A few musings about Spanish wines

[Claudius2]

Folks
I recently spent 3 weeks in Spain, and whilst not specifically a wine tour, took a little time out to taste as many examples as I could.
Spanish wines are not popular in Singapore and they tend to be the usual larger scale producers and are mainly Rioja and sometimes Ribera.
Such wines (eg, Campo Veijo Crianza) cost E4 a bottle in Spanish supermarkets so it is hard to justify paying $S38 here (about $US29) for the same wine.

A Spanish friend in Barcelona holds the view that Spain is very good at producing pleasant, fruity reds and whites at low prices.
However, the Muga Selection Especial 2010 Rioja and to a lesser extent Pesquera 2012 Ribera Del Duero Riserva were good examples of more expensive Spanish reds. The Muga was excellent with a lot of structure and fruit, very long, well balanced and still young. The Pesquera was richly fruity though with a little too much coconut/vanilla oak for my palate.
I did try to upload the photos but the system says that the file is too big. Oh well.

His theory is that most Spanish winemakers don't have aspirations of greatness and are happy to produce pleasant wines at a low price rather than trying to make the best wine they can.
He admitted to a few exceptions (Vega Sicilia, the top Priorat wines, etc) but he kept picking relatively cheap wines - Rioja Roble or Joven, Toro, Galician whites and inexpensive Jerez most of the time.
The Galician Albarino whites were much better than I ever recalled and offered aromatic fruit and acidity, going well with seafood and Paella. They deserve a place at many tables.
The Toro wines have a reputation for being burly and a bit coarse but the few I tried (eg, Frontaura Crianza 2006) show they age well and show develop complexity with age.
The Roble wines from Rioja only cost E3-5 (and about E10 in restuarants) and were surprisingly good, showing ripe and round fruit. I was actually surprised that they were so nice with Spanish fare.

We did a tour through Jerez de la Frontera, and tried numerous Sherries.
The Bodegas all have dusty, cob web covered black painted barrels and many are 100 years old. I felt at times that I wanted to clean and sanitise their cellars.
I asked one why nobody bothers using new oak even as an experiment, and they literally shrugged their shoulders. They happily make the wine the same way their grandparents made, including use of the same old American oak barrels.
Yet some of the wines were pretty good. Finos were only E6-10 a bottle, and the very top wines were abut E28.

So after 3 weeks I started to think my local friend (Alex) makes a good point.
I wonder if the Spanish makers (with of course some exceptions) are happy to make pleasant wines, not taking any risks and to sell their wines at relatively low prices.
Yet I also think that Australian or American winemakers would be shocked at the condition of some Bodegas.

[AlexR]

Hi Mark,

Yes, I think Spanish wines are confronted by the paradox you speak of.

The range and depth of Spanish wines is tremendous. I think that at the bottom end of the scale they probably represent some of the best values in the world of wine, arguably better than France.

There is a vicious circle: you don't invest in (new or partially new) barrel ageing unless you can justify the expenditure on your sales price.

I can remember visiting a much-venerated producer in Haro, Rioja - Lopez de Heredia. My reaction was much the same as yours: the dark, dank cellars with infinitely re-used barrels and cobwebs everywhere would give cardiac arrest to a New World winemaker. And yet... their wines are pretty (expletive deleted) wonderful.
You can't judge a book by its cover. I've had loads of soul-less "technolocially flawlless" wines that don't give me half the emotion as wines from the likes of Lopez de Heredia.

Much of the challenge faced by Spanish wines is one of image. It will take many years and much effort to upgrade this. Meanwhile, discerning wine lovers can find some truly lovely wines.

I am jealous of your visiting Jerez. I've been to the Port and Madeira regions. Jerez is next on my list.

Best regards,
Alex R.

[jal]

I guess the alcohol will kill all the bacteria lol.
Count me as a fan of Lopez de Heredia, Muga Prado Enea and La Rioja Alta. I also like Pesquera but am not a big fan of the super fruity modern Spanish wines - Aalto, Numanthia and Clos Mogador, do these still exist? I haven't seen any in years, probably since the Jay Miller inflated scores era.

[AKR]

We had a Numanthia last year, maybe 15-20 years old. It had aged as expected - vigorously.

I think some of the current Rioja bodegas are making fabulous wines, especially when value and availability are considered.

I've mostly stopped buying Priorats though

[brodway]

Muga Prada Enea is excellent and my last 2 attempts at Aalto surprised to the good....Its rare that Spanish wine creates a memorable experience.....it does happen from time to time....agreed with above opinions....as far as bang for the buck not many can compete

[AKR]

I've been meaning to make a top level post / dedicated post about this but have never gotten around to it. But some of the most impressive, classiest, flexible wines I've had in the last year have been Rioja with a little bottle age. Stuff like a 2001 Pecina reserva, 2001 Campillo reserva, 2005 CVNE Imperial reserva etc.

Great depth of interesting flavor without gooeyness. Fine aroma. Tannins are resolved, unlike some of the vintages when Bordeaux loses her fruit and only the skeletal claw of raspiness is left.

I've been meaning to buy Luis Guitterez' book on RIoja, but I already have too many (unread) wine related tomes to chew through first.

[Claudius2]

Guys
I think that for the most part, Spanish wines have never been better and they represent excellent value at low to moderate price points.
I did not try a single example that was poor - and I had plenty of them in previous visits to Spain.
I visited Spain in 2000 (during the Sydney Olympics) and I was dismayed at the poor quality of many wines in Rioja, Navarra and Ribera. And of course, impressed by numerous others.
Many of the Bodegas smelled like damp earth, dust and decay, and the wines had an unpleasant habit of being similar.

