Ribeira Sacra

Florida Jim

Florida Jim

Florida Jim
Last night a local restaurant, I had my first bottle of Ribeira Sacra from Spain. Unfortunately, the wait staff spirited the bottle away before I could copy down vintage and producer. (Brad, if you read this, please fill in the blank.) Everyone was impressed.
Tonight I had the 2008 Via do Burato, Ribeira Sacra, which was delicious. A 12% alcohol, light bodied, intense bottle of mencia that was vivid, grapey, and really yummy.

I have to learn more about this area.

Victor, et al?
Best, Jim
 
"Via do Burato" is made by D. Ventura. It's the entry level bottle, though the higher ups don't cost a whole lot more.

D. Ventura is a family winery run by one Ramon Losada. He uses old family plots to produce three wines. The first, the Burato, is made from vines grown near the river Minho. The soils are pretty rich, and vine vigor is high, so the Burato wines are sold as the "try me" bottling. All viticulture is organic, and only natural yeasts are used.

The other two wines, "Pena do Lobo" and the "Caniero" come from slate soils and are terraced above the river Sil. Very interesting wines, with a pinot noir-like weight and a fruity freshness.

I'm glad to hear you liked the 2008. I had a few examples of the 2007 Burato and found many bottles were prone to reduction. The Caniero 07's, however, always showed well for me. This is definitely one of the wines I'm waiting for in my market, as the local distributor hasn't yet restocked.

Another nice example is the "Alodio" bottling by Enologica Temera. Though I'm not as familar with this producer, the wine has always fit my tastes to a T.
 
Jim,

Glad to hear you tried these. I'm really fond of Ribeira Sacra's wines. They're agile, friendly, and fun, as a rule, if occasionally prone to a bit of reduction. When I began drinking them, I found them a welcome relief after having attempted to become acquainted with Mencia wines by subjecting myself to a bunch of enervating Bierzos. I'm not looking back.

D. Ventura's wines have become a pretty regular part of the household wine-drinking regimen over the last couple of years. Generally, the Vina Caneiro is the richest and maybe the most interesting. Still very welcoming, though: vital and refreshing. The Vina do Burato is juicy and delicious. The Pena do Lobo seems very focused, but still with tons of fruit.

An Enolgica Temera Alodio I had was also really nice. Started off lean and deepened with some air. I have a note saying it was Cab Franc-like. I don't know what that means (Mencia's not related to Cab Franc as reported), but it's a good thing, I guess. I think Mencia can also resemble Syrah in some manifestations.

A Casal Novo from Valdeorras, which I believe is just next door to Ribeira Sacra, was also charming after a good half day of allowing truck stop funk to slither away.

I've had a few more, but not sure I have good notes on them. These were a few of the best.

Doug
p.s. These notes all refer to the 2007 vintage, though I think the Venturas have been fairly consistent over the three vintages I've tried. Reduction does seem a problem at times with this grape, maybe (I think someone else on WD commented on this once).
 
Hmm. My bottle of the '07 Burato was so bretty I couldn't tell if it was reduced or not. Sorry to have missed the typicity.
 
I'll admit that EA's nyt article forced my hand on a mixed red and white purchase recently. It will be a toss up between clearing some room in the cellar with WA point cheapo spanish and/or popping this stuff for turkey day. I do know that the (pardon the spelling) descendents of the palace of Jose, Bierzo 03's I've kept all this time have never been better recently...I wish I had more. Could Mencia be the spanish equivalent of Loire's Cot/CF/PA/PN? I think it's a fine grape wheh handled well.
 
Interesting comments re:reduction with mencia, because I've seen to notice this in both Ribeira Sacra and Bierzo renditions. Still, a cool grape, and very food-friend friendly.
 
