"And just as a side note, who needs champagne when we have Cava???"

There are some really excellent cavas that surpass the quality of many famous name non-vintage Champagnes, but there are few cavas that are in the same league with the likes of Bollinger, Pol Roger, Roederer, Krug, Veuve Clicquot and many others. Part of that is due to the fact that many great Champagnes are based on Pinot Noir (yes a red wine grape; the juice inside grapes is white) and Chardonnay, while the great majority of cavas are based on the bland brothers trio of Parellada, Xarel-lo and Macabeo. Among the best cavas, some of which are excellent, are those of Agusti Torello, Castillo Perelada, Mas Xarot, the top cuvees of Codorniu, Gramona, Raventos i Blanc, Juve y Camps, Llopart, Parxet, Rimarts, and Segura Viudas. Most entry level brut cavas are very good bubbly for the price.

Gerry and Friends,
This is one of my favorite threads! I just purchased a bottle of Txomin Etxan�z from the Basque region of Gipuzkoa,denominacion de origen Getariako Txakolina. Can anyone tell me anything about this white wine?
:cheers:

Txacoli is the Basque's Country's Muscadet. It is light, spritzy, refreshing, delightful to quaff (it is only 11% alcohol, compared to many Chardonnays that top 14%), and excellent with a wide variety of foods. It is made from the indigenous Hondarrabi Zuri (a white grape, which makes up 85% of the blend) and Hondarrabi Beltza (a red grape [almost all juice is white until it is left in contact with the skins to pick up pigmentation; 15%). I love to drink it in situ in the seafood restaurants of Getaria, which has some of the best fish in the world (rodaballo is supreme. The Txomin Echaniz winery is just up the street from Kaia, one of my favorite restaurants.

On a ten-day tasting trip last spring through six wine growing regions of northwestern Spain, I got a crash course in just how promising Spanish native grape varieties can be in the Atlantic Ocean-influenced climates of Galicia (R�as Baixas, Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras) and Castilla-Le�n (Bierzo, Toro and Rueda).
In this post I will cover R�as Baixas. In subsequent posts, I cover the others.
First, I flew from Madrid to Santiago de Compostela, the monumental destination city at the end of the Camino de Santiago, the medieval pilgrimage route that runs from France down into the Iberian Peninsula and then more than 600 miles across northern Spain. From Santiago, I began my visit to emerald-green Galicia's R�as Baixas, where I tasted some 50 wines, including some superb 100% Albari�os. Pazo de Se�orans, Fillaboa, Do Ferreiro, Lagar Pedregales, Palacio de Fefi�anes, Lusco, and Pazo de Barrantes, not only reinforced my belief in the excellence of this white native varietal, it alerted me to aspects of albari�o's versatility and ageworthiness of which I was unaware.
From my tastings of barrel fermented R�as Baixas white wines, I re-confirmed my belief that new oak does not significantly enhance these fresh, fruity wines; in fact, it often obscures their fruit and charm. Most wineries are experimenting with barrel-fermented (a current fad) Albari�os, but hardly any of them were better than the bodega's un-oaked Albari�o. I also discovered that two notable producers, Pazo de Se�orans and Palacio de Fefi�anes, were making Albari�os that see no new oak and are eminently ageworthy. Pazo de Se�orans produced a stunning 1996 Albari�o aged on the lees in stainless steel for three years, which is undoubtedly the greatest R�as Baixas wine I have tasted. Palacio de Fefi�anes showed a superb vertical lineup (from 2001 through 1996) of Albari�os aged in large used oak vats. Another surprise was a luscious, sweet, complex, vendimia tardia (late harvest) Albari�o made as an experiment at Pazo de Barrantes.
The R�as Baixas denominaci�n de origen is composed of five subzones: Val do Saln�s, Soutomaior, O Rosal, Condado de Tea, and Ribeira do Ulla, the newest of the designated wine growing areas. Surrounded on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean, the R�a de Arousa and the R�a de Pontevedra, the area known as Val do Saln�s, with more than 60% of R�as Baixas's registered vineyards, is the most important of the five, followed by Condado de Tea and O Rosal, both along the Mi�o river. Because of Galicia's high rainfall and humidity, vines are trained on tall wire trellises, which are usually anchored by granite or concrete posts. The grapes are grown several feet off the ground to allow for maximum air circulation, which promotes even ripening and helps prevent rot and associated vine and grape afflictions.
To use the Albari�o varietal designation on a label, in all five R�as Baixas subzones a wine must be 100% albari�o. Since 94% of just over 5900 acres of registered vineyards in the R�as Baixas DO are albari�o, this is often a moot point. By law, other white R�as Baixas-designated wines of must contain a minimum of 70% Albari�o. The remaining 30% of the blend is usually composed of one or more of the other authorized, preferred grape varieties - - treixadura, loureira, and cai�o blanco (some godello, torront�s, and marqu�s grapes are also authorized) - - which add different aromas, body, and often more complexity to the wines. Although Albari�os are among the world's finest single-varietal white wines, the R�as Baixas blends often match them in quality.
In tasting albari�o-treixadura blends such as Adegas Galegas's Veigadares, Valmi�or's D�vila, Marqu�s de Vizhoja's Se�or de Folla Verde, in the Condado de Tea subzone of R�as Baixas, along the Mi�o River that is the Galicia's border with Portugal, and albari�o, loureiro, and treixadura blends such

