucky” in that it was filled with soil and it took five years for the current owners (since 2002) to remove the soil and reinstate the cellars, unfortunately the walls were badly damaged and only about 5% of the original walls remain, the rest having being faithfully reconstructed. It is a beautiful job. There are all the trappings of a normal modern winery full of stainless, barrels and Nomblot concrete eggs. But. Something very interesting too. About ten to fifteen years ago when the current amber/qvevri wine movement was getting underway, the “modern” winemakers really thought the qvevri guys were mad and it would never be successful either as a style or commercially. Mukhrani now has 18 qvevris, installed in 2016 in a newly built, dedicated building, of 800, 1,000 and 2,000 litres capacity. Just goes to show how right the traditionalists have been!
I also saw their rather beautiful chacha still and watch as the clear spirit was collected from the tap at the end! Nothing like the home style versions I had seen everywhere else!
Tasting
Rkatsiteli Superieur 2016 from own vineyards, 12.5%, very aromatic, reminding me of Sauvignon Blanc or Verdejo, grassy, herbal, fennel and floral. Made in SS with battonage, very nice, about 19€ though.
Chardonnay 2017, 13.5%, more typically international in style, peachy nose, very soft palate, but could have come from anywhere, about 17€
Saperavi Superieur 2016 from own vineyards, deep ruby, 9-12 months in French oak, lush, plums, blackcurrant, vanilla, soft palate, red fruits, spice and vanilla, balanced, very nice, but very concentrated, about 17€
And a special for me as it’s not usually tasted by visitors, Qvevri 2016, which was their first vintage from the qvevris, 50% Rkatsiteli, 45% Goruli Mtsvane and 5% Chinuri. Six months skin contact with 45% skins followed by six months in oak (Caucasian, American and French). Vanilla, apples, sweet spices, fine tannins, full mid palate, very nice and would be good with food (like all amber wines). (I am concerned that use of oak detracts from the uniqueness of qvevri wines.)
Very interesting to see that Georgia also does what the rest of the world does!
Back to Tbilisi for the night and then away east the following morning.
Tbilisi to Central Kakheti to Sighnaghi Thursday 18th April 2019
Driving north from Tbilisi we went up the hairpin bands of the Gombori Mountain pass, 1620m, then down again towards the beautiful Alaverdi Monastery. We were the only visitors here! The monastery makes wine, and the restoration has been assisted by the Badagoni group.
Spring is later here, with very different trees only just budding in many cases, the sleeping police men on every road all over the country, dogs by the road, and wisteria growing everywhere and mistletoe in many trees. On to our next stop for a winery visit and lunch.
LAGAZI WINERY
Shota Lagazidze is a commanding figure at well over 2 metres tall! He explained that the winery is the family home built in 1926 by his grandfather. The Red Revolution of 1918-1921 brought the republic and being incorporated into the USSR. The construction of two storey buildings was forbidden and so many people incorporated basements to give themselves more living space. That at Shota’s family home has been converted to bricks and river stone.
The climate here is, logically, continental, with 38-40ºC in the summer, winters are not too hard with very little snow particularly when compared with the 3-4 weeks which were snow covered when Shota was a child. The coldest it gets is -3 or -4ºC and so the cellar is half underground; the qvevris need protection (he says that in the west the temperature and humidity do not demand a covered cellar). Also in the summer, the ground keeps them cool. Altitude here is about 550m.
Wines spend 6 months on skins and fermentation temperatures can reach 35ºC for a couple of days and then cool down! This develops aromas of dried fruits, figs, apricots and raisins. The skins are referred to as the “Mother” and the qvevri acts as a womb.
He owns one hectare of 35-40 year old Rkatsiteli and the vineyard is about 2km from the house, but on the other side of the river. As the bridge is 7km away, whenever he can he fords the river in his 4×4 to avoid the long trip round! He farms organically and uses limited copper (Bordeaux mixture for fungal diseases) and sulfur before ripening in the vineyard. In the winery, all stems are included and skin contact is about 6 months. Harvest is a bit later as the Alzani River and proximity of the mountains give a longer ripening season, often the first week in October. On my visit on 18th April there was still no bud break here. In Sighnaghi, only 80km away to the east, bud break has happened and there the harvest is usually in August.
Some Kakhuri Mtsvane is bought from a farmer friend 7km away, who has a 0.5ha organic vineyard.
The winery makes 1,500-2,000 bottles now, 2015 being their first vintage to be bottled (before that much like many others, selling in bulk or just making enough for family and friends) when 900 bottles were produced and all the 2016 and 2017 is sold. He has 8 qvevris which are 4-5 years old with a total capacity of 5,000l. They all have glass lids. I was lucky enough to see one which had been emptied of its wine that morning (damn, too late to help!) and to be able to see the skins remaining inside. Some wines spend time without skins in another qvevri and wines for export are bottled in July (most to Japan, then US, Denmark, Germany and France). Shota says a maximum of 10,000 bottles will enable him to maintain quality but no more.
Lunch and tasting
Four wines;
Tstitska from a partner’s winery in Imereti, Western Georgia, full skin contact, mid amber in colour, baked apples, honey and quince on the nose. Palate; fine tannins, slightly smoky notes with autumnal fruits. Nice.
Rkatsiteli 2018, from the top of the qvevri, the cleanest part, 14%, deep amber in colour, autumn ripe apples, honey and caramel. It is balanced, long, complex and has lots of concentration, very fine soft tannins and a full round body; excellent! (And went in my rucksack!) 30 Lari (that’s 10€ at three Lari to the euro.)
Mtsvane 2018 (whose stems always stay green) deep amber in colour, lovely nose although a tiny bit lifted, volatile, difficult for me to note. The palate was dried apricots, tea, dried flowers and orange, fine tannins, integrated, lovely.
Rkatsiteli 2017 Obolziani, a friend’s wine, experimental, qvevri-aged wine. There will be 200 bottles at some point, minus one as I bought one! This Rkatsitela has spent 6 months on its skins and then another 18 months without skins. It’s deep mahogany in colour and smells of nuts, dried apple and caramel, I wrote Wow!!! Extraordinary! Complex palate, very fine tannins, wants food and is delicious. Unique! Also in my rucksack, same price!
And lunch with the wines was amazing! Corn breads, eggs from the chickens outside, cucumber and tomato salad, phkali (spinach with walnut sauce), buckwheat, carrot balls (made especially for me!), aubergines with walnut paste, green plum sauce, roasted and herbed baby new potatoes and then meat as well! All incredibly delicious! It’s wonderful to taste while eating, although obviously a completely different experience from tasting “normally” with a flight or several in front of you and the distant hope of a meal at some point in the future! These are all very gastronomic wines and eating and drinking is such a civilised way to spend time! The Georgians consider wine as part of life, not something particularly for special occasions. Wonderful!
These people live a very attractive lifestyle for me, very close to nature, in the countryside, smallholder style, lots of food crops and trees in their gardens, a sort of self sufficiency in many things including preserves and fermented foods (I’m in love with jonjoli) and such a wealth of flavours from herbs and spices in the foods. We had to leave unfortunately.
On the road again, back past Alaverdi Monastery, we asked in the small shop if they sold wine; they do, and are also renowned for only selling aged wine, but their 2013 Rkatsiteli was 170 Lari it was too much (nearly 60€; next time!).
The snow capped Caucasus were now on our left as we drove on to Kondoli.
