Rose Murray Brown MW, respected wine writer in Scotland, was celebrating three modern Scottish wine pioneers – in her ‘Scottish Connections’ virtual tasting with consumers in November.
Included was 🍇Manga del Brujo 2017 from Scot Norrel Robertson MW @escocesvolante – the tasters loved the smoky blackfruit peppery toasty blend of old vine Grenache, Syrah, Tempranillo & Mazuelo from up-and-coming Calatayud region in Spain: £14.99 @theoxfordwinecompany @alliancewine @borderswines
Rose also noted that Norrel recently became one of the first Scottish Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino.
EL ESCOCÉS VOLANTE, MANGA DEL BRUJO GARNACHA, SHIRAZ, TEMPRANILLO, DO CALATAYUD, SPAIN, 2017
Producer Profile Norrel Robertson is a master of wine, consulting and making wine around the world.
Norrel also owns a little patch of land, high up in the rugged landscape of Calatayud, where he tends to gnarly, old Garnacha vines in poor mineral soils: poetic symbolism for this rebellious Scotsman who won’t be tamed. To look at his labels is to realise his irreverence for the local law. With his wild winemaking techniques, Norrel is making his mark on this region with raw, fantastically assertive Garnacha wines.
Viticulture Manga del Brujo begins as bush vine grapes in the slate studded Jiloca valley at 2,600 feet above sea level. The wild mountain herbs among the vineyards give rise to the distinctive varietal aromas and garrigue character in the wine.
Winemaking Careful temperature controlled fermentation and the collaboration of New World trained winemakers and local knowledge has produced a full bodied, distinctive Rhone blend which marries the Old and New World in terms of style but with a slant towards a meatier, more structured wine. The key to this wine is the long time spent working with the fine lees to obtain length and complexity.
Oak Treatment Time: 5 Months Type: American and French % wine oaked: 100 Tasting Note Deep purple with ruby red rim. Pronounced aromas of black fruits, cracked pepper, smoke and toast. Full bodied with well balanced tannins. The palate displays dense black fruits, cherries with a long smoky/toasty finish. Mineral and complex.
Food Matching A great wine to drink with classic game dishes but will also accompany punchy dishes such as ragout and spicy tomato based recipes.
Download your copy of the official Wines from Spain Vintage Report 2019. Includes in-depth regional focuses, harvest figures and conditions, plus an overview of the whole country.
GOCV member and chair of the Wines from Spain Awards, Tim Atkin MW introduces this year’s competition and hosts the annual ceremony and tasting at the Spanish Embassy in London.
“Judging the Wines from Spain Awards is a labour of love, not just for convinced Hispanophiles like me, but for anyone who values diversity and complexity in the glass. It’s never difficult to find experienced judges who want to come and taste the latest release from one of the world’s most exciting wine-producing countries. A number of them have been with us since the first edition of this annual competition.
(l-r) Tim Atkin MW, presents fellow GOCV member Jose Velo-Rego of Bodegas Muga with the Champion Rose Award for Flor de Muga Rose 2018 at the Wines from Spain awards 2019. Joined by Alvaro Nadal, head of the Spanish Economic & Commercial Office and Ambassador H.E. Carlos Bastarreche.
We don’t have to choose a strict number of wines and yet this year we magically came up with a round, perfectly formed 100. The idea is to select the best wines, rather than to choose certain styles or grape varieties, so I’m delighted that our final picks were as heterogeneous as ever. You’ll certainly be familiar with many of the denominaciones de origen represented, but others may be new or at least largely unfamiliar. It’s great to see wines from Alicante, Bullas, Cebreros, Lanzarote and Sierra de Gredos.