So in the last two decades, I think there has been much improvement.
For as little as E3-5, you can have an enjoyable wine without thinking too much about it. No way I could get a French, Italian or even Australian wine at the same level QPR.
I have always liked Tempranillo in any case. And as Arv says, they do develop well if you pick the better producers.

But I am not sure the Spanish are as good at branding and marketing as other producing countries.
Of course exceptions arise, but the supermarket wines in Spain are quite enjoyable and would not be out of place on most tables around the world. Maybe the low prices are a double-edged sword.

Having said that, some of the Riserva wines I tried tended toward too much oak, and the bright fruit was over-powered in some cases.
I have never really been a fan of coconut/vanilla or whisky barrel oak characters in any wine, and I have called out some Australian producers for the same thing over the years.
I know that some will say "cellar it for x years...the oak will integrate/become balanced..."
I really doubt it.

[brodway]

Arv

if you ever make it back to the right coast, a Spanish tasting would be appropriate.

I have a 95 CVNE that is just dying to be released from its prison term

[Blanquito]

Guys
I think that for the most part, Spanish wines have never been better...

At the top level at least, I couldn’t disagree more: Marquez de Murrieta, Muga, CVNE, Pesquera and even many wines made by Vega Sicilia like Alion and Valbuena are modernist shadows of their former glory. I think only Lopez de Heredia has maintained its level, in its iconclastic and idiosyncratic way. Traditional Rioja in all its glory is effectively dead.

I’ve been very fortunate to have had many Spanish wines from the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, mostly from Rioja, as two of my local wine buddies specialize on Spain (and one started cellaring them in earnest in the 80’s when wine was cheap). And the best of these wines rival anything made, anywhere in the world. The 81 LdH Bosconia GR? The 85 CVNE Vine Real GR? The 64 Murrieta Reserva Especial? The 86 Pesquera Janus? The 87 or 91 Prado Enea? They don’t make them like they used to. And many once wonderful bodegas are now gone entirely or today produce volumes of swill (eg. Bodegas Montecillo).

We try lots of the more recent Spanish stuff too and many of the wines are still good up through the 2001 vintage, but not near their former level really. And since 2001, I’ve pretty much lost interest in upper tier Spanish wines. Maybe CVNE still makes good stuff, I’m cellaring some 05s Imperial GR to find out. The cheap bistro level stuff is still quite quaffable and of course inexpensive, but along with California I consider Spain the greatest wine causality of a once great region lost to modern wine making.

[brodway]

Alion made some fantastic wines in the early 90's....the last bottle i consumed of the 2001 was still very good...now that i think about i really don't have any Spanish wines younger than the 2001 vintage

[Blanquito]

Alion made some fantastic wines in the early 90's....the last bottle i consumed of the 2001 was still very good...now that i think about i really don't have any Spanish wines younger than the 2001 vintage

Totally agree. We did an Alion vertical, I think the 94 or 95 was the top performer, and they were all terrific up through 01 (but it was getting pretty modern by then), and then they went all goopy.

[brodway]

and Alion seems to be fetching close to $80 a bottle....no way would that be my first option if that was my last $80 of a wine budget..

[DavidG]

Used to love Alion. 1994 was my last purchase in any quantity, and it was darn good. Then they got expensive. Then they got harder to find locally. Then they got modern.

[dstgolf]

Claudius2,

Agree with everything said about Spanish wines. The very good ones have gotten too expensive but the Vega Sicilia rivals the best in the world. I love the fact that you can get many Rioja Reservas released with 10+yrs of age rated over 90pts for under $30cdn and many around $20. Very serviceable daily drinkers and my go to region for value especially when out at a non BYOB restaurant trying to find some value on a wine list that will be enjoyable for a reasonable price.

Priorat was a fad in the late 90s early 2000s but found the prices rose quickly and the wines didn't really improve with age. They are now very poor value.

Numanthia is still out there but very NEW World and not to my taste along with a lot of other Spanish wines.

Albarino when you get a good one with nice acidity and fruit can't be beat for value and goes very well with Paella and other Spanish dishes but there are a lot of producers that I keep experimenting with when they are released locally and find they lack balance with lower acidity making them taste sweet and insipid.

A few years back we toured Rioja and loved the food,people and wines stooping into Haro and having a great tasting at Muga. Great QPR. Alion as David says great wine but pricing out of line.

For we keep trying Spanish wines from all regions when we come across them and are rarely disappointed and seldom blown away.

[Claudius2]

Blanquito
The reason we disagree is that we are looking at the issue from a different price point.
My point is that the lower priced wines are better than ever though most producers are not aiming for the top end of the market. Frankly some of the Roble and Crianza wines were better than the Riservas as the latter were too oaky and typically old American oak which often dries out the fruit and for my palate, takes the wines in the wrong direction.
The lower priced wines were never intellectual wines just pleasant easy going wines to drink with Spanish food.
To my palate that is what the Spanish do best - affordable everyday wines.
At higher price points I like the taste of Bordeaux, Burgundy et al.

Having said that, the white wines of Spain never suited me and the better Galician wines had acidity and minerality which I had not seen before.

I am also wondering why there isn’t more experimentation in the main red wine regions and Sherry as well. I understand their love of tradition but cleaner Bodegas and some better and newer oak would help.

[AKR]

Blanquito - I don't have your depth with older Spanish wines but I've been drinking them pretty consistently since the 94 releases. It's a small slice of the cellar, but much beloved. I don't know how the current generation compares to the really old ones, but that's sort of unobtanium for me, so I really just think of them in terms of how they compare to my current purchasing/drinking opportunity set.

Within that - there's a lot of elegance, fruit, flexibility especially among the houses I stick to. And of course they'll keep, which is a handy attribute. The most modern ones like Costco / Palacios Montessa aren't to my taste, but I think that is consciously made in an international style.