ORGO WINE CELLAR (TELEDA)
Orgo, started in 2012, have 10has of Rkatsiteli, Kisi, Saperavi and Kakheti Mtsvane. They make 50,000 bottles of qvevri wines and 50,000 European style wines. Rkatsiteli and Kisi are blended and a Saperavi rosé is made. 80% is exported to the USA, UK, Ukraine and Japan. Orgo is a family owned winery on a larger scale. It was the assistant winemaker who attended us and whose name I unfortunately wrote very badly; my apologies. The vineyards are in various villages, not organic but hand tended and harvested. The amber wines spend six months on skins without stems, the whites fermented separately,. The reds ferment for 25 days then spend 6 months in qvevri. Chacha is aged in barrels. Harvest is generally in September and October although the grapes for traditional sparkling wine are picked in August. This is made from Kakheti Mtsvane and spends 18 months on lees, 5,000 bottles.
There is a beautiful, small cellar with a library of previous vintages, the whole set-up is very clean, new and expensive looking, especially after the humble wineries I have visited, I suppose logically being what comes with increased size. The symbol on the bottle represents two things; it’s the sun and also an orgo is the name given to the round stone traditionally put on top of the qvevri.
Tasting
Orgo Rkatsiteli 2017, 13%, 15,000 bottles, nose of dried flowers, dried apple, toffee, quince. Palate dry, somehow metallic which I can’t identify. It spent six months on skins then straight to bottle with 17mg SO2 at bottling. It’s fresh but a little bit drying. (Qvevri? I didn’t note, I don’t think so.)
Orgo Kisi 2017, Qvevri, 13%, very different nose, orange skin, dried apricot, more complex, concentrated palate, more tannic but lots of different flavours, nice balanced acidity. 2-3,000 bottles.
Orgo 2017 Saperavi Qvevri, 20,000 bottles, 25 days on skins then racked to another qvevri without skins. Deep purple in colour, intense nose of liquid fruits, all cherries, plums, blueberries and spices. Mouth-watering acidity, firm but ripe tannins and slightly smoky. Nice but full on!
Next a detour, Beqa said we had time and this was interesting! So we then drove directly towards the Caucasus. The majesty was breathtaking but this didn’t show on any of the (many) photos I took. We headed for Khareba Marani, curious for me only in that it is housed in what were soviet army tunnels, 7km of which were bored deep into the mountainside rock as military bunkers during their era. I took the quick tour, just to see the tunnels, but unfortunately you aren’t shown much. I tasted two wines, both produced in large volumes and the visits here are not for winos like me but general tourists, many of whom were Russians.
Tsitska 2012 (yes, old!), 12%, Gold in colour, the nose is volatile, orange skin, marmalade and apricot jam. Six months on skins and stems. The palate is light, appley baked tannins, old honey and spice, nice and very unusual as it’s an old vintage! Unexpected here!
Saperavi 2015, 14%, first bottle was corked, despite it being two thirds empty by this point (there were lots of other groups at about 8 tasting tables in this specially set up part of the tunnels, and presumably no-one had bothered to taste it and no-one drinking it had noticed! The chap pouring was a bit disconcerted with me telling him, I asked him if there was another bottle, he eventually found one and this wasn’t corked. As a teacher I just had to ask him to smell both glasses, he was reluctant (I think they are just tourist guides at such a big set up) and he was surprised at the difference! Job done! Three months on skins and stems, nine months without, black cherries, plums, firm tannins, very fruit driven and these tannins need food.
Driving towards Sighnaghi/Signagi, spelling changes! The Caucasus are on our left now, they are again majestic and snow capped. I’m captivated by their beauty and size! Good job I’m not driving!
To get to Sighnaghi, there are 6km of hairpin bends to reach to the small town atop the hill at about 836m. Check in to lovely warm hotel, it’s been sunny all day and the view was amazing, over the Alazani Valley below to the mountains. I foolishly didn’t take a photo, and what a shame as the next day the weather was dense fog with heavy rain in it, absolutely no visibility and apparently unusual indeed!
That night we were booked in at Pheasant’s Tears restaurant in Sighnaghi and a tasting with their sommelier. I didn’t make it to the Pheasant’s Tears Winery this time, but one needs things to go back for!!! The meal and tasting were in the hands of sommelier Shergil, who looked after things very well indeed, bringing more wines than he was supposed to, I suspect! The restaurant is beautiful and we were lucky to be able to listen to polyphonic singing while eating; it’s unusual, quite haunting at times, but difficult to understand what seems like discord to my untutored ears.
Pheasant’s Tears, John Wurdeman’s brainchild with partner Gela Patalishvili, have been and continue to be instrumental in promoting Georgian Qvevri Amber wines outside Georgia. They are also recovering heritage varieties and have over 400 planted. All wines are made in qvevris and although many are small volumes, some are up to 55,000 bottles! I have noted 2mg SO2 added at bottling. 2008 was the first official vintage and some 2008 Saperavi remains (that would be interesting to try!).
Dinner; delicious Tsiteli Doli flour crisp-breads with cold pressed, unfiltered sunflower seed oil, beetroot salad, beet tops in spicy sauce (another version of the very versatile phkali, and this one also particularly delicious) tomato and cucumber salad, pork in wine sauce, onions, sour plum sauce. The parsley, dill and coriander herbiness was lovely. A bowl of beans was brought, but I was full and just tried them, nice but beans are not good for me anyway.
Chinuri 2017, no skins, traditionally drunk young, right after fermentation and skin aged wines for longer ageing. 25 large qvevris. I found it hard to write a note.
Chinuri 2016, two weeks skin contact, nose closed, nice acidity, firm tannins, apricots, oranges and spices. Nice.
Chkvaveri (red) 2018, 20has in Adjara which is high altitude, and spends one week on skins, and it’s purple! Clean nose, red fruits and blue flowers, light palate but concentrated flavours, crisp red fruit and cherry stones. Really lovely.
Polyphony 2018, 417 grape varieties blended together, tiny quantities from the varieties that they are recovering, mainly red this year, 2017 was mainly white, one week on skins, very interesting but I didn’t write much of a note.
Saperavi 2018, but this apparently wasn’t it! It was deep purple in colour and very tannic with dark fruits, didn0t find out what it was as the correct one came!
Saperavi 2018, opaque with a fuchsia rim! Black fruits and paprika (reminded me of chorizo!) smoked pepper, softer palate and less concentrated than the nose, but I’d just tried the chillied beans!
The next three were specials.
Rkatsiteli 2018, six months on skins (this is standard for long skin contact whites), and Rkatsiteli means red stems, dry palate, very tannic, apples, mandarin oranges, quince and citric.
Mtsvane 2012, six months on skins, no SO2 was used in 2012; it was a special year! It’s cloudy, lots of sediment, orange marmalade and hazelnuts, clementines and yoghurt. It was outstanding!
Rkatsiteli 2010, six months on skins, nose slightly mute, palate soft, nutty, chamomile, dried flowers, long stewed apple, sweet baking spices, tannins soft from age. At first really amazing, then subtly becoming slightly horsey.
All in all a great experience! And looking forward to seeing the winery next time!
Sighnaghi to Tbilisi
The rain started about 10pm last night and beat down heavily on the veranda roof of my hotel room all night, very soporific! It was still puiring in the morning so the walking tour of Sighnaghi was abandoned for an hour on the internet and the hope that the slies might clear for a while! The didn’t and we braved the elements at 11am and went as planned to Bodbe Monastery in the foggy, heavy rain! Very atmospheric photos of what is actually a convent (the poor nuns spent lots of time mopping up wet floors due to the number of visitors – this is well on the beaten track unlike Alaverdi – and rain).