Spain continues to offer some of the best value in the world – not the same as cheapness, by the way – and the 2019 selection has delivered once more, with wines from £7.99 to £50. I hope you enjoy tasting them as much as we did selecting them.” Tim Atkin MW
BEST CAVA STARS BRUT NATURE 2014, CASTILLO PERELADA
BEST DISCOVERY PANSA BLANCA 2018, RAVENTÓS DE ALELLA
BEST WHITE OVER £10 RAIMAT EL NIU DE LA CIGONYA, RAVENTÓS CODORNÍU
BEST PREMIUM WHITE MALVASÍA SECO COLECCIÓN 2018, EL GRIFO
BEST VALUE WHITE CASTELO DE MEDINA VERDEJO 2018, BODEGAS CASTELO DE MEDINA
BEST ROSADO FLOR DE MUGA 2018, BODEGAS MUGA
BEST VALUE RED JUAN GIL YELLOW 2018, GIL FAMILY ESTATES
BEST RED OVER £10 ALTOS R CRIANZA 2016, ALTOS DE RIOJA
BEST PREMIUM RED ONDARRE RESERVA 2014, BODEGAS ONDARRE
BEST OWN LABEL THE SOCIETY’S EXHIBITION RIOJA RESERVA 2011, LA RIOJA ALTA
BEST DRY FORTIFIED FERNANDO DE CASTILLA ANTIQUE OLOROSO NV, BODEGAS REY FERNANDO DE CASTILLA
BEST VALUE FORTIFIED BERTOLA CREAM NV, DÍEZ MÉRITO
BEST SWEET FORTIFIED FERNANDO DE CASTILLA ANTIQUE PEDRO XIMÉNEZ NV, BODEGAS REY FERNANDO DE CASTILLA
Wines from Spain awards – Champion Wines recipients – 2019
The 2019 Judges
TIM ATKIN MW Chair of Judges, Wine Writer & GOCV Member ANNETTE SCARFE MW Consultant BETH WILLARD Wine Buyer, Direct Wines & GOCV Member BRUNO MURCIANO Wine Buyer, H2Vin CHARLES METCALFE Wine Writer & GOCV Member CHRISTINE ALLEN Marketing Director, MMD HAL WILSON Owner, Cambridge Wine Merchants PETER MCCOMBIE MW Consultant RAFA MARTIN Wine Buyer, Bibendum/Barrafina RICHARD HEMMING MW Wine Writer SARAH BENSON Wine Buyer, The Co-op SIMON WOODS Wine Writer VICTORIA BURT MW WSET
By Miguel A. Torres – 4th generation and President Familia Torres and GOCV member since 1990.
The other day I saw Greta Thunberg’s speech to the United Nations, and I was again impressed. What this young Swedish activist has achieved in the past year is outstanding and very necessary. Hopefully now the message has arrived to politicians, companies and individuals: we must decarbonize our worldwide economy in order to contain the global temperature increase at 1.5 degrees between 2030 and 2040, and this requires the involvement of everyone. We have to reduce our emissions drastically and doing a ‘little’ better is not enough. Sometimes I have the impression that people don’t realize how serious the problem really is. Maybe now after this abnormal and high temperature summer in Europe with abnormal and extreme rain patterns, people start to realize that something is going on (or actually going wrong) and that everyone has to change his or her lifestyle.
“…doing a ‘little’ better is not enough. Sometimes I have the impression that people don’t realize how serious the problem really is.”
Miguel A. Torres
Practically all vine growers in the world already noticed climate change 1-2 decades ago, as vines are very sensitive to temperature changes. At Torres we have seen an increase of 1,3 C in the average temperature in our region over the past 40 years and now the beginning of our harvest is as an average 10 days earlier than 20 years ago. The problem is that the different parts of a wine grape do not necessarily mature at the same rhythm. When the weather is warmer, the fruit of the grapes will become riper and sweeter earlier. But the seeds and skins ripe slower, which causes a growing imbalance in maturity.
So the key word and work is to delay maturation. To achieve that, as a vine grower you basically have 3 options:
In the first place to implement viticulture practices that help delaying the ripening of the grapes; through experimenting we saw that different training systems, cover cropping, canopy management, plant density, different rootstocks and even the use of shade-nets help to delay maturation.
The second option is to plant vineyards in cooler areas, for example at a higher altitude, as every 100m you go up, the temperature will go down by almost 1 C. We have already planted more than 100 hectares in the Pre-Pyrenees at almost 1.000 meters and the results are excellent.
And the 3rd option is to replant towards grape varieties that are so-called ‘late-ripening’ varieties, which is a big advantage as they carry the ‘delayed maturation’ standard in their DNA. In this sense worth mentioning is our research project about ancestral grape varieties that we started 30 years ago. This project was actually set-up to bring back forgotten varieties out of a sort of cultural heritage responsibility; almost an exercise in viticultural archaeology. As a lucky side-result, we also found that some of these forgotten grape varieties are late-ripening varieties and moreover some of them turned out to be very resistant to drought and heat.
