Recommendations please for spanish wines that I may actually like.
Yes, I’ve seen the long spanish wines thread, but I’m too lazy to read all the way through it to try to sift the posts to find what I may like amongst the well liked stuff that just isn’t for me.
I like Lopez de Heredia. YUM. Every bottle I’ve had is VERY YUM.
I recall once having an Unico that was good, forget the vintage though. A recent Ygay was pretty tasty.
I like various sherries – mostly Lustaus of varying stripes – on the dry side.
El Nido? Clio? YUK!
Most other spanish wines – YUK!
To be fair, I’ve consumed and enjoyed a fair amount of stuff like Pesquera and Conde de Valdemar, but that was some time ago (before I realized that burgundy was All – well, except for champagne. Oh, and also barolo/barbaresco, and maybe a little trad. rhone, and, um, a little amarone (can’t diss messrs. dal forno and quintarelli or the wine gods will strike my palate dumb). OK a few Cali chardonnays still make the cut (Aubert anyone?) (not too keen on his pinots though)).
I used to like Aussie wine too, but my palate has changed.
Gimme the traditionalist stuff. So, what should I be looking for? Sugerencias?
You will not find that much traditionaly styled Spanish wines outside of Rioja. Here is a list of the best ones in alphabetical order:
904 Gran Reserva
890 Gran Reserva
Contino Gran Reserva
Finca Valpiedra Reserva
Imperial Gran Reserva
López de Heredia Viña Bosconia
López de Heredia Viña Tondonia
Marqués de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial
Marqués de Tomares Gran Reserva
Muga Prado Enea Gran Reserva
Viña Ardanza Reserva
Viña Real Gran Reserva
On sherries you should look for anything from the Equipo Navazos La Bota series.
Yes, well, that’s not a traditionalist/less traditionalist problem, but one of preferring the delicate wines over the powerful wines, if I can read something into your preferences: if you like, say, Rousseau and Roumier, you’re not going to be wildly interested in Château Lynch-Bages or Gourt de Mautens, right? Yet they’re all French… Well, in Spain the variety is just as marked, but maybe you’ve been barking up the wrong trees… A quick, partial selection of ‘other’ Spanish wines you might find more attractive:
Sameirás 2008 Antonio Cajide, DO Ribeiro
Goliardo Espadeiro 2007 Forjas del Salnés, DO Rías Baixas
Corias Guilfa 2007 Monasterio de Corias, VT Cangas
Paixar 2005, DO Bierzo
Moncerbal 2006 Descendientes de J. Palacios, DO Bierzo
Algueira Crianza 2005, DO Ribeira Sacra
El Reventón 2007 Landi-Pérez, VT Castilla y León
Prieto Picudo 2005 Dehesa de Rubiales, VT Castilla y León
Pie Franco 2006 Casa Castillo, DO Jumilla
Oferente Crianza 2004 SC Santiago Apóstol, DO Jumilla
PF 2007 Viñedos y Bodegas Ponce, DO Manchuela
Ad Gaude 2005 Heretat de Cesilia, DO Alicante
El Fin del Mundo 2007 Jiménez Landi, DO Méntrida
Clos Adrien 2006 Terra Remota, DO Empordà-Costa Brava
P. de María 2007 Maciá Batle, DO Binissalem
Viñas de Valtarreña 2004 Carmelo Rodero, DO Ribera del Duero
La Mala 2004 Dominio de Atauta, DO Ribera del Duero
Único 1999 Vega Sicilia, DO Ribera del Duero
Colección Personal 2001 Abel Mendoza Monge, DOC Rioja
Gran Reserva 150 Aniversario 2001 Marqués de Riscal, DOC Rioja
Biurko Graciano 2004 Biurko Gorri, DOC Rioja
Victor, you make a good point about my use of the term “traditionalist.” I agree that my use is improper because it has nothing to do with whether the winemakers use “traditional” versus “modern” techniques. It is, as you surmised, more of a delicate/finesse vs. big/powerful type of thing. I tend to like my reds to be more on the light/acidic side of the street rather than the big/jammy side. I have found, at least in the Burgundy/Piedmont areas, that I tend to like wines made by producers who are considered to be “traditionalists” more than those considered to be more “modernist.” Accordingly, I typically use those terms to describe what I’m looking for.
Also, as you alluded to – Spain is a big place with lots of different wine producing areas. I need to study the various regions more to see what’s what. Are there any generalizations you can offer regarding styles/grape varieties that are prevalent in different areas?
Greg - if you’re looking for regions, look to Bierzo. Victor has a few on his list. Paixar is “bigger” than some and it’s actually one of my favorites, but you should look at the area. For example, the basic Corullon is something that should appeal to you. Bodegas Abad Dom is another producer to look for. The wines from the mencia grape tend not to have the forward fruit that many of the grapes in the south exhibit, so people who fear fruit may find more to like in these.
The Prieto Picudo 2005 Dehesa de Rubiales from Castilla y León is not my favorite but it’s a very interesting grape that the locals are recently trying to promote and there are a few good ones out. There are unfortunately more crappy ones but that’s true of every area. Another producer you might look for is Bodegas Pardevalles. I sell that producer but having tasted their wines against a lot of the competition, there’s a reason. I’m never sure how to describe that grape but if you can imagine bright acidic fruit without really big tannins, it’s along those lines. For example if you had a scale between say, barbera and tannat, I’d put it in the former camp rather than the latter.
Ribiera Sacra is another region that you could look around in. It’s received the blessing of some of the fundamentalist critics, so for whatever that’s worth, you may want to see what it has to offer.
Incidentally, Castilla y León itself is such a large region that rather than treat Spain as one generic appellation, you can do a lot of exploring in just that region and its subregions. In any event, as you move towards the south, you have more sun and bigger fruit, blah blah blah. But you should also look at the importers. If you don’t like what you consider “Spanish” and you’re basing your opinion on the wines that have received monumental scores from different critics, check out who brought those wines in and try some wines from somone else. Personally I’m pretty omnivorous so I don’t lock into one style of wine exclusively, but I also might have different preferences this night as opposed to last week so we make our decision on what to drink accordingly.