OKRO’S WINERY
Okro’s Winery and restaurant is in Sighnaghi itself. We were met by Jane Okruashvili, sister and business partner of John. We had a quick look at the winery, qvevris and selection of chachas and preserved fruits below the house/restaurant and then back upstairs for the tasting and lunch. The Okrouashvilis have 7 hectares in different places in the Alazani Valley below. There are eight varieties; Tsolikouri, Tsitska, Tavkaveri, Kisi, Kakhetian Mtsvane, Rkatsiteli, Saperavi and Budeshuri Saperavi. They are also planting more varieties.
All wines are made in their 12 qvevri at the house plus two other cellars totalling 20 qvevri in all, 25,000 bottles, with differing methods of production, with and without skins Kakhetian style, sparkling wines and apple cider in qvevri. Chacha is made here too, but from wine not pomace. The lunch here distracted me somewhat from actually tasting the wines, so I made simple notes and drank like a good girl!
Tsolikouri 2017 (I learned that Tsoli means wife in Georgian), from Western Georgia, Imereti, vineyards at 900 metres on chalky soil. No skin contact, light “Imeretian style”, high natural acidity, floral, apple and melon.
Kisi 2017, Kisi is a special Kakhetian variety which had almost disappeared by three years ago. It produces balanced wines and has good natural acidity. The vineyard is at 500 metres, and the wine 7 months skin contact. It’s pale amber with a nose of baked apples, spice, fruit compote, russets, autumnal, dried apricots. Lovely palate, soft and full.
Budeshuri Saperavi 2016, 12.5%. Budeshuri Saperavi is much lighter than Saperavi and has higher natural acidity. I understood that it’s not a teinturier and that Saperavi is, but it’s also often unnecessarily highly macerated and extracted. Skin contact/maceration 15 days, followed by two years in different qvevri. It’s opaque purply black in colour and the nose is of intense black fruits. The palate is elegant, youthful, not complex but so good that I bought a bottle! (35 Lari or 11.50€.)
Heading back now towards Tbilisi we have two more visits to make, in heavy rain and chilly cold weather; such a contrast from t-shirts on Sunday and Monday!
NIKI ANTADZE WINE CELLAR
Niki has built everything more or less singlehandedly. He has 23 qvevri the biggest being 2,800 litres and the smallest 130l. He makes between 10,000 and 15,000 bottles but in 2018 only 8,000 because of black rot, mildew and oïdium; he was away for three days and while he was away, he lost much of his crop. He has three hectares, one round the winery and two in the Iori Valley. His varieties are Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane Khanuri (sp?) and Saperavi, all qvevri and skin contact depends on the vintage. The vineyards are organic, uncertified, he uses some biodynamic preparations and tries to follow moon cycles for some vineyard tasks like pruning. Soils are sand, clay and alluvial stones with high percentage of lime.
Niki bought qvevris in 2013, five from before the 1960s and two are over 100 years old. He bought his vineyards in 2006, constructed the cellar in 2010, planted the qvevris in 2013 and in 2014 built the cellar around them (its walls are actually straw bales with three layers of plaster – it’s antiseptic – and whitewashed). The grapes are crushed outside then pumped inside, and winemaking is with skins and stems.
Tasting
The wines we tasted are all 2017, the 2018 are still in qvevri and will be parted from their mother in a few days time (I missed it again).
Rkatsiteli 2017, no skin contact, late harvest at end of October, his first experiment with pet nat. It was in qvevri until the end of May, still had some residual sugar and was fermenting slowly, and on bottling it re-fermented and is 16% alcohol! Delicious, floral and citrus nose, lemon meringue, the palate is full and round. Lovely, 1.5ats.
Rkatsiteli 100% skins, 50% stems, 8 months skin contact, nose of quince, vanilla and custard, and a hint of varnish. The palate is dry, fine appley tannins, baked, toasty, biscuit, rye! Nice!
Saperavi and Rkatsiteli co-fermented, 20%-80%, alcoholic fermentation 25 days with maceration, very unusual herbal nose, dry palate, red berries and cherries, plums, hazelnuts and herbal note again. It’s too cold right now.
Saperavi 100% 2017, 14%, 22 days fermentation, deep purple in colour, intense nose of black plums, cherries, vanilla yoghurt (MLF happens naturally in qvevri, fermentation warms the soil, no sulfur, bacteria able to work easily). Palate is very tannic and grippy, but it’s cold and we’re tasting outside, fruit bomb, lots of black fruits, herbal notes, some stems from the Rkatsiteli are used in the Saperavi as a self filter. Niki plans the harvest of the three varieties so that he can use the stems!
Very interesting and humbling to see the grit and tenacity (and strength!) of one man!
And on to our last call.
LAPATI WINES, VINCENT JULIEN (SAGAREJO)
Vincent (yes, he’s French and not Georgian as is his business partner Guillaume) doesn’t usually have visitors so I was honoured to meet him, see his unusual qvevri set up and taste some of his exciting Pet Nat wines! He’s a bundle of energy and ideas and my notes were very limited and hard to follow, so bear with me! And Vincent can constantly flip between French, Georgian and English; extraordinary!
He’s been here for 12 years, makes 10,000 bottles of which 2,000 are Pet Nat. They own one hectare of Rkatsiteli but also have Takhveri and Chinuri for the sparks and some Saperavi, the latter for a full carbonic maceration in qvevri (imagine the work!).
Unusual marani; it’s under the house, but the qvevri are underground above ground! They sit in 14 cubic meters of sand in specially constructed retaining walls under the house, but effectively are not buried in the ground, but in sand above ground. Fascinating setup! It was from Vincent that I learned that all qvevris are the same thickness and so the smaller ones are much stronger than the big ones, and no-one breathes until any qvevri is settled in the ground. His empty qvevri are given a lime wash but are carefully washed before use.
His Pet Nats are made in classic wooden pupitres with hand riddling. The grapes are pressed and the must settles overnight. He needs clear juice for the Pet Nat and debourbage overnight gives minimum sediment later in bottle. Fermentation to adequate density with enough unfermented sugar remaining and then the wine is bottled and crown capped. This is the Methode Ancestrale, a single fermentation with CO2 being captured at the end to make the wine sparkle. He had problems in the past with bottles exploding, but he now sources from Armenia, Russia and France he has had no problems! He disgorges to order and the wines reach 5-6 bars. Although SO2 is used on the still wines at bottling, it isn’t on the Pet Nats.
Tasting
Khikhivi, Kisi and Mtsvane Pet Nat, (vintage?) are grown at about 1000m altitude and only 100 bottles were made. Very slow fermentation took two months in a small qvevri, followed by six months on lees. Opened a la volé and I wasn’t quick enough to capture the moment, but it’s impressive to watch as the cap flies off the edge of the veranda and the wine bubbles into a nearby glass; a real joy to see! It’s elegant, tropical with a hint of smoke. Delicious! (35 Lari but none to sell!)
Rkatsiteli 100%, two weeks skin contact, no stems, destemmed by hand, bunch by bunch, no pigeage, three years on lees so lots of autolysis and “fat” in the wine, 500 bottles. It’s absolutely delicious! Dense, creamy, almost chewy mousse, smoky reduction, full bodied, plump and muscular, fabulous! 5g/l RS (Extra Brut).
Saperavi carbonic maceration decanted directly from its qvevri. The vines are at 600m so produce lighter grapes with good acidity. He uses CO2 to fill the qvevri and then after a couple of days the juice produces enough itself to remain saturated. The problem is the management of the stems. He commented that Saperavi doesn’t need to be as hard as it often is, with too much punching down during fermentation and therefore too much extraction. The grapes have two weeks maceration and are then pressed and returned to the qvevri for a fast alcoholic and malolactic fermentations. Classic CM aromas of cherry, bananas, bubble gum, cinnamon with very low, fine tannins, tons of fruit, it’s a bit reduced, a metallic note, but opens up beautifully. Easy drinking it may be but I loved it!