Grape variety collection at Familia Torres Vineyards
So, all in all these are all of course very helpful adaption measures, but at the same time we all need to drastically reduce our emissions and help to de-carbonize our planet. Not only action is needed from governments and companies to fight against climate change with clear and ambitious goals, but we all should also contribute as individuals. By making lifestyle changes, as small as they might seem, everyone can contribute; for example, using less air conditioning/heating, changing to LED light bulbs, or eating less meat, is something everyone can start today. Every company should have a decarbonization program in place, but I think here the key is to work together.
Therefore at the beginning of this year Jackson Family Wines and Torres started a new initiative called ‘International Wineries for Climate Action’to make the collaboration between wineries regarding climate change easier.
The idea is that IWCA will be a trigger for other wineries to join and accelerate or to start the implementation of carbon-emissions-reduction-programs. We are now 6 months later, and it is great to see that already several wineries are in process of becoming an IWCA Applicant or a full Members.
I very much hope that the vision of the biologist Dr. Jamie Goode (who spoke at the Familia Torres Climate Change Course in April of this year) will be a reality in a few years:
“to make carbon emissions socially inacceptable, whether they are produced by companies or individuals.”
Dr. Jamie Goode
This certainly involves a change of paradigm, but here the question is: would consumers accept a considerable tax increase on fossil products? Would that stop growth?
The Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino would like to express its gratitude to Snr. Miguel A. Torres for providing GOCV members with this compelling insight into the essential and urgent issue of climate change and its impact within the international wine industry.
GOCV WSET prize-winner Lauren Denyer shares her winemaker stories and findings from a two-week journey round Northern Spain, visiting thirty wineries on an epic voyage of discovery.
One of the most striking memories of the tour of Northern Spanish vineyards and bodegas is the sheer beauty and awe of the landscapes. From the West coast of Galicia to the East coast arriving after 14 days at Barcelona, Catalonia. It is no coincidence that Northern Spanish wine country is so stunning, the vine growers and wine producers are literally reaching for the stars and growing higher than ever before, partly to achieve more elegant fresher wines but also thinking ahead to the challenges that climate change will bring. Visits to vineyards and wineries atop of hills and in the foothills of mountains of up to 1100m bring glorious, unforgettable views as well as a huge variety of soil types providing such a rich context for these superb wines.
View from Adegas Moure, Ribiera Sacra
The trip consisted of over 30 visits to wineries including a number of impressive cooperatives, (Martin Codax – Rias Biaxas, Covitoro – Toro, Santo Cristo – Campo de Borja, Celler de Capcanes – Montsant), bigger scale producers, such as the 3 Gill Family Estates wineries (Toro, Calatayud and Montsant) and Viña Mayor in Ribera del Duero and the huge, more commercial, wineries of Marqués de Cáceres in Rioja, and Raimat in Catalonia. Many of the wineries, including the above, displayed innovative and experimental approaches to the production of their wines, both in the vineyard and in the winery. We were lucky to try examples of these new approaches which were not available to the general public when tasting directly from the barrel or as happy guinea pigs for a new style being introduced.
What was to become a recurring theme for wineries positioned among the vines at such high altitudes was the function of gravity. Here gravity was used to rotate the maceration of the grapes. The vineyards of old vines of the local grape varieties of Albariño, Godello, Treixadura, Caiño, Brancellao, Mencia , Garnacha, Merenzao and Sousóón stretch down to the banks of the river Milo through slate and granite soils. The slopes are at angles of 45-60 degrees in some places ensuring that the manual harvest is not an easy task, drawing comparisons to similarly difficult to access terraces in Priorat where donkeys still have their uses. The benefits of altitude bring natural acidity and increased aromatics due to the increase in diurnal temperature range, periods of longer ripening and more sunlight intensity. All the wines tasted here duly delivered, a particular favourite was the rosé which is the only rosé made in this DO, with structure and vivid fruitiness it is surely a wine that others will try to emulate.
Altitude is hugely influential for both red and white wines. Where I was first struck by it was during the steep drive up through Galicia’s Ribeira Sacra to Adegas Moure at 600m altitude.