as Terras Gauda, Santiago Ru�z, Pazo San Mauro, and in the O Rosal subzone, I also saw significant potential in loureiro and treixadura as blending grapes which add complexity to albari�o-based wines.
It is not politically incorrect to call R�as Baixas wines of the most feminine in Spain, especially since the consejo regulador's president is Mar�a Soledad Bueno (the owner of Pazo de Se�orans) and many top wines are made by women enologists, including Isabel Salgado (Granja Fillaboa), Cristina Mantilla (Adegas Galegas - Veigadares), Angela Mart�n (Castro Mart�n- Casal Caiero), Mar�a del Pilar Jim�nez (Pazo de Barrantes), Ana Mart�n (Salnesur - Condes de Albarei), Ana Oliveira (Terras Guada), Ana Quintela (Pazo de Se�orans), and Mar�a Luisa Freire (Santiago Ru�z).
R�as Baixas Albari�os and albari�o-based blends are some of the most versatile, delicious, food-friendly, and least intimidating wines in the market. They usually are a lovely green-tinged straw color and their fruity albari�o aromas are reminiscent of white peaches, pears, apricots or pineapple. On the palate they are fruity and often luscious, but finish dry. The fruit is usually beautifully balanced by a fine-edged underpining of acidity and the wines exhibit lovely, complex, mineral-laced flavors in the finish. These qualities make them ideal matches for a wide variety of modern and traditional dishes, as well as delicious wines for sipping as an aperitif or to accompany tapas, Spain's wide variety of little dishes. (Albari�o blends are also supernal companions to the splendid seafood that Galicia was known for before the criminal actions of the Prestige single-hull oil tanker, which sank off the coast of Spain in November 2002, destroyed the most important source of prime shellfish in Europe, and ruined the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of hard-working Spaniards and Portuguese, including those who work in the superb marisquer�as, or seafood restaurants of these two maritime countries.)

--Gerry Dawes�2003

Spanish Rosados

In the next issue of The Wine News, which will be published the first week in April, I have an extensive article on Spanish rosados, including a few rosado cavas, with reviews or recommendations of some 50 wines. For more information on where you can obtain a copy (usually the major bookstores carry The Wine News), contact:

The Wine News
P.O. Box 14-2096
Coral Gables, FL 33114
Phone: (305) 740-7170
Fax: (305) 740-7153
E-mail: winemine@aol.com

From each issue, they post a few articles on-line, but I don't know if this one will be posted. You can try www.thewinenews.com

Gerry Dawes

Except for my own posts, there has been no traffic on this wine thread since Booklady's post on Jan. 18. I assume from that there is so little interest in Spanish wines that there is no reason to continue looking in on this thread.

quote:

"...there has been no traffic on this wine thread since Booklady's post on Jan. 18."

Jejeje, let's not confuse "traffic" with "posts" Gerry. Just because people do not post, does not mean the thread is not getting visited.

As for your...

quote:

"...no reason to continue looking in on this thread."

That is your decision my friend but keep in mind that if it is an ultimatum, they usually do not go over well online (or anywhere else for that matter)

In all fairness, I would imagine that a wine website would be a better place for you to post, no? But then again, I just looked at your TIENDA WINE FORUMS and there is VERY little activity for a forum that has been online for 6 months (or more?).

All in all, I am not sure why there does not seem to be much interest in Spanish wines in general

Saludos,
jer...

Ok peeps, so where are all the winos out there

Anyone with a Spanish wine question for Gerry???

Saludos,
jer...

quote:

Jejeje, let's not confuse "traffic" with "posts" Gerry. Just because people do not post, does not mean the thread is not getting visited.

That's true. It is an interesting, but specialised tread. Here in Belgium we can buy cava, but not all the names.

quote:

All in all, I am not sure why there does not seem to be much interest in Spanish wines in general

Maybe because most American are not used to drink wine?
On the contrary,we like very much Spanish wine.

And, very strange...believe it or not... Spanish wine is better when drinked in Spain. We often brought some bottles back home and once opened, the wine had another taste

Martine

martine wrote...

quote:

"And, very strange...believe it or not... Spanish wine is better when drinked in Spain. We often brought some bottles back home and once opened, the wine had another taste"

I HAD NO IDEA!!!

Gerry, is this purely psychological or could there be another reason for it

Saludos,
jer...

Jer,it is certainly not psychological !
And with French wine it is the same. Here in Belgium it is a wellknown phenomene. Everybody knows it.

And this is not una broma

Martine

Of course we know, the wine has to be opened either immediately after the voyage, either we have to wait a few months.

My feeling is that it is psychological. While Manzanilla may never taste better than at sunset on Bajo de Guia beach in Sanlucar de Barrameda, it is still damn good, if it is fresh, even in New York. You say that the wines you took back to Belgium with you did not taste the same. I think that is more psychological than reality, because I'm sure that most of the wines you drank in Spain did not come from the place where you were drinking them. They were most likely sent from around Spain to the spot where you tasted them. I don't see how i shipping them to Madrid or Barcelona from La Rioja or Ribera del Duero is different than carrying them back to Belgium? It also depends on the source of the wines you bought. If you had the wines in a restaurant, then bought the same wine in a store, the wine could have been the victim of poor storage, heat, etc. Or, if the wines were in the trunk of a car and they got too warm, that could account for it. For articles, I frequently taste wines that have been flown in from Spain and, if they are allowed a few days to settle down after the trip, the good ones are just as good as a similar bottle in Spain.

"All in all, I am not sure why there does not seem to be much interest in Spanish wines in general"

Actually, in the States, there is more interest in Spanish wines than ever. For instance, the US is the largest export market for Albari�os.

Ok Gerry, let's say it's the way we transport the wine...

Could you maybe help me with the next question?
When we drive along the autopistas we see lots of wineyards, but in the touristic areas, and in contrast with France, we never found little tiendas where one can bring his own bottles to buy wine at the tap. Doesn't this exists in Spain?