Lovely wines and a shame that I couldn’t taste more or see more of how it all happens!
And that was it, the end to five days on the road in fascinating Georgia. I was sad, but we had the company of Vincent with us back to Tbilisi and lots of conversation! Rainy and cold we left him in the centre. Beqa delivered me back to my Georgian home from home, Hotel Gomi 19, and then I spent the next 24 being a tourist in Tbilisi, making another necessary trip to Ghvino Undergound, and seeing some sights while walking in the rain. And buying spices!
I can’t thank Living Roots (http://travellivingroots.com/ ) (especially Tamara) enough, who organised my tailor made, individualised tour, and patiently dealt with my changes and queries, and to Beqa for being a safe and patient driver, excellent company all over Georgia as well as being a mine of useful information on my Georgian education.
And a very special thank you to all of the wonderfully kind and enthusiastic people who invited me into their homes, wineries and restaurants. Madloba!!!
It’s been a blast and I’ll definitely be back for longer next time (and with a longer stopover at whichever airports I have to transfer at!).
I’m ashamed to admit that I managed to learn only three words in Georgian in my week’s travelling; hello (gamarjoba), thank you (madloba) and bye (nakhvamdis) as well as 5 days trying to pronounce road signs much to Beqa’s amusement! Not an easy language!
I do feel the need to make an observation about the use of the term “wine factory”. Many small qvevri winemakers are very suspicious of modern, larger scale wineries, even those which we consider to be normal, prestigious modern day wineries. I believe that this originates from the times of the soviet “wine factories” which were literally that; huge factories, pumping out massive volumes of semi-sweet, red, fabricated, I am told highly manipulated, “wines” for the thirsty USSR while at the same time, qvevri and small scale traditional winemaking was forbidden quite literally on pain of prison sentences. Despite this, many families continued to make their own wine, hence the survival of old vines and old qvevri. But much was lost under the soviet era and this is a source of much pain here. It’s difficult to understand,though, how larger volumes of qvevri wines could be made and the sheer number of qvevris necessary to achieve it; I have a vision of an enormous room with hundreds of qvevri necks sticking up above ground level as far as the eye can see! Just a thought which grew as I was travelling.
Happiness is…..
Fifty shades of amber?
Regularly changing tasting wines at Ghvino Underground
My final day concluded with a morning appointment at Bodegas Tradición. It was pouring with rain this particular morning, and as it wasn’t forecast I had only taken sandals, which suffered somewhat! Luckily the hotel lent me a large umbrella and it wasn’t actually at all cold. I was greeted by Daniel Martinez Becerra, who first explained some of the bodega’s varied and curious history.
In 1998, Joaquín Rivero Valcarce, who is head of Metrovacesa, one of Spain’s biggest construction companies, bought top quality old cellars from almacenistas and refurbished a derelict bodega to house the project. The size of the personal financial investment is extraordinary. The idea was to recuperate family traditions and produce small lots of very high quality sherries and for this Rivero employed experts to oversee buying of wines and cellars (whose walls are 4 metres thick in places since they were not only cellar walls but also the wall of the Moorish city). As well as the wines, the bodega houses Rivera’s private art collection, one of the biggest in Andalucía, and the gallery is open to the visitor. A rotating exhibition of about 60 of the 400 works held are exhibited at any one time, a beautiful addition to any tour.
Tradición produce only old Sherries (and brandies), at first no Finos and nothing under 20 years old but since about 2012, there has been a Fino in the range and which is over 12 years old. There are about 500 butts of Fino and about 1000 bottles are produced a year, all hand labelled and numbered, like all Tradición’s bottlings.
The Pedro Ximenéz Sherries are interesting, about 6,000 bottles of which are produced a year. The year’s sobretabla wines are bought in Montilla, where PX grows much more successfully, and fortified to either 7 or 15% depending on the current price of alcohol. The VOS spends 25 years in the solera in 5 criaderas, i.e. 5 years in each criadera! There is a group of 6 butts of super old PX classified as VORS but much older and of which only 100 bottles are released a year (at 150€!).
There are a handful of wines which undergo static ageing (crianza estática), i.e. no solera movement, for some vintage wines (de añada), particularly a Palo Cortado (currently 40 years old) and some Olorosos, which are lacquer sealed and under strict control of the C.R.. These wines lose a great deal of volume through evaporation.
Barrel tastings (en rama) of the amontillado solera;
6th criadera, which is currently about 12-14 years old and receives its “rocío” with 12 year old Fino Viejo. The nose still shows some saline flor notes and melted butter
4th criadera at 25 years old
3rd criadera at 40 years old, now with varnish notes, caramelised almonds, nuts and fudge
Now at 50 years old, 19.5% natural alcohol, by concentration and not fortification, the colour has moved from deep amber to mahogany and is immensely complex and concentrated on the nose, nutty, lifted, caramel.
Amontillado Viejo at 100 years old (!!!) of which there are only 9 butts. Amazing nose and palate with lots of wood and a silky smooth mouth and finish.
An exam tasting, which I was told I probably hadn’t encountered before nor would again; inky black and opaque in colour with a nose of figs, dates and coffee, I thought it was some sort of PX or maybe old Moscatel but the palate didn’t fit. Eventually I was told it was from 3 butts of what is called “color” and which used to be used for wines destined for England, where more colour was required. It’s a sort of arrope, boiled wine, and is now over 50 years old; a real novelty!
And so we went to sit and taste the following;
Fino Viejo Saca May 2017, 12 years old,15%; I found the nose very difficult to describe with my Fino head on; russet apples (reineta) and brandy and this fits with the wine being at the end limit of biological ageing although still with a layer of flor on its surface and from very old butts. The palate was bone dry, soft, saline and almost unctuous in texture with aromas of bakery products and sweet brioche. Amazing!
Palo Cortado VORS but actually over 40 years old, 19.5% and 3,000 bottles /yr. Medium amber colour with a pale green rim, the nose shows caramel and fudge, caramelised almonds and almonds. The palate is intense with lots of elegant wood, vanilla, nuts, caramelised sugar and crème caramel; concentrated and long.
Oloroso Viejo VORS but actually 50 years old, 20%; pale mahogany colour with a deep olive green rim, the nose is hugely complex, perfumed and elegant with vanilla, nuts, caramelised almonds (garrapiñada), smoky hints, wood, cocoa, tobacco, incense. The palate is mouthwatering, soft and very full, corpulent, with lots of fine wood and cocoa. Spectacular!
At this point Daniel called on the extraordinary knowledge of Pepe Blandino, Tradición’s Capataz Jefe, to answer several of my more technical questions, which in honesty I had been accumulating throughout my stay in Jerez and needed answering once and for all before I left, and so I had the most amazing conversation about flor’s impact on acidity and glycerol in particular. It went something like this; flor feeds off many components of the wine including glycerol and acetic acid and so acidity levels fall during time in the solera. All acids are eventually consumed; acetic (volatile), tartaric, malic, succinic etc. So Amontillados (which begin with biological ageing) have softer noses and palates than Finos, since as well as there being less acidity, the flor has not yet consumed all of the glycerol. As Olorosos never see flor they contain more acidity and much more glycerol so have much fuller palates. Although flor doesn’t need sugar, it will consume any small amounts in the sobretabla, which again is present in Olorosos, especially those which are very old and where sugar is concentrated through evaporation. In time, alcohol in Finos also drops since the flor again consumes it.