Lauren Denyer, wset tutor and GOCV PRize winner 2017
Moving to the most easterly point of Galicia and to Valdeorras we were again driven, this time by Rafael Palacios, up into the hills of the region to various vineyards which were home to shallow slate, ferric and alluvial soils. Rafael was also purchasing and planning the purchase of the highest vineyards of the area, some as high as 670m. Rafael explained that the freshness he was looking for in his wines could only be achieved at around 400m. At these heights the diurnal range was larger and the grapes are able to ripen more slowly with temperatures at around 3°C less. The composition of the soil was also diverse including calcium carbonate, silica quartz and mica. The mica has a very important role, making the earth softer through its expansion when the water oxidises it forcing it to break surrounding rock and allow the roots to penetrate the earth more deeply. Another method to encourage freshness was the use of mulching in the dryer vineyards over eroded granite which enables the retention of some water. Rafael’s wines were all stunning examples of Godello with iodine and metal notes yet still citrus-y and floral with their trademark freshness giving them fabulous ageing potential.
In the neighbouring vineyards of ValdeSil also in Valdeorras we had the privilege of visiting the DO’s oldest single vineyard of Godello with vines planted by Borja’s (one of the current owners) Great Grandfather in 1885. Here there is a big emphasis on the different soil types the Godello was being grown on and this was reflected in the stylish modern bottle labels. These vines were grown around the Sil river and on a variety of soils including: sand, granite and slate. The Valdesil Godello 2014 was a stunner with fennel, apple and floral notes with a rounded full body yet refined and elegant, proving that the decisions in the winery are perfectly complimenting the natural occurrences in the vineyards.
Ricardo Perez in the neigboring Bierzo also seemed to share his uncle’s (Rafael Palacios) obsession with height and was in the process of building a rather grandiose winery at the peak of the hills above the village of Corullón which is also the name of one of the superb wines of Descendientes de J Palacios. In this area some of the Mencia vineyards are as high as 1100m with soils consisting of marble, clay and quartz. This new winery will no doubt take advantage of the uses of gravity for winemaking. Again the troubles of harvesting arose, with the young people of the area not interested in working the harvest and again the need for donkeys, mules and horses.
As we travelled east and more inland it was fascinating to discover lesser-known regions making a comeback such as Campo de Borja and Calatayud. Norrel Robertson MW took us to his old vine Garnacha vineyards in Calatayud with vineyards at heights of 700-1000m. With similar soils to Montsant with large grey and red schist; wine makers like Norrel are hot on the heels of producers in Montsant and Priorat and is most definitely beating them at price point. There is now increased growing and production in areas like these after years of abandonment.
With increasing temperatures due to climate change and the trend for fresher, lighter and more acidic wines, altitude is becoming more coveted and essential in this part of the world.
This is where Ribera del Duero excels and is becoming more widely appreciated around the world for its vibrancy and freshness with plantings at altitudes of 850m. At Villacreces. Lluis Laso, winemaker, perfectly demonstrated this with his stunning wines full of freshness and big cherry and raspberry flavours. Here as well as growing the region’s Tempranillo they are experimenting with Cabernet Sauvignon and the altitude and climate here appears to favour this potential blending grape. Down the road at Aalto, wine making at their stunning new winery is again taking advantage of gravity (as at Bodegas Baigorri in Rioja) and using innovative and exciting new vessels and machinery, which is clearly paying off as Javier met us clutching his newly won Wine Spectator award!
Javier showing us the innovations at the new Aalto winery and gravity aiding the pumping over
There are, however, regions currently under threat. The situation is somewhat different at neighbouring Toro, with a slightly lower altitude at 600-750m. This region is really feeling the threat of increased heat. With near desert conditions here cooling influences are essential to the quality of the grape. We visited Sobreños which are producing very fruity full bodied wines, it will be interesting to see theirs and others’ responses to this potential change of climate.
What I witnessed overall, during this fantastic two week DO a day voyage of discovery was a world of passion and dedication. Fundamentally there is an understanding and worship of the surroundings and its incomparable influence on the beautiful wines produced. Northern Spain is already producing world class wines to rival the finest in the world. However with winemakers striving further this is an extremely exciting time for the wines of this part of the world.
Notes from the author
There are many other regions and wonderful bodegas I would have loved to include in this report. Those included are just a drop in the ocean of the great practice happening in Spain right now. Check out my twitter account @wine_lauren to see every winery visited on the trip and laurendenyer on instagram for more photos of the stunning scenery.
THANK YOUs I have to mention the phenomenal hospitality afforded us at every visit. Thank you to all the bodegas and DO Consejo Reguladors. I have wonderful memories that will stay with me for life. A huge thanks to Angela Muir MW who organised a seamless and wonderful journey and who taught me more than I thought possible. Thanks also to the Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino for awarding me this life-changing scholarship and lastly to Arthur and James my fellow Caballeros for their great company on the trip!
