Weimax
Wines & Spirits |
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SPAIN: Table WinesThe table wines from the Rioja region are certainly world
famous and in the cellars of connoisseurs around the world.
MUGA  Also located in Haro,
this family-run producer also has its own cooperage associated with the winery. They
buy wood, season it themselves and there's a cooper on hand to build and repair
barrels. While many wineries in Rioja are using stainless steel for their
fermentation, Muga clings to the past, fermenting in wooden vats! They are using
French and American oak for their wines, having more than 10,000 barrels in their
impressive cellars. They claim their 2002 Reserva to be an unfiltered wine. It is 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and the balance Graciano and Mazuelo. Two years of oak aging have made this a cedary red which is delicious now (especially with grilled meats) and it may be cellared 3-5 more years. Very nice and smooth. As the 2002 is a challenging vintage, the fruit from their higher-end wines went into this basic bottling which explains the good results in a tough year.  Muga's
long-time prestigious bottling of "vino Tinto" is called Prado Enea. This
is predominantly Tempranillo with about 20% split amongst Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo.
Matured for an extended period in oak, this 1995 is just now coming to market!
It is drinkable now and should be in tip-top form for another 5-8 years, maybe
longer!Torre Muga is the "reserve-reserve" bottling. The 1994 was off of the charts. We never did open a bottle of the 1995 which was especially good, though we read several favorable reviews. The 1996 is still not as fine as the 1994, but it is a good wine, anyway. Moderately oaked, this is drinkable now and you can cellar it for a decade, if you like. The 1998 was quite good at $50, but the price has risen to $75, so it's less interesting from a value perspective. The winery recently released some bottles of older vintages of Prado Enea. We were lucky enough to snag a few bottles of prime vintage Rioja. These are old-style wines...a bit on the delicate side, so if you're accustomed to big, oaky reds, these may not be of interest. These are listed below. 1998 Prado Enea Gran Reserva (list $56) SALE $49.99 1981 Prado Enea Gran Reserva (list $120) SALE $109.99 1985 Prado Enea Gran Reserva (list $100) SALE $84.99 2003 Torre Muga (list $90) SALE $79.99 This brand is some sort of grower's cooperative dating back to the 1930s. In the 1990s they took on a new partner, a wine company which also has its tentacles in fruit and vegetables. Solar de la Vega comes from Spain's Rueda region. The winery has, literally, thousands of acres of vineyards in the Valladolid region. With such economy of scale, it's not surprising they can offer the wine at an attractive price. What is a surprise is that the wine actually captures the character of the Verdejo grape. We find the citrusy, pink grapefruit-like aromas and flavors to be quite a refreshing change of pace from the world of California white wines (you know: high alcohol, high oak, high price). This is a lovely wine on its own and perfect if you're incorporating some citrus into the salad dressing (instead of vinegar) or seafood marinade. BODEGAS LAN  Logroño,
Alava and Navarra contribute their first letters to form
"LAN," the name of this enterprising bodega. These are the
three regions intersected by the Rioja region. The winery was
founded in the early 1970s and became the property of a gentleman who made
batteries and plastic tubing. The winery has been on a mission, after making serious investments in stainless steel tanks, oak barrels and other winemaking tools. What it lacked was vineyards and grapes. LAN began its search for better fruit and they've made great investments to assure top quality grapes. You see, they're paying above-market prices for grapes and the quality of the LAN wines has risen handsomely. They produce a large quantity of wine and we find some of their vintages to be spot on and price-worthy. Currently we have a 2004 "Crianza" in the shop. It's made entirely of Tempranillo and aged about a year in small American oak barrels. While it's not the most compelling bottle of Rioja we've run across, it is the best buy in good Rioja...it costs a mere ten bucks, unheard of these days. Try finding an entry level red in Napa for $9.99. Buena suerte as they say in Spanish. The 2004 Crianza is a medium-bodied red. Nice woodsy notes from the oak and some red fruit elements from the Tempranillo. It's drinkable now and you can cellar it for a few years. MARQUES DE DAROCA  This winery is located in an unknown region of northeastern Spain.