Amontillado, 50 years old, 19% alcohol; pale mahogany in colour with a pungent, complex nose. Notes of salty seawater, sweet bakery, patisserie products, Arab sweets(!), raw nuts and perfumed incense. The palate is intense and concentrated with fine, elegant wood, smoky hints, toasted nuts, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts, caramel and toffee and an endless finish.
Cream VOS, 70% Oloroso and 30% PX, sold at Fortnum & Mason, 180g/l RS. The nose shows liquid figs, prunes, sultanas, coffee and tobacco leaf. The palate is well balanced with dried apricots and prunes to add to the nose.
PX VOS, but 25 years old, 15% and 450g/l RS; opaque brown in colour the nose is of liquefied dried fruits, prunes, apricots, sultanas, raisins, figs with a hint of coffee, the palate reflecting the nose with lots of toasted, roasted notes of coffee and cocoa. It is extremely well balanced hugely sweet without being sticky and with a molasses note on that very long finish. The wine would lose freshness if left any longer hence it is not made as a VORS.
PX VORS, 30 years old, and sells for about 150€, the wine is almost black with a nose of molasses and sultanas and all those dried fruits. It is more concentrated than the VOS but somehow less sweet with a coconutty hint. Absolutely fascinating!
And that was three hours of Daniel’s very generously given time over, and very much appreciated! These are extraordinary wines like many I have tasted on this brief incursion to Jerez, and must be tried!
Next I was off to a late afternoon appointment with Fernando Romero, DirectorComercial (Marketing Manager) for Spain and Germany at Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla. And at C/Jardinillo, possibly the most beautiful of addresses; it translates as “Little Garden”! Founded in 1837, Fernando de Castilla are not only sherry producers but also famous for their brandies. Fernando explained that traditionally there were over 30 varieties of the Palomino grape vine, but that Palomino Fino is the one which produced most of the volume of Jerez while Airén is used for brandy.
Bought by Jan Pettersen (ex-Osborne) in 2000, three particular characteristics of Fernando de Castilla are; integration of alcohol in wines and brandies; their “parque” (struggled with the translation here, but the cellar really) of old barrels of 40-50 year old wines; and brandies over 100 years old.
Only ageing of wine is undertaken here; the base wines, mostos, themselves are all bought exclusively as sobretabla from Bilbaina, who are also shareholders in Fernando de Castilla. This gives full control over the vineyards and base wine making and supply. Most wines, I was told, are aged for longer than other wineries; the youngest Fino is five years old; aged for four years in solera after one in sobretabla.
Brandies also go through a solera with minimum three years ageing. Here PX barrels are used as well as new American oak for vanilla notes, depending on the style sought. And a vermouth is also made.
All processes are natural, so Finos often throw tartrates on chilling; there is no stabilisation, filtering or colour adjustment although Finos are coarse filtered for large particles. There are about 150,000 barrels in total for the two ranges of sherry; Classic and Antique. Wines are chosen at the sobretabla stage, mostos are first off the press making them very fine musts.
I was invited to taste four wines from the Antique range “en rama”, i.e. from the barrels.
#1 Amontillado Antique; 20 years old, 19% alcohol. The nose is of melted butter, toffee and caramel, the palate is elegant, caramel and nutty. It is very cleansing in texture, very gastronomic and has a very long finish. 4-5,000 bottles.
#2 Oloroso Antique; 20 years old and 20% alcohol. The grapes for this sherry are harvested at full ripeness or perhaps slightly over. The nose smells of bitter oranges, walnuts and caramel while the palate shows similar walnuts and orange peel with coffee. The body is glyceric, dense and full and the finish is very long.
#3 Palo Cortado Antique; 30 years old. This has a very elegant, complex and saline nose of caramel, coffee and walnuts. The palate reflects the nose with amazing retronasal aromas.
#4 PX Antique; this amazing Pedro Ximénez has 489g/l residual sugar but with balanced acidity which means that it is not as sticky as one may think! Honey, liquorice, coffee, orange, liquid dates and figs and dried apricots; hugely complex! What stands out is the balance here and it is an outstanding wine (despite me not being a massive PX fan!).
We were running short of time so only briefly looked at the brandy side of the bodega and my brief notes are unworthy…
Quick bar tasting before I left of;
6 year old Fino En Rama; aromas of green olives, hay and a touch of coffee; delicious
Antique Fino, which is, unusually these days, refortified to 17% at bottling
Vermouth; really lovely with notes of cinnamon, orange peel and spices and a bitter finish. Made from 30% PX, 70% Oloroso and a mix of 27 botanicals including wormwood.
And time ran out well and truly! This was another fantastic visit, where I found it hard to take coherent notes as the conversation and discussions were wide ranging and fascinating! Memorable in itself!
In common with most other sherry bodegas, Fernando del Castila have an arrangement to supply “botas envinados” or wine-primed barrels, to a whisky distiller, in their case to a Hebridean distiller called Bruichladdich (https://www.bruichladdich.com for even more further reading!), who declare themselves “unashamedly experimental”!
A huge thank you to Fernando for his time, and please seek out these wines!
My next visit was to Lustau, where I had been unable to make arrangements for a professional visit, I joined a 25€ tourist visit in English with 10 other people at 1pm; they offer a range of visits and languages. Established in 1896 Lustau is today considered one of Sherry’s reference wineries in terms of tradition, quality and worldwide distribution and is the only winery which can produce in all three Sherry towns; Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa Maria and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. I didn’t take many notes here but the website is very good. Vinification is in El Puerto de Santa María along with bottling, so wines are moved between the two towns. Over 40 different sherry styles are made! Flagship, excellent value for money Fino La Ina is aged biologically for 3-5 years with 30% saca each time. The saca from Oloroso soleras is only 5%. There are over 20,000 American oak barrels here plus those for whisky producers Jameson’s, whose barrels are “primed” for two years with oloroso, which is then sold on to distillers.
There are several ranges; the Solera famliy range, Almacenistas (originally stock holders of often old wines), Specialities, VORS range, “3 en Rama” Finos from each town, as well as brandies, vinegars and two excellent vermouths, white and red. The wines tasted included the following (all bottled), but it was difficult to keep up so in the end I just went with the flow!
Almacenista Manzanilla Pasada, 10 yrs old
Puerto fino, 5 yrs old
Fino Jarana, 5 yrs old
Amontillado Escuadrilla
Palo Cortado Almacenista Cayetano del Pino (22 barrels)
Oloroso Don Nuño
White vermouth (excellent)
Red vermouth. Both vermouths sherry based.
East India Solera Cream, 15 years old, 80% Oloroso 20% PX
Moscatel Emilín
Pedro Ximenéz San Emilio
Pedro Ximenéz VORS (Lustau have 5ha of PX and 7ha of Moscatel)
Visiting Emilio Hidalgo, with Juan Manuel Martín Hidalgo, was a complete contrast to my first visit. Hidalgo is a much smaller, family business and here few visitors are accepted as they are not really set up for it at the moment, although construction in the outside patio is underway to facilitate visits in the future. Established in 1805, the business has seen many changes and is now in the hands of the 5th generation. Juan Manuel is keen to emphasise the use of the word Jerez instead of Sherry to talk about the wines in an effort to change consumer perceptions. These days Hidalgo has no vineyards of its own, relying instead for supply of its musts on long term, committed relationships with trusted growers and producers.
My visit here lasted for over two hours and was all barrel tasting of dry wines; we didn’t even get to the sweets! Hidalgo focuses on aged wines; its Panesa Fino is about 16 years old and the Consejo Regulador usually has to visit to verify that, yes, it still does still have flor growing on it, albeit “feinting” or dying. Volumes are limited. The architecture of the bodega is designed to maximise the natural cooling effects of the local breezes from the south west and limit the effects of the hotter, drier, easterly winds and there are 5 patios which further enhance the cooling effects.
