A couple of wines from Spain in a hurry

S

SFJoe

Joe Dougherty
I met Erik for a drink tonight, but I was early. So the kind hosts at the bar shared some exotica with me--wines I'd never had, made from grapes I'd never heard of. Fun!

Not to mention which, they were very tasty.

Both were from the Rias Baixas DO (and it is clearly a sign of the flexibility of your DO system when it admits unknown grapes--see the Touraine DOC for comparison).

The winery is Goliardo, subtitled 'Tintos de Mar,' and both reds were from 2006.

The first was from a grape known as Caio. It was striking how much this reminded me of Pineau d'Aunis. The aromatics, the structure, the fruit. As much as, say, the Gorrondona reminds me of Cabernet Franc. Quite tasty, and quite well made. Nice balance of components, good zippy acid, light tannins, I would surely drink this.

The second was from Loureiro, another indigenous grape. This wasn't as immediately appealing as the first wine, but it grew on me with a little attention. Much darker than the Caio, it wasn't heavily extracted, but had lightness of structure and fruit. The fruit was tempered with a cool climate herbal quality that was very appealing, and nostalgic for Loire wine fans. Still, nice medium redfruit and good acids met light tannins on a pleasing finish.

Really interesting, pleasant wines. I didn't get the whole story about the old vines (ungrafted?), and the importer (new to me, family in Valencia?).

The only sad bit was that the wines would retail for $53 or some such. Way out of reach for, say, a Pineau d'Aunis lookalike. I would gladly buy a bottle or two to amaze my friends, but that done, the price is not sustainable. Too bad--I would hate to feel responsible for the disappearance of Caio or Loureiro, but I don't think I can personally keep them alive at that tariff.
 
My recollection is that loureiro is used to make lots of high yield plonky vinho verde, so a $53 versions sounds pretty wacky. But as always I will wait for enlightenment from VS.
 
Of the Galician reds, I have particularly enjoyed Mencia from Ribeira Sacra. Jul/Aug issue of View from the Cellar has a nice mention of a few of them. Especially for the Loire addled palates among us.
 
originally posted by slaton:
My recollection is that loureiro is used to make lots of high yield plonky vinho verde, so a $53 versions sounds pretty wacky.
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This was quite un-verde.
 
The only Spanish Loureiro I had heard of before was Valmior's Davla L-100. We import them over here, so take my words with caution, but it is a very interesting wine. But I do prefer the "basic" Davla which has Albario and Treixadura mixed in as it seems better balance to me. But I would love to get my hands on these that you mentioned. I also like Ameal's VV from across the border which is 100% L.

-O
 
originally posted by slaton:
My recollection is that loureiro is used to make lots of high yield plonky vinho verde, so a $53 versions sounds pretty wacky. But as always I will wait for enlightenment from VS.
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this particular producer has one foudre and about a dozen barrels in his garage....his alvarinho vines are over a 100 years old.
 
I too enjoy the Ameal. It retails for under $20. But, unless I am reading this incorrectly, Joe had a red Loureiro... Never heard of that!

Where were you Joe?
 
We are seeing more and more red wines done in the north of Spain (mainly Galicia, but also some good bodegas in Asturias and Cantabria). The ones you mention are done by Rodrigo Mendez in the family bodega in Salnes, in the heart of the Rias Baixas region, where Albario has been the star for ages.

Rodrigo's grandfather, Francisco Mendez, was one of the founders of the Rias Baixas DO and planted Loureiro Tinto, Caio y Espadeiro in Galicia . There are few bottles made (only 1.200 bottles made of the caio if i recall well)

Other wines to look for in northern Spain are:

DO Monterrei:
Quinta Muradella
Gorvia

Ras Baixas:
Goliardo

Ribeira Sacra:
Algueira
La Cima
La Lama

Valdeorras:
Gaba do Xil

Ribeiro:
A torna dos pasas

Asturias:
Corias Guilfa
 
Ignacio, how could you forget Picos de Cabariezo, Ribera del Asn and Via Lancina in Cantabria? Shame on you! :-)

Joe, cao tinto does not appear to be related to pineau d'Aunis. It's a Portuguese-Spanish grape variety, a quite rare one like loureiro tinto, that's also known as azal tinto, amaral, cainho bravo and cainho mudo in Portugal. Here's the description the Vinho Verde viticultural commission, on the southern bank (i.e., the Portuguese side) of the Minho river, gives for cao tinto: "High quality red grape variety, recommended for the southern counties (6) of the Demarcated Region, where it is intensively cultivated; less productive and rustic, it produces ruby colour wines with an undefined aroma, slightly acid and full-bodied."

As you can see from these two exceedingly rare wines (and from Ignacio's suggestions), there's a trove of lighter, interesting wines in northern Spain that are certainly more akin to the (disorderly?) tastes of what I fondly call my friends in the New York Taliban community than spoofulated Manchuela reds are...
 
originally posted by VS:
Ignacio, how could you forget Picos de Cabariezo, Ribera del Asn and Via Lancina in Cantabria? Shame on you! :-)

Joe, cao tinto does not appear to be related to pineau d'Aunis. It's a Portuguese-Spanish grape variety, a quite rare one like loureiro tinto, that's also known as azal tinto, amaral, cainho bravo and cainho mudo in Portugal. Here's the description the Vinho Verde viticultural commission, on the southern bank (i.e., the Portuguese side) of the Minho river, gives for cao tinto: "High quality red grape variety, recommended for the southern counties (6) of the Demarcated Region, where it is intensively cultivated; less productive and rustic, it produces ruby colour wines with an undefined aroma, slightly acid and full-bodied."

As you can see from these two exceedingly rare wines (and from Ignacio's suggestions), there's a trove of lighter, interesting wines in northern Spain that are certainly more akin to the (disorderly?) tastes of what I fondly call my friends in the New York Taliban community than spoofulated Manchuela reds are...
Click to expand...

Hey now, don't paint with a broad brush. Some of us have always liked purple.
 
If memory serves ,there was a caio-loureiro-and-something-else blend from Torroxal that I had at some point in 2006-2007 that was quite nice. Gerry Dawes introduced me to it. It was at CSW for a while, retialing at about $20, or whatever the price-neighborhood that other Northern Spanish fave, the Gorrondona red Txakol, rolled in.

Half a Benjamin is too steep by far, I think.
 
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