VLM,
I noticed the importer and that made the purchase easy. de Maison seems to have some talent on the tasting side.
BTW, my Vatan arrives Friday - maybe you should drop by (since you seem to have your own jet),
Best, Jim
 
Jack, Doug, et al,
Information appreciated.
No brett or reduction here - I am becoming very sensitive to those.
I also agree that this had a gentle resemblance to lighter syrahs I've tasted.
Bierzo got me interested in mencia but their higher end stuff seemed to lean toward the 'pointy' - 'nice to have alternatives.
Best, Jim
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
VLM,
I noticed the importer and that made the purchase easy. de Maison seems to have some talent on the tasting side.
BTW, my Vatan arrives Friday - maybe you should drop by (since you seem to have your own jet),
Best, Jim
Click to expand...

Just had a bottle of 2005 on Saturday, sublime.

No more traveling for me until February if I can help it.
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
Ribeira Sacra
Last night a local restaurant, I had my first bottle of Ribeira Sacra from Spain. Unfortunately, the wait staff spirited the bottle away before I could copy down vintage and producer. (Brad, if you read this, please fill in the blank.) Everyone was impressed.
Tonight I had the 2008 Via do Burato, Ribeira Sacra, which was delicious. A 12% alcohol, light bodied, intense bottle of mencia that was vivid, grapey, and really yummy.

I have to learn more about this area.

Victor, et al?
Best, Jim
Click to expand...

Hi Jim,

The producer is Guimaro.
Vintage 2008
Alcohol 13.5%
This is a Jose Pastor selection imported by Vinos and Gourmet.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Best,

Brad
 
originally posted by Joel Stewart:
I'll admit that EA's nyt article forced my hand on a mixed red and white purchase recently. It will be a toss up between clearing some room in the cellar with WA point cheapo spanish and/or popping this stuff for turkey day. I do know that the (pardon the spelling) descendents of the palace of Jose, Bierzo 03's I've kept all this time have never been better recently...I wish I had more. Could Mencia be the spanish equivalent of Loire's Cot/CF/PA/PN? I think it's a fine grape wheh handled well.
Click to expand...

I personally find the D. de Jose Palacios wines to be pretty international in style. These were my first bierzos after hearing a lot of hype for the region (it was declared to be "Spain's Loire" by a friend!) and I was pretty disappointed. They had some character for sure but not, to me, a whole lot of "authenticity".

Look forward to delving into the R.S. which seems more up my alley.
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
Ribeira Sacra
Last night a local restaurant, I had my first bottle of Ribeira Sacra from Spain. Unfortunately, the wait staff spirited the bottle away before I could copy down vintage and producer. (Brad, if you read this, please fill in the blank.) Everyone was impressed.
Tonight I had the 2008 Via do Burato, Ribeira Sacra, which was delicious. A 12% alcohol, light bodied, intense bottle of mencia that was vivid, grapey, and really yummy.

I have to learn more about this area.

Victor, et al?
Best, Jim
Click to expand...

Took a sip of this, thought it was fun but nothing special and not particularly complex. And the next thing I know, the bottle is nearly empty. Terrible thing it is, when you can actually drink a wine, no ?
 
originally posted by .sasha:
Took a sip of this, thought it was fun but nothing special and not particularly complex. And the next thing I know, the bottle is nearly empty. Terrible thing it is, when you can actually drink a wine, no ?
Click to expand...

Exactly.
And if the upper-end bottlings are as described by others (including Asimov's article), perhaps they do a wine that has a bit more complexity and 'specialness' that would be equally drinkable.
Worth a search, I'd say.
Best, Jim
 
Really cool stuff here in my opinion. The D. Ventura wines have proven to be the most well balanced in the region in my experience thus far. It seems like a region with a bit of an identity crisis; some producers going for big, international and sell-able styles(lots of oak) and others(like D. Ventura) that are looking for more purity and elegance. I like the Do Burato very much and agree that it drinks more like cru Beaujolais than the Loire. That said, i think other wines from the north of spain (Gorrondona, etc) drink more like powerful chinon rouge than anything else. De maison does have a lot of talent, all the wines that i have had from them have a clear aim at showing place and natural wine making. The '07s for me were a bit more brett driven than what i have had thus far from '08, which is shaping up to be fantastic vintage overall in north spain.
 
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