The first barrel we tasted was mosto, as fermented wine is known in Jerez, with a natural alcohol content of 11.9% and fresh aromas of apple, grass and hay. There is no MLF so the palate is quite acidic (malic) with chalky mineral notes from the albariza soil. My notes say “new sensations in my mouth”! This is “mosto de reposicíon” or must for refilling the saca in the solera. There are about 5,000 butts in total. It’s always a delight to see an expert wielding a “venencia” with absolutely no drips!
In Bodega La Panesa we tasted several barrels; second year Fino, clean nose with apple and raw nut aromas, the palate shows almonds hazelnuts and citric and malic acids; it’s green and leafy. The third tasting was the Fino at 5 years old (sells for about 9€) and smells of bread, grass and green herbaceousness with no salinity. The palate is dry but still has the oiliness of glycerine, which hasn’t yet been consumed by the flor and also as we’re tasting it “en rama” and contains tiny fragments of yeast; it’s sold cold stabilised and lightly filtered. The third wine tasted still had flor growing on its surface (torch at the ready through the bung hole!) and the Fino is now about 10-11 years old, average age. Aromas now include toffee, coffee, sweet bread products, butter and varnish, hugely complex but still fresh. The palate is soft, slightly oily; delicious! Each butt is different and is followed separately. The solera heads towards over 15 years old, still under biological ageing, i.e. flor, and some Finos-Amontillados are revealed from the original Fino. Amontillado Tresillo with no fortification at 17 years old originates from this solera.
The fifth taste was a barrel of La Panesa itself. It’s about 16 years old and there is still a breaking film of flor on its surface. The palate is soft, with patisserie, nuts, vanilla, burnt sugar and it still needs a moment to open up; the flor protects the wine from oxygen and its abrupt exposure to air means it needs time to open up. The nose remains somewhat mute (compared to younger Sherries) whereas the palate is much more expressive. The solera of La Panesa is now 55 years old and it’s been commercialised as a wine for 15 years. La Panesa caused great consternation when it was released as many other wineries thought it was simply a too old Fino. There are many others now being produced.
The sixth barrel was what Juan Manuel called a “mirlo blanco” or a white blackbird! Something unusual! He refers to it as a Fino –Amontillado and it shows much less acidity, those aromas of melted butter, nuts and is less fresh, now having some oxidation. The palate is more unctuous, more glyceric, nutty and deep. Ageing here is 12 years biological and 3-4 years oxidative with the flor fading so that this is no longer Panesa.
The seventh barrel tasted was Amontillado-Fino El Tresillo, fortified to 16%. Ageing here is 16-17 years, of which about 12 are biological followed by 6 -7 years oxidative. The nose is spectacular, complex, melted butter and nuts, the palate dry, warming from the alcohol, nutty, caramel, full flavoured and full bodied. A Spanish sweet called “almendras garrapiñadas” comes to mind, almonds which have been coated in toasted caramel, delicious!
Barrel 8 was Marqués de Rodil, Palo Cortado, 18 years old and 18.5% alcohol which is natural, unfortified, arising from concentration over the years in solera. This was amazing, very Amontillado in profile with delicate complexity, nutty and melted butter. Beautiful.
Juan Manuel really was keen to emphasise the age and special profiles of their wines as a real point of difference. He told me that Hidalgo were the first to release their Panesa style wine and when they did so, many producers thought they had lost the plot, but now there are several other bodegas producing similar, older wines and lots of “en rama”. Another interesting topic for discussion!
And a huge thank you to him for his time; hopefully I will get to see the sweet wine side of the business next time!
My first visit was at Gonzalez Byass, thanks to Marina García González for organising this with Simon Leth-Nissen (Brand Manager) for the tour and José Manuel Pinedo Contreras, Production Manager and Enologist, for the tasting. Over 250,000 visitors pass through this iconic winery every year and it’s a must in my opinion.
Gonzalez Byass has 1000 hectares of vineyards in Jerez Superior, 50% being owned and the other 50% under long term contract. These are all on albariza soils which are very poor and have a high chalk content. The region receives about 600mm rain a year (high for most of Spain), mainly in the autumn-winter and the soil structure means that this water is stored and available for the vines during the dry, baking hot summers. Ninety-five percent of GB’s vineyards are Palomino Fino with the remainder being 27 hectares of Pedro Ximénez; PX is mainly grown in Montilla-Moriles where it is better suited, since the climate is drier and less humid. Most bodegas have to buy their PX in from Montilla. As well as sherry, GB also produces brandy and prepares barrels for the Scottish Whisky industry, as do several other bodegas, “priming” them with sherry for subsequent whisky ageing. Generally sherry butts (mainly 500-600 litres capacity) are only replaced after 30 or 40 years of use, partly due to the long barrel ageing process, and also because new oak influence is not required. Examples include 21,000 casks for Tío Pepe fino production, which is bottled after 4 years in solera, compared with Del Duque Old Amontillado, which is bottled after more than 30 years in butts. Gonzalez Byass produce a wide range of Sherries, from the world famous high volume Tío Pepe to limited volumes of very old vintages (1000 bottles but not every year) Palo Cortados with Amontillados and Olorosos at all quality and price levels. The Constancia cellar pays homage to the famous mouse story with a model of a mouse climbing a small ladder to a glass, very cute. Tío Pepe was the founder’s uncle and it was he who had all the wine knowledge. Today the casks in the Founder’s Cellar are 100 years old and the wines go to both Tío Pepe and TP “En Rama” (unfined or unfiltered; “raw”). A great new Tío Pepe cellar was built in 1973 on three floors and which can house 10,000 casks each.
There are a number of very old casks with real curiosities in them; a Tío Pepe cask of 52 years old, as well as 52 year old PX and Moscateles, with exceptional and unusual flavour profiles.
All in all an interesting cellar visit. On to the tasting with José Manuel Pinedo Contreras, long standing Production Manager with Gonzalez Byass and who explained that GB produces principally Finos. The wine-making is protective with every aspect aimed at producing the finest musts, low pressure pneumatic pressing, limited but optimal SO2 use, fermentation at 20-22ºC (which is warm for whites but normal for sherry production where varietal character is not sought), and all culminating in must classification in November. More structured and complex musts produce Olorosos. He commented that climate change is leading to earlier harvests, this year the second week in August!!!
Tasting
Biologically – flor – aged Sherries
#1 Tío Pepe; lovely nose of green apples and acetaldehyde, almonds, bread-making and saline hints. The palate is soft, round and balanced, with more salinity (from the flor), apple, hazelnut, almond and hay. I asked about the acidity in finos and José Manuel explained that ripe Palomino Fino is naturally low in acidity anyway and that the must is corrected if necessary with tartaric acid to pH 3.5. The acidity falls while the wine is in the sobretabla and then solera system; potassium bi-tartrate precipitates out, volatile acidity is consumed by the flor. The wine is further cold stabilised also reducing tartaric acid, all resulting in an eventual pH of about 3. The flor also consumes glycerine leaving the sensation of lightness and accentuated dryness despite its 15% alcohol.
#2 AB Amontillado; Amontillados form as the flor – film-forming yeasts die off. Usually Amontillados are re-fortified to 17.5% but AB is 16.5% natural alcohol after 12 years in solera; 6 years biological and 6 years oxidative ageing. As the yeast dies, it no longer forms a layer on the wine so this is no longer protected from oxygen and it begins to slowly oxidise developing an amber colour and a different flavour profile. The nose shows melted butter, saline hints, nuts, vanilla and hints of wood. The palate is saline from the flor, dense, soft and velvety with a long finish. Lovely.