Aragon has an area known as Valle del Jiloca and it's between Rioja and
the east coast of Spain. This firm seems to be on the right track, making wines which have a bit of soul to them (unlike the schlock you find from California's Central Valley or the big production "coastal" wines from Beringer or Mondavi, for example). The 2005 blend of Grenache + Syrah is remarkably good. You will detect the berryish notes of both varieties and a hint of spice, too. The tannins are not huge, making this drinkable now. And you can't beat it for good value! They changed the label to the less "noble" Daroca and dropped the "Marques de" since maybe nobody there is of noble heritage. Who knows? Currently in stock: 2005 Grenache/Syrah $6.99 (case discounts, too!) CONDE DE SIRUELA  These
days it seems just having the appellation of "Ribera del Duero"
means a winery can charge $30 for its red wine and, perhaps even a bit more
if the wine is "good."Even more amusing is that sales reps are routinely "wound up" and programmed to go sell the wines from the Ribera region by saying their wine is from a property "near that of Pesquera" or "it's close to the Vega Siclia estate" as though that is somehow a guarantee of quality. Here's a wine from a property in La Horra (near Burgos). They're close to Vega Siclia if your perspective is say, compared to that of a Sherry producer in Jerez. Then they're really close to Vega Sicilia. The Frutos Villar family owns this property, buying the winery called Bodegas Santa Eulalia back in 1988. Today they have about 200 hectares of Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) vines and more than a thousand French and American oak barriques. What we appreciate about the new vintage of this wine is that it's both drinkable (delicious, actually) and affordable. It's been matured for a few months in oak and has a blackberry fruit note and nice cedary, woodsy tones. Unlike acquiring a bottle of Vega Siclia, you won't need to speak with the finance officer here at the shop. A ten dollar bill does the trick. MAS IGNEUS  Winemakers
tend to go nuts when they see rocky vineyard sites, knowing there is
often great potential in making wine from vines which struggle to
survive under torturous conditions.Spain's Priorat is a wonderful place for planting a vine and it's a struggle for a grape grower to make a living out of caring for fruit grown on steep slopes and on rocky soil (if you want to call it soil). We visited Priorat years ago and saw great potential. The hills are amazing and the vineyard sites can be best described as "rugged." We saw abandoned vineyards. Who wants to cultivate a hill and be paid pennies for the back-breaking work it takes to obtain a few kilos of grapes? A few souls saw the potential for greatness that we had admired. Some wonderful wines were made and relatively high prices were obtained. Oh, money! That turns out to have been a wonderful incentive for new pioneers to arrive on the scene and pay farmers to grow a few vines. Today there are all kinds of wines coming from Priorat. Critics who prize power are easily smitten by the deep, dark, gobs-o-fruit quality of many of the wines of this region. Think what wine would taste like were Spain to Meet Australia and you have a clue about Priorat (to some extent). Mas Igneus is a relatively new venture. It was a joint effort of the Poboleda grower's cooperative wine and two famous Penedes region winemakers, Josep Maria Albet and Josep Maria Pujol-Busquets. Albet is famous for his Albet i Noya winery, while Pujol-Busquets has the Finca Tara and produces a wine called Alta Alella. The grower's became un-cooperative and pulled out of the project, leaving the winery under the stewardship of the two famous winemakers.
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The Izadi winery is a
relatively new producer, being founded in 1987. It's Viña Villabuena
and Izadi is their brand name. They're in the Alavesa sub-region of Rioja.
Apparently they made a small change in direction which has had a positive
impact on their wines. They hired "flying winemaker" (that's
what they call consulting wine wizards) Mariano García, who had been
working with the famous Ribera del Duero estate, Vega Siclia, as a
consultant. 
You might think
"Florentino" is an Italian wine, but it's not. This comes
from La Mancha, a vast wine region south of Madrid, a place where loads of
everyday, simple wines have been produced. 
This is a
relatively new winery, but they have rather mature vineyards in the Montsant
region of Spain. It's part of the "Oro Wines" group, of
which U.S. importer, Spanish wine ambassador, Jorge Ordoñez is
involved. Another partner in this enterprise is Ángel Gil of the
Jumilla winery, Juan Gil. 
We
served a bottle of this wine at a dinner hosted by Bob Gorman to celebrate
the birthdays of two special friends.
Paul
may be radioactive after enjoying this wine!
The Eguren family has been making wine since 1870. They
currently have four wine-making facilities: Dominio de Eguren, Señorío de San
Vicente, Vega de Toro and Sierra Cantabria. They are presently building a
fifth and sixth facility, one in Toro and another new one near "headquarters" in
Rioja. We visited their "Sierra Cantabria" installation in Rioja a few
years ago and were impressed by the new cellar teeming with American oak barrels.
Borsao comes from a cooperative winery
(actually, it's three wineries!) in the Aragón region of
Spain. They have something like 1500 hectares of vineyards, primarily in Garnacha
vines. The official name of the winery is the Sociedad Cooperativa Agricola Limitado
de Borja, so you can see their name Borsao is certainly much easier to remember. 
Located in Haro, this
is a very traditional, old-time winery. They grow enough fruit to supply about half
of their production, buying grapes from growers to meet the demands of the market. 
The Gran
Reserva #890 from the 1994 vintage is just being released at the end of
2007. Here's a remarkable, very traditionally-made Rioja wine.
It comes from old vines which yield few grapes. It's approximately 85%
Tempranillo and the rest is Graciano and Mazuelo. Six years of
aging in wood!! Imagine that! Once bottled, the wine was then
stored for another 6 years and it's offered to the market in 2007! The
bouquet is lovely, woodsy, cedary and shows a note of cigar box...It's dry
on the palate, but not "plush" in the fashion of modern-styled
wines. Pair this with a roast or grilled meats. Very special.
They
have implemented a program of organic farming and hope that 100% of their
vineyards will be cultivated in this fashion. They have not quite
achieved that goal, but are closing in fast.
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