Month: September 2025

2022 EDEtÀRIA VIA EDETANA Garnatxa Negra Garnatxa Peluda Terra Alta DO

Terra Alta, close enough to Priorat for me to risk an unknown maker, particularly when the label says Garnatxa or Grenache from old vines. And not just Grenache as the common Spanish version but two sorts. Negre is the usual tinta. Peluda can be translated as hairy! Seems it’s a mutation of tinta, growing a fine hairy down on its leaves to help stop moisture loss in a hot climate. Clever grape. It’s also known as Lledoner Pelut in France. It’s a lovely blend too. Opens with a bit of reductive stink which clears reasonably quickly. Fresh red fruits, cherry and raspberry and that addictive old sooty fireplace thing that seems so common in Priorat and surrounds. Transparent and crisp for such a hot place, there’s a cinch of mouthwatering acidity and very fine skin tannin. One reference suggests the hairy one retains acidity well, maybe here’s the proof. The sort of delicious cut and mineral thing that’s difficult to find in Grenache from other parts.

14.5% alcohol but doesn’t look it. Diam. €13.50.

93 points.

2023 Bodegas Luis Pérez La Escribana Vino de Pasto

If you want to taste place and grape, extraordinary care in the making and find out just how good Palomino can be, stop here and enjoy. I think this probably isn’t the high yielding Palomino California clone but from older versions producing fruit with flavour. And what flavour. From the great pago of Macharnudo Bajo, naked hill in Arabic derivation, there’s some intricate making including a green harvest to produce wine used to acidify the later much riper pick. There’s a brief twelve months under flor in botas filled higher than the normal Fino. The soil is classic Albariza, dazzling in white, and a particular type called Barajuela, layers of chalk stacked like a pack of cards. The grapes are influenced by the inland warmth of the east wind, the Levante, to create richness rather than the fresher nature of those grown closer to Sanlucar and the sea. And in the glass, there’s so much flavour albeit of acrobatic balance. Looks like Fino in its green and gold but tastes so much more…er…fine. All the best possible bits of Sherry but no heat and ungainly breadth. Savoury sweet dried hay, an incredibly difficult to describe unami green pith, sort of yellow peach or perhaps juicy melon, a tonic bitterness from the touch of flor, a pistachio green nuttiness and a final tangy hint. All these flavours and textures carry long and clean to be finally waved bye bye with a puff of fine acidity and a grape skin ruffle. Not finished yet, the second day it was richer and more Sherry like for want of a better word but still so clean and balanced. As close as great craft and intelligence in wine gets to art. Not just a drink.

13.5% alcohol. Another half a degree and it could be labelled Fino thanks to long overdue rule changes. Cork and a too heavy a bottle the only criticism. €22 in Spain, happy as it’s $92 in Australia thanks to a stupid tax law.

96 points. Montrachet watch out, it’s Macharnudo.

2024 Finca Fabian Tempranillo Vino de la Tierra de Castilla

Holiday apartments can have some really bad wine glasses. Our stop on a languid white sand beach on a corner of Menorca also left a much appreciated welcome pack including some jamon and what I dismissed as another supermarket Tempranillo. Memories of enjoying jovens, Spanish Temp in its simplest form, years ago in Basque pintxos bars made me reach for the corkscrew. Not the waiter’s friend sort but one of those with the upraised arms and single thread that look like they’re gesturing, ‘we’re sorry we only pulled out the middle and left the outside of the cork still in the bottle’. The wine itself was a delicious surprise. Less heavily extracted than most and fragrant with bright fruit. All the usual red fruits and cola scents and flavours of Tempranillo, fresh and building a bit of momentum. Endearing fruit juice acidity and some sweet skin tannin. Organic fruit without heavy sulphur treatments may help or the fact it’s from a business of only 300 hectares which is small by Spanish conglomerate standards it seems. When it comes to Tempranillo, I do need reminding less can be more drinkable. Good enough to keep an eye out for another bottle from Dominio de Punctum, the business behind this label. Sadly, I can’t seem to find one amongst all the local supermarkets’ Crianzas and Reservas.

13.5% alcohol. Diam. Included in week’s rent but possibly €5 at most.

91 points. Plus one for surprise enjoyment.

2023 Bodegas Pirineos 3404 Tinto Merlot Garnacha Moristel

From the DO or should it be DOP of Somontano up in foothills of the Pyrenees comes this odd blend. The back label says 3404 refers to the altitude of the mountain El Aneto overlooking the sunny Somontano vineyards. And a bit of cooler air has done this no harm. Lots but not too much extraction of delicious plum, cherry pip and raspberry fruit, fresh and full of juice. Just that extra length and intensity of flavour that pushes above the basic Spanish joven examples. This has a rich purple plum thing which those who know the left bank of Bordeaux business say is perhaps typical of Merlot? Probably not the sort of posh tannin poise though? Good fresh and natural feeling acidity on a chew of slate like skin tannin keeps things trim and taut. Pirineos’ Moristel has often been a tasty off the beaten path treat. This too is a diversion worth following. More interest for me than a lot those bottles labelled Crianza or Reserva.

14% alcohol. Diam, nearly ubiquitous in Spain now it seems. About €5, great value.

92 points.

NV Romate Fino

Spanish supermarkets seem to vary quite a bit in their wine offerings. The big Mercadona in Mahon, capital of lovely Menorca, only has a small range of cheap, large scale production Tempranillo and Verdejo which is very uninspiring, particularly as it has really good food offerings on display. Oddly, the small supermarket in the dreamy seaside village of Binibequer had this fresh bottle on the shelf for about €10 amongst other tempting things. Think the producer’s full title is Bodega Sanchez Romate Hermanos, quite grand. The back label said L24319 which means it was bottled in 2024, possibly on the 19th March? I can never remember how the numbers run. As there’s no 31st September, I could be correct? You have to be grateful for something more interesting than the boring Tempranillo and Verdejo which seem to clog the shelves in Spain in the same way cheap Shiraz and kiwi Sauvignon Blanc do in Australia. This is a delicious version of how good the winemaking has become in some parts of El Triangulo in recent years. Loads of savoury flor, chamomile and yellow fruit. Stony sea smells and an austere bite of yeasty straw, all nicely cushioned by comforting glycerol like cream texture and soft acidity. All nicely clean and easy. A mouthful after a bite of one of those gilda spears with anchovy, tiny pepper and olives, and you’ve got one of the best value taste sensations on the planet. Did I mention I like Spain?

15% alcohol. Screw cap, things are changing in Jerez. €9.95.

92 points.