#3 Amontillado VORS, 30 year old Del Duque; amber in colour with a golden rim. The nose is piercing with melted butter, nuts, vanilla, toast, varnish and lacquer, all characteristics of a 30 year old sherry. 21.5% natural alcohol, i.e. not re-fortified, 4% loss of volume each year leads to concentration of the alcohol content. The palate also shows caramelised sugar and liquorice and has a long, persistent finish.
Oxidatively aged Sherries
#4 Oloroso Alfonso 8-10 years old; 18% alcohol, 2-3 years in the sobretabla after fortification and before going to the solera for another 5-6 years. The nose is clean, notes of wood, orange peel, vanilla and nuts. Similar notes on the palate, which is dry but with the suggestion of sweetness from the glycerine and concentration in solera (1g/l → 3g/l after 8-10 years).
#5 Palo Cortado Leonor, 12 years old, 20% alcohol; evidence of biological beginnings in saline hints, elegant and nutty, palate showing tannins from the barrels, less sweet sensation, drier and very long.
#6 Palo Cortado Apostoles VORS; Palomino Fino with Pedro Ximénez; a “Medium” sherry. At 15 years of age, 87% Palomino Fino has 13% PX added and continues in the solera and continues for another 15-18 years. The PX adds complexity to the nose and velvety softness on the palate. Mahogany in colour, the nose is complex and woody with vanilla, dried figs and dates. The palate reflects the nose with more nuttiness and is rounded and soft with development from the PX and endlessly long.
Cream Sherries
#7 Solera 1847; 18% alcohol. This wine is approximately 8 years old. Oloroso is aged in its solera for 4 years while PX (fortified at 7% alcohol to 15%, therefore having very high residual sugar) is aged in its own solera. After 4 years the wine are blended, 75% PF with 25% PX and enters the 1847 Solera, and where it spends another 4 years. Its colour is mahogany with an olive green rim, and nose of PX, dried fruits, orange peel and vanilla. The palate is very sweet (120g/l RS) with liquid dried dates and sultanas and long finish.
#8 Matusalem VORS (30 years old); this sherry has 25% PX added. The PF and PX are aged in separate soleras for about 15 years then blended and put through the Matusalem solera for another 15 years. Opaque mahogany in colour, the nose is of dried fruits and nuts, coffee, vanilla and burned sugar and spices. The palate shows surprisingly good acidity, is sweet with coffee, orange peel, dried fruits and is long with burned sugar. Really lovely. (130g/l RS)
#9 Nectar, 100% Pedro Ximénez ; 15% alcohol, 370g/l RS. PX grapes are sundried for about 2 weeks where they lose 40% of their water by evaporation. After pressing they are fermented and fortified at about 7% when fermentation stops naturally die to yeast being stressed by the high sugar content. Nectar spends about 8 years in the solera. Deep mahogany in colour with a nose of liquid figs, prunes, iodine, soft woody notes. The palate also shows raisins, more figs, honey and cooked dried fruits. It is velvety smooth and satiny, and the acidity just balances the sweetness. Lovely.
#10 Noé VORS, 100% Pedro Ximénez (from Jerez not Montilla); 15.5% alcohol. Similar processing of grapes to Nectar, Noé spends 30 years in solera, opaque ebony in colour, dense legs from high RS (>400g/l), there is less fruit on the nose (it’s old!) with a hint of varnish, more roasted notes of coffee and sugars, caramel, sultanas and figs. Extraordinarily long; wonderful!
A huge thank you to Simon and José Manuel for their time, generously given! Many of these wines are more commercially available than some of the others I have visited, so check them out!
(Some details corrected 28-01-2018 following feedback from GB)
I decided to spend a few days at the end of September to celebrate my birthday as an excuse to revel in the delights of the wines of Jerez, Sherry wines, and so I took the very convenient and comfortable train from Madrid to Jerez de la Frontera. It takes only three and a half hours and really is very easy. Here is a very brief account of those three days, and it isn’t intended to be a sherry learning post or any explanation of sherry styles or rules!
I’d booked at Los Jandalos Hotel, once a bodega itself and luckily my room was in the old winery section. I chose Los Jandalos because it has a spa, but the opening hours turned out to be so restrictive that I wasn’t able to enjoy the promised watery relaxation. Maybe next time! It was, however, very well situated, but that’s not hard in Jerez, which is a small town and nearly everything is within walking distance. And the best scrambled eggs I have ever tasted for breakfast along with freshly squeezed orange juice is always a bit of a luxury!
Very importantly, and see posts to follow, I had been able to organise visits in advance at
Gonzalez Byass,
Emilio Hidalgo,
Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla and
Bodegas Tradición.
Not being able to confirm some until the last minute meant that I wasn’t able to do anything other than the tourist visit at Lustau, where the tasting alone is actually well worth the visit.
The weather was warm and dry apart from a long deluge on the Wednesday morning for my walk to Tradición and I did walk miles while I was there. End of September is a great time to visit. Although a very sleepy place when I arrived on the Sunday evening, during the week it’s a bustling town.
La Carboná
After visiting Hidalgo, I went to the wonderful La Carboná restaurant for lunch, being only about 10 minutes’ walk. My difficult digestive system and no advance planning meant that I was limited on the menu but the mixed tomato salad with raspberries and basil followed by chistorra with chips went down a treat with three Sherries from the selection of over 120 on the wine list, most available by the glass as well as bottle; this really was sherry heaven! The Fino Inocente was extraordinary!
The Jandalos Hotel is a five minute walk from the Consejo Regulador and I made a quick call to see what they had to offer on the Tuesday morning before my next visit. I had managed to complete very successfully my WSET Diploma sherry studies without additional, specialised books but had bought the much recommended “Sherry” by Julian Jeffs before travelling to Jerez. As much as it is a wonderful book, I have to confess that I find it rather heavy going and I wanted more emphasis on winemaking and current issues. To my delight I found the 2012 “Sherry, Manzanilla, Montilla; A guide to the traditional wines of Andalucía” in the Consejo Regulador’s surprisingly extensive book shop, and bought it on the spot. Authored by Peter Liem and Jesús Barquín, I really cannot recommend it highly enough, either for studying or simply enjoyment. It’s an excellent read.
After Fernando de Castilla, that evening I went out to the very traditional Tabanco El Pasaje, where I enjoyed live flamenco, and drank Maestro Sierra sherries; Fino with tortilla, Amontillado with smoked tuna and, Palo Cortado with carne mechada (cold roast pork). Great evening!
After Tradición, I had lunch at the also very traditional Tabanco San Pablo; tortilla with Fino Valdespino and Cruzcampo with carne mechada. A great close to a wonderful trip! And so having been to El Puerto de Santamaria previously, my next stop will have to be Sanlúcar!
It’s taken an age, it’s been hard to write it all down, but there are 23 visits, about 20,000 words and also a few extra photos which didn’t involve wine!
I made a few pages of notes which I called “Thoughts” while travelling, things like driving over a mountain pass to a breathtaking view below, uncapturable on camera because of the scary roads! Drivers “undertaking” scarily; I took out my International Drivers Licence before I went thinking I’d do some driving, but I didn’t have the courage in the end! Toll roads absolutely everywhere, huge trucks moving tons and tons of wood, tree trunks, forestry being one Chile’s mainstay indistries alongside mining. The mountainous terrain enthralled me in spite of my studies; seeing is believing, understanding, for me. Trees growing bent over through the strength of the wind in Casablanca Valley. Huge turbines to move air in frost hollows. Eucalyptus forests everywhere. It really struck me how surprised many people were that I had chosen Chile for my trip. Extraordinary welcome from everyone I was lucky enough to meet. Mortified at deleting one whole day’s photo’s uploads to Facebook by my own … erm… stupidity!!! The use of wood for many buildings, including expensive ones; it’s more earthquake resistant than bricks and mortar.
