TN: Spanish Whites around $20

WINE TALK
1

SPANISH WHITES AROUND $20 - Daniel’s (7/23/2014)

Last night my tasting group met to try a very broad topic. Spanish whites. Yes, we knew that there are many different styles, but it seemed like a topic to cover a lot of ground in one tasting. The wines were most, but not all purchased off local shelves for this tasting. It was odd that most of the locally available wine was 2011. Whether that is because they languished on the retailer shelves for a few years, or the distributors are slow to bring in new whites, or whatever, that is disappointing. A lot of these lacked fruit, and I can only presume younger vintages would have had more. I know these are not high volume sellers, but it makes me wonder - where are the 2012’s and 13’s? Will they be brought out in a few years when the 11’s have sold thru? It a shame. This group is always looking for value wines to stock up on for our cellars. I don’t think anyone last night was persuaded to go out and buy more.

The wines were served blind over the course of 2.5 hours. Breads and cheeses were served.

  • 2012 Bonny Doon Vineyard Albariño Kristy Vineyard & Jespersen Ranch - USA, California, Central Coast
    Pale yellow in color. The nose has lemons, some sulfur and some flint. Tart pears on the palate. Slightly green/lime notes. Long finish. This is very nice. Blind, it seemed to have too little fruit for California, but then once we tried the Spanish wines, this seemed to have the most fruit. Good value. (88 pts.)


  • 2011 Jorge Ordoñez & Co. Rueda Old Vines Nisia - Spain, Castilla y León, Rueda
    Light medium gold in color. The nose is flinty with minerals. Slightly sweet on the attack. An odd buttered sweet corn note. Turning slightly bitter on the finish. A nice wine. (87 pts.)
  • 2013 Raventós i Blanc Penedès Silencis - Spain, Catalunya, Penedès
    My second time trying this wine and it has been consistent. This is nice for the money ($16). The nose has shells, slight peaches and lots of grapefruit. Tart grapefruit on the palate. Seemed to have a bit of spritz on pouring that blew off immediately. Long, tart finish. Needs food to be at its best. (88 pts.)
  • 2013 Ameztoi Getariako Txakolina - Spain, País Vasco, Getariako Txakolina
    I liked this far more than most of the group. To be fair, this is a hard wine to drink blind with such a broad topic. The spritz threw some off as did the acidity. This would show better at the table, non-blind. Light silvery gold in color. The nose has club soda and some lemony qualities. Slight carbonation. Tart candied green apples (some said sweet tarts) especially tart on finish. (90 pts.)
  • 2010 Bodegas do Campo Godello Vina do Campo Blanco - Spain, Galicia, Ribeiro
    Golden/green in color. The nose has slight lemons, with air minerals emerge. Thin and slightly oily texture which is nice. Slightly bitter. Lots of minerals. No fruit to speak of. Pleasant. Leaves me wanting more. (87 pts.)
  • 2011 Finca Os Cobatos Monterrei - Spain, Galicia, Monterrei
    Light gold in color. The nose has minerals. Oily texture. There is some depth and complexity here. Tart citrus and minerals. Nice finish. (89 pts.)
  • 2011 Adega Condes de Albarei Albariño Rías Baixas - Spain, Galicia, Rías Baixas
    Golden, slightly dark. The nose has a metallic note and minerals. Slightly sweet on the palate, but also some tart pears. Tart finish. (87 pts.)
  • 2010 Bodegas Docampo Treixadura Ribeiro Señorio da Vila - Spain, Galicia, Ribeiro
    Slightly dark gold in color. The nose has minerals and slight lemon notes. Some vanilla/oak notes too. Great texture. Lemons and minerals with a nice complexity. Long finish. A polarizing wine that got 3 first place votes and nothing else higher than 4th. I liked it but wonder what it was like on release. The only wine we tried with what seemed like obvious oak. (91 pts.)
  • 2008 Jorge Ordoñez & Co. Moscatel Seco Botani - Spain, Andalucía, Sierras de Málaga
    I didn’t rate this. It was oxidized. Not beyond recognition but beyond pleasure. This was recently bought. Why would a store sell this. This is not a wine that was made to be drunk 6 years from vintage. The odds is would still be good are low. It speaks poorly of the store and makes the winery look bad. The store should have just pulled it and eaten the $10 in costs. NR (flawed)
  • 2011 Jorge Ordoñez & Co. Moscatel Seco Botani - Spain, Andalucía, Sierras de Málaga
    Luckily, we also had the 2011 of this wine. This was the groups WOTN. Silvery/green gold in color. The nose is deep with lemons, flint and a vanilla (I doubt it saw any oak) quality. A bit bitter. Soft texture. Lemons. Some heat on a long finish. (88 pts.)
  • 2012 Bodegas La Cana Rías Baixas - Spain, Galicia, Rías Baixas
    Silvery gold in color. The nose has seltzer and minerals. Lemony on the palate. Long finish. Nice. (89 pts.)
  • 2010 Bodegas do Campo Ribeiro Vina do Campo Blanco - Spain, Galicia, Ribeiro
    Light gold in color. The nose is slightly waxy with lemons. Slightly sweet. Airy. Tart oranges. A bit flabby but not egregious. (88 pts.)


  • 2004 Celler Piñol Terra Alta Mistella vi de Licor - Spain, Catalunya, Tarragona, Terra Alta
    Jeff K. brought this. very interesting. Pretty clear, square shaped bottle with a bunch of sediment at the bottom. The liquid was ruby/orange/brown. Light strawberries on the nose and maybe some plums. Slightly sweet. Smooth. No hints of the 15% alcohol. This is apparently made from wine must that is fortified. I wonder if this is meant to age this long or not. It was quite nice and enjoyable though. Very cool. (89 pts.)

Thanks to Dan for hosting and all for participating.
Posted from CellarTracker

2

First off, this sounded like a very cool tasting. I love when wine geeks can converge to collectively explore off the beaten path stuff. I always admired the sense of place these wines seem to convey.

3

Not often we see such attention to Spanish whites so thanks for this. champagne.gif .

4

Close to the $30 mark, you can try Plácet de Valtomelloso by Palacios Remondo.

As regards the Ameztoi, txakolin in general (moreso those from the Getariako D.O.) is rather jolting to those new to it, especially, I’d imagine, tried blind among wines based on better known grapes. I, myself, drink quite a bit if it, but always with food (especially fresh, lightly/simply cooked (more often grilled) shellfish and fish.

Best,

N

5

Nice notes and thanks for the invite; Morten Hallgren (owner/winemaker of Ravines in the Finger Lakes) was in town as his wines are newly distributed in NEOhio and I had already made plans to attend an event he was pouring at. By all means let me know the next time there’s an open seat at the table as I’d love to taste with the group again.

6

Too bad you couldn’t get Lopez de Heredia. Those are not everyone’s cup of tea, but I really enjoy them, particularly with some age.

Thanks as always for the great notes and sense of exploration, Loren.

7

No Rioja Blancos?

8

Where was he pouring at? I would have loved to attend that. I recently discovered his Dry Riesling and thought it was just fantastic. I can’t wait to try some of his other wines. Do you know which wine shops are carrying Ravines because they haven’t made it on the West side yet.

9

Not David, but he was pouring at World Wines in Mentor, on 20 just east of 615. I would assume they carry it although I haven’t been there recently. Ravines has a web site though, so shoot them an e-mail. I bet they can tell you.