Spanish surprise

originally posted by Lou Kessler:
Tamato or Tomato
originally posted by Jay Miller:
originally posted by Lou Kessler:
How do you know?Jim, my limited experience with that green streak in some Napa cabs is unlike yours, in the fact that the green streak gets meaner in the wines I've tasted.
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By green streak do you mean cabernet herbaceousness or the eucalyptus thing one often gets? Because I really like the former and don't think it gets mean at all. The latter can be more problematic but so long as it doesn't approach Silver Oak levels I don't really mind.
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Meanings? I'm talking about the green bell pepper flavors found at time in cab or cab franc. Eucalyptus in small amounts like in the old Heitz cabs I didn't mind.
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Ah, but I like those green bell pepper flavors. Or am not as sensitive as some. One or the other.
 
originally posted by Lyle Fass:


I love the fact that more than one person wil cellar hondarrabi beltza.
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My advice: cellar any good wine, red or white, from northern Spain, from the Basque Country to Galicia, and their good acidity will probably carry them much further than the 'drink young!' crowd would have you believe. I've recently had 1999 Lusco do Mio and 1996 Pazo de Seorans Seleccin de Aada albarios, and 1998 Guitin Fermentado en Barrica godello (and the 1999 regular, tank-fermented Guitin), and the results were pretty stunning. Not that these wines will challenge riesling or chenin blanc for longevity - but I'm starting to believe that they may challenge white Burgundy.

Of course traditional, very light, spritzy txakoli will suffer more, but more and more txakolis are produced with the wherewithal to evolve positively in bottle.
 
I've had this and liked it, despite its seeming shared heritage with cabernet franc, which I don't like. I'm wondering how this compares to Irouleguy, which I haven't tried.
 
DNAs of hondarrabi beltza and cabernet franc don't match each other at all. Why are so many Spanish varieties believed to be close to cab franc? I still remember the old tall tales about menca...

This is what HB looks like. Much bigger berries and bunches than CB:

HBeltza.jpg
 
originally posted by Lou Kessler:
Not Jim but
originally posted by SFJoe:
Jim,
Do you buy Chinon at all?
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In the GREEN years when the cab franc doesn't reach a certain degree of ripeness I have no deire to drink Chinon. Bleh! It's a personal taste thing.
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You know, I tend to like the riper years there myself as well, but they seem to come around so-much more often than in the past.
 
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