I was hugely conscious of the advantage which my very high level of Spanish gave me for most of my visits; although English is spoken, many people appreciate being able to express their passion in their mother tongue. However, it wasn’t without hitches; “Chilenismos” were rife, some difficult to catch, others catchy (¿Cachaí?). And of course “Despacito”!!!!!
Santa Carolina is another of the oldest wineries in Chile, dating back to 1875 and it is controlled by one family and belongs to a large group with finance available for investment. Although we were unable to coordinate a visit to the winery and vineyards, Santa Carolina’s oenologist Andrés Caballero most generously offered to organise a tasting at his home outside Santiago, and where we went on my last day in Chile, Wednesday April 19th. This turned out to be national census day and when everyone had to stay at home until they had been “censused”. This meant that Santiago was a ghost town, everything was closed and no visits would have been possible at all.
Santa Carolina makes over 100 wines and we tasted 16 of these, a mix of commercial and very non-commercial bottles outside in the sun in his garden, what an honour! Having been with SC now for 12 years he is able to be creative in the winery, at least on an experimental level (witness tasting below) as well as continually improving the standards of the catalogue already on offer.
Tasting
Sauvignon Blanc Reserva, Leyda 2016, 5%: harvested quite early. Pale lemon in colour, pristine nose of lime and elderflower, very green and fresh. The palate is dry with medium + acidity, medium alcohol, medium body, very fresh, crisp flavours of lime and lemon, floral and with a medium + finish bitter finish. Well balanced, very good value at 10$ US.
Experimental Semillon (100%) #1 2014, Apalta, 80 year old, dry farmed vines from a warmer region than #2 and #3, lovely nose of honey, peach and spice, dry palate medium acidity, medium + body, quince and opens up to reveal ripe stone fruits, peach and nectarine, lovely pithy bitterness on the finish.
Experimental Semillon (100%) #2 2015, from a cooler region than #1 and #3, very unusual nose of toast and honeycomb which contrasts hugely with a very dry and austere palate with appley hints.
Experimental Semillon (100%) #3 2016, from a site midway between #1 and #2, this had much greener overtones and was quite mute and was accompanied by a discussion on Sangiovese in Chile!
Experimental Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon 2015, fermented in foudre; Andrés is looking to create structure. Unusual nose, tomato leaf? The palate is dry and here there is a lot of ripe stone fruit, peach, nectarine, and the structure he is seeking, there is a sensation of tannic presence with medium + fresh acidity, medium + body, with a bitter medium + finish.
Chardonnay, Carbonic Maceration (yes!), Cauquenes, fermented in open tank, so semi carbonic maceration, aromas of bubble gum, banana and cherry, most disconcerting in a Chardonnay!!! Andrés is looking for something easier than orange wines with a full round body, which he achieves. The palate shows banana, ripe stone fruits and melon. Very interesting!
Experimental Cabernet Sauvignon, Vino Natural, Maule 2015, old vineyards and an old oak barrel for fermentation. Pale ruby in colour (despite being CS), packed with red and black berry and stone fruits, and spice. The palate is dry with medium acidity, medium + alcohol, medium + firm tannins and has a certain concentration of blackcurrant and blackberry fruit flavours.
Santa Carolina Cabernet Sauvignon D.O. Valle del Maipo,8%: deep ruby colour, medium + nose of cassis, blackcurrant, a metallic hint, chocolate, leather, and which evolves quickly as it warms up. The palate is dry with medium + acidity, medium + well rounded tannins, very elegant, medium body but concentrated flavours, dark berry and stone fruits, blackcurrant, plums, cherries, cocoa, leather, spice and a long finish. Classy and excellent value at 20$US!
Santa Carolina Carmenère, D.O. Valle del Rapel, 2014: medium ruby in colour with an appetising nose of blackberries, black pepper, vanilla, oak, chocolate and that metallic hint again (I asked Andrés about this and it was interesting to hear that perhaps the metallic aroma and taste which I often get (and nobody else does) may well be my sensing of reduction or possibly iron; at least it’s an answer to an on-going question which I have asked many times to people who know much more than me!). This Carmenère comes from older vineyards and Andrés explained that older vineyards ripen their fruit better, whereas younger vines can struggle to ripen their berries; things get better after about seven years and he also commented that the first crop from a vine is often very special in quality terms. I really enjoyed this wine and it is exceptional value at 20$US. Lovely!
Specialities Dry Farmed Carignan 2013, Cauquenes: another variety which needs to be fully ripe to express itself to the full, this was jam packed with fruit, damsons, plums, black cherries, blackberries, it spent 40 days macerating and fermenting. The palate revealed more black fruit with vanilla and cream, like a dessert bowl almost! Medium + body, medium very fine grained tannins and a nose that opened and evolved as we tasted.
Testing me! …… here I was presented with a challenge! What did I think it was? Medium ruby in colour with a nose of blackberry, plum, leather and a strong mineral element, it was fresh and very soft, smooth bodied. I thought perhaps Syrah, which is also what many of the oenologists it has been presented to blind have also said (thankfully I didn’t lose face then!!!) but it was actually Cabernet Sauvignon grown on schist, 12.3% with 12 months in foudre. It was really lovely.
Luis Pereira, LP 2012 (12 & 13 served together; these are Andrés’ babies!). In 2010 the project was begun with wines produced since 2012, using the same “recipe” or practices as 60 years ago, it is based on the idea of reviving heritage. We compare it with a bottle of (unlabelled save for identification sticker) 1959 Reserva Familiar. The grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon from three different ungrafted vineyards in three different areas with alcohol at 12.5%, fermentation with native yeasts followed by one year in barrel and one in foudre. Very complex nose of dark berry and stone fruits, spices, cream, coffee, tobacco, chocolate with very smooth, rounded, fine grained tannins.
Luis Pereira, LP 2013, this was not yet as knitted together and integrated as the 2012, more peppery, slightly greener profile but very elegant. They both need 3-5 years in the bottle to develop and are too young now! These are super premium wines at over 100$US; here’s to maintaining heritage and traditional practices! Only 200 cases are produced.
San Rosendo 2016 Malbec Centenario, only 200 bottles of this one! I found this very difficult to taste, perhaps after the LP? It was very perfumed and flora with black fruits, the palate quite tannic, better with some protein at this point!
San Rosendo 2017 Malbec, 5% (just finished fermenting) very close to “Don Tito” whose vines we visited a couple of days ago. This is an honour; I am the first to taste this wine finished! A very floral and blackberry nose, it’s still going through MLF, crisp acidity therefore, medium body, medium + tannins, medium finish, apples with blackberries and plums. Needs a little time to settle yet.
Romano 2014 (“César”) 2014 (only for oenologists, not on sale!) the variety here is unknown, supposedly stemming from Roman times, the grapes are hand harvested. It’s very interesting, very pale ruby in colour, a light nose of red fruit, redcurrants, strawberries, plums, it’s balanced with medium alcohol, light body, medium tannins, curious but fresh and enticing.
We also tacked two Clos des Fous on the end here, a 2014 Pinot Noir and 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon but they were too warm and didn’t show well.
And that was the close of my trip, my WSET Diploma Scholarship prize trip. Max did manage to book dinner in a very chic restaurant, 040, owned and run by Madrid chef Sergio Barroso that evening, to round off my Chilean adventure. Great finish too!
And a big thanks to Max for turning my plan and wish list into reality